Dchall_san_antonio wrote: > One more think you can do with fescue in the summer is to stop mowing for several weeks. That will really drive the bermuda crazy but the grass will use much less water when it is 9 inches long and flowing in the breeze. You know, I like having fescue and bluegrass that is tall, like the 9-plus inches you suggested above to Mirz2000. Most of my lawn is zoysia but I also keep an area devoted to fescue and bluegrass. I recall in a different, older thread you mentioned you are growing some of your grass at your new home extra super tall. Once a cool season grass reaches 9 inches and taller, though, how do you cut it with a mower without cutting into the stems? The stems grow higher as the blades also grow higher, so you won't just be cutting blade, but also stem. At least that's what I found when I allowed my fescue and Kentucky bluegrass to grow extra tall. Even on the walk-behind mower's highest wheel setting, I was cutting into the stems. Of course, the books recommend cutting fescue and bluegrass to a height of 3 to 4 inches, and not removing more than a third at a time.

It is okay to sod either one now. In fact it is usually okay to sod either one any day of the year in Austin. Both grasses have their drawbacks with regard to your wants. Watering If you want either one to look good, you will need to water monthly now and gradually more frequently until July when you will be watering weekly. With St Augustine, if you miss a few weeks, you will have dead grass. Bermuda will go several months/years with no water and just sit dormant. But if you want it green, you need to water. Mowing Bermuda should be mowed low every few days to look its best. It becomes more dense when mowed very low. St Augustine does best when mowed very high, no more than every week. In the summer heat you might let it go a month or longer without mowing to save the grass and water. Tall (and really tall) St Aug can withstand almost any drought. Fertilizer If you want the bermuda to be dense and dark green, it needs to be fertilized every month in the growing season. St Aug can get away with fertilizer on Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. I use organic fertilizer and find I get much better results by fertilizing monthly with corn gluten meal. I don't think there is a lower limit as to the amount of organic fertilizer that would make bermuda happy in the summer. St Aug probably will take the least amount of maintenance as long as that maintenance is watering an inch per month now and inch per week in the heat.

SORRY for not getting back. I had it set to update when a post was made and I have not received a thing. Thought I would check and noticed all of the replys. Well TW, sir, you just through a wrench in my plans! lol, I appreciate your input greatly. I talked with Easton in December. They were very helpful and they have a store in Derby, Kansas which is right up the road. They were really high on the Patriot. In deciding I used the following link as a determinant on what I selected: http://www.eastonsod.com/index_patriot.html I am still open to a different variety as I do not know nearly what some of you gents do. I really want something that can compete with the common stuff that my neighbors have. Hopefully this is not wishful thinking.

Can you post a high res closeup photo of it. I'd be really surprised that if in Durham, NC bermuda has already 1.) Gone to seed, 2.) Germinated and 3.) Spread like wildfire