You are right about the root system of your Maples competing with your lawn for water and nutrients. I have a very healthy Fescu blend growing under and around sugar maples. First, put a mulch ring around your maples. It could be a circle, oval, kidney or any shape you desire. It should be at least one half the diameter of the drip line. Secondly, add organic material by mulch mow all your Autumn leaves into your lawn without smothering it. Pile chopped leaves up 6 inches thick in the mulch ring. Plant some shade loving plants there. Lilies of the valley work good. Fertilize and water inside the mulch ring well. Water your lawn evenly, deeply, but no more than once a week considering rainfall. Fertilize your lawn evenly but not excessively. Most of the lawn fertilizer should go on in the Fall. If you have access to compost then top dress once a year in the summer. Consider using organic fertilizers. Bill Hill

Oh, I hear you, and am feeling the pressure! I've been delayed in purchasing seed because I was distracted by that concrete removal project of mine. I just finished the initial grading of the new soil where the walkway was late this afternoon and started watering it (and the rest of the lawn/weeds) right away. Sure, that may promote fungus, but I am only watering it to encourage my weeds and weedy grass to grow strong to make it easier for the Roundup to take it out, so if a fungus ends up killing some of it, well thank you fungus! Yes, I did something very similar to Bestlawn's "fallowing" advice last year, and it worked well. Except I didn't use Siduron/Tupersan and won't make the same mistake this year. I mean, the annuals eventually died, and the KBG took those areas over without any trouble this spring, but FF doesn't have those same abilities. So I will be using tupersan for this project, without a doubt. The problems I am confronting are weeds and grass that need to be destroyed, uneven grade, compacted soil, and some new soil that has not settled yet, with (presumably) new weed seeds, but which also will become compacted due to how I am treating it. I'm approaching this by watering the grass and weeds and new soil to get the best results with roundup, starting tonight, trying to get the new soil as settled as possible before seeding (by watering, tamping, and walking on it), then applying the roundup, then running a power rake, with flails, over the whole area, mostly to loosen the top inch of soil enough to help me rake to grade, then liming with that JG calcium product (my pH is abysmally low) then watering again for a week, then applying another dose of roundup, then raking up the garbage, core aerating, fertilizing with starter plus tupersan, seeding with a handheld whirlygig seeder, rolling with an empty steel roller, and then setting up the sprinklers such that I can start watering 3x/day on a timer. No topdressing. The topdressing I used last year (pennmulch) IMHO did not do much of anything, and given the shade I have on this lawn I can't imagine that evaporation will be much of a problem. IMHO topdressing (which I used to do every time) is unnecessary if you can water appropriately, and that is much easier to do in shade than in full sun. What I have in mind is overkill by most standards - there is usually no reason to both power-rake and core aerate. But I am trying to solve two different problems: bumpy grade and serious compaction. And on just 1200 square feet, I can rent each machine for just a half a day with time to spare, and the cost doesn't amount to much given the benefits. Whoa, I'm sorry to go on and on like that, and I hope something in there was germane to your post. ;-) Paul

I'd say yes, the fine fescue I have is very very thin,when I try to let the lawn grow to 4+ inches it flops over. I'm going to kill/replace this year. I used 100% Turf Type Tall Fescue last year (mostly Rebel variants) and its much darker, grows tall, and has a slightly thicker blade. To be fair the fine fescue I have was some old cheap mix that I never fed. After feeding it darkened a bit, but not as deep. The fine fescue thin blades allow it to grow in shadier conditions. Not sure of the science behind that, but its what is recommended for shade. How much shade do you have in that spot? If it only gets a few hours of direct sunlight, you may need a fine.

That's a good point. I happened to have tenacity so I figured I'd use it. But I can hold off on using it and use something else instead. In the past I've always had a bad experience using weed be gone products either because they've burnt my lawn or they just didn't get the weeds. What can you recommend that is safe to use on a kbg/fescue lawn and is known to be effective?