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Tall Fescue for NC-Opinions

16 years ago

Hey folks,

As with many of you, I am living under water restrictions. I am hoping for rain, but if no rain comes, I will still seed when it gets cold in hopes of some germination in the spring. I have used Confederate seed in the past, but now that Scotts owns this, I am unsure of which seed to go with. Any suggestions?

Does anyone have any luck with the Thermal blue?

Thanks

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Comments (3)

Billl
16 years ago
From Box stores - The Rebel company is usually good as is Southern Gold.

For the "Thermal Blue" it is only usually 10% or so of their hybrid bluegrass. The rest is Fescue - which they seem to change from week to week. I've seen it with RTF's like Grande and random TTTF's, so read the label carefully before buying.
Paul
16 years ago
Thermal Blue in my opinion is a big waste of money and effort. I got some pure seed from a distributor the first year it came out. I seeded 3 spots in my fescue lawn that were very thin thinking this was the answer. I watered a couple of times a day to get the seed to germinate, keeping the seed moist. Two of the spots had some seed germinate and one spot came up pretty well. Well it's been a couple of years and I will tell you that when I didn't have time or forget to water the Thermal Blue is the first to start wilting. It has done that every time. I seeded the cheapest Fescue seed last year and it looked a lot better and held up better than Thermal Blue.
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I don't know what part of the country you live in. Fine fescues do not withstand heavy traffic. Mowing height is important if you are limited to only 4 hours per day of full sun. The recommended mowing height would be no lower than 3 inches as the longer the blade, the larger the leaf surface is that captures sunlight this will help the lawn do better. Watch the watering too much is not good. If you want a fine bladed lawn you can plant the fine bladed sod and later you can over seed with kentucky blue grass to help the lawn self mend, but you will have to wait 3 months before seeding as the sod grower used a post emergence weed control that will prevent seedlings from germinating. If later you do not like the fine bladed lawn you can overseed with the wider bladed fescue. There is a fescue you may want to look into, grown by pacific sod in california called medallion extreme.
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I'm not sure why last year's fall overseed didn't take but it had nothing to do with not aerating. The grass grew in the bare spot because it was bare. When overseed grass doesn't take in the rest of the lawn it is likely because the seed was not touching bare soil. The time to rake up the lawn was before you overseeded last fall. Then assuming the seed was at least touching the soil, you should have used a water fillable roller (rented) to roll over the seed and press it into the soil. Then start watering briefly (5 minutes?) three times per day, for 3 weeks to germinate all the fescue seed. Mowing low before the seed goes down is a good idea, because it needs sunlight to take root once the seeds germinate. The time to start this is when the summer heat breaks and the evening temperatures cool off. If that is late September for you, fine. I would have predicted earlier in the month. That's something you play by ear. But you don't need to aerate first, so you don't need to preplan that event and work around someone else's schedule. Then next spring, ignore all the TV commercials telling you when to fertilize. Wait until Memorial Day after the initial flush of spring growth is over. If you want to use a herbicide in the spring, do not use a weed-n-feed product, because that would be applying a fertilizer earlier than Memorial Day. The grass does not need to be fed in the early spring. In general do not use weed-n-feed products. If you need a fertilizer use a fertilizer. If you need a herbicide, spot spray with a liquid meant for your specific weeds. Spot spraying is much more effective and a lot more efficient. There are biological reasons, too, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion.
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quirkyquercus
16 years ago
Here are 5 facts for folks in the transition zone thinking about KBG.

Fact #1 KBG is the biggest pain in the butt to get going. (Just read all the posts from the people in the North and the headaches they are having)
Fact #2 KBG needs to be sited correctly just like TTTF in this climate which is a bit of afternoon shade. Only thing is KBG does better in full sun.
Fact #3 KBG needs to be irrigated in the summer months in southern regions that are normally drought stricken. This much watering tends to leave the KBG vulnerable to diseases.
Fact #4 If it is the ultimate king of dark green that you want, KBG is the grass for you but be prepared for it's other issues.
Fact #5 If it is wear tolerance you want try TTTF instead.

Here are 5 facts for people in the tranny zone thinking about whether to use seed from retail chain stores.

Fact #1 The rebel and confederate brands are generally pretty highly rated. So are some of the others.
Fact #2, Even though the varieties techinically may change, it does not get any more convenient than going to nearby retailers to get your seed.
Fact #3, if you are unsatisfied with the seed, you can usually return it without even being asked any questions. (Also refer to Scott's 'No Quibble Guarantee')
Fact #4, Unless you are tying to do something really strange and unusual or just a picky lawn geek, buying locally is what a lot of people do just before they wind up with an excellent lawn.
Fact #5, Shipping cost is high (remember we're talking about 50 lb bags and stuff) and times in transit from the most talked-about seed dealers is quite a while and there may be other delays. If you underestimate how much seed you needed you can just run back to Lowes or HD. Not so with mail order sources.

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