Thanks for your response. The reason I have Fescue is because it was recommended by the hydro-seeder for its drought tolerance and holding up in our acreage life style. I will say the grass we have going has done great through the drought. When all the neighborhood turned brown our lawn still looked decent where we had good grass. It also seems to have a longer active season. I don't know that much about grass varieties but have avoided mixing grass because I did not want color/style variations throughout the yard. As far as fertilizer even your cheapest method is not really cheap. At $5.00 (high end) per 1000 SF that's $400. If its successful I am OK with that but sure can't afford to do it several times per year :) I have the north part of land growing pretty well. Just trying to kill all the weeds. The only part I am really worried about now is the acre around the house. I can only run 3 sprinklers at a time so its an all day deal to water. But watering an acre of grass is easier than watering an acre of dirt with grass starting. Any where the dirt shows the sun cooks the moisture out of the dirt. That said its getting easier as time goes on. I cant see that sending soil away to have it tested is not an option for me. As I said the dirt is going to be totally different every 20' around here. So for now I just think I need to really commit to growing grass in the fall and work hard at it and work in some fertilizer as you mentioned. I will check out the pellets.

I was going to slit seed to thicken the lawn up in a few places. Whatever seed you use, you want to do the whole lawn and not just a few places. I just wanted to stipulate that thought it's probably what you're already planning to do. Excellent details, Chris, but ditto what Turf Toes said. You simply are not going to find premium seeds in store-bought packages. Plus, I have never understood Scott's at all. They've poured millions of dollars into seed research only to mass market junk. I have no idea why they purchased Turf-Seed and really hate that they did. The numbers mean they are new varieties that have been submitted for testing. They won't be named until it is determined they will be a viable competitor. They are not yet ready for market and therefore not available for purchase just as you thought. Most new ones are tested 2-5 years before they are named and are available. Concerning your lawn and what seed to use, I will give my purely subjective :) view and some technical to consider. I absolutely hate mixing bluegrass with ryegrass and really don't like it with the fescues either. The only reasons for doing it that I can see are for utility purposes, such as simply to have a creeping variety for filling in when the bunch types thin out. The fact is, you should overseed regularly - every 2-3 years after good establishment - for several reasons. That applies to every lawn no matter the species and would negate that utility purpose altogether. When it comes to pre-mixes, they are often poorly comprised of varieties that do not compliment each other as far as growth habit, genetic color, etc., and selecting varieties among 2 or 3 species poses the same problem. Generally, someone who is familiar with all the species can share their results and varieties they selected, but it otherwise becomes quite the guessing game. Something else to consider is the varieties that were used. Had you told me the lawn is older or has been the same lawn for many years, I would know immediately it is nothing like the ones sold today and could give you a conclusive answer. But, you say it's only three years old, so I don't know if what you have are fairly recent developments or rather long-standing varieties still sold today that are not compatible. One factor is most recent varieties of rye, kbg, and the fescue boast dwarf growth habit, which means they are low/slow growing. They don't have to be mowed as high and they don't have to be mowed as often. Imagine mixing them in with a lawn composed of long-standing varieties that grow faster and taller. What you end up with is uneven, spikey growth between mowings that compromises quality and appearance since obviously you don't want to have to mow the lawn every 3 or 4 days. Ryegrass has been found to express an allelopathic chemical that stunts/reduces/inhibits the growth of bluegrass, so that is something else to think about. One other thing is a lawn seeded over time with kbg into an existing lawn of ryegrass and/or fescue in effort to convert it will eventually make the bunch types look like weeds (an eyesore) once the kbg becomes dominant. Counter-productive in my opinion. My suggestion is to get rid of the lawn you have and start over with a blend of cultivars of whatever species you prefer. They are all perfectly capable of thriving as a mono-culture. My opinion in this regard is both personal and analytical, but you have to decide what is right for your lawn and your growing conditions based on what you want to achieve. For example, shade may be an issue, how much shade, whether there is a disease prevalent in your area, if there are imposed water restrictions, etc. Good luck and I hope I helped a little.

> Most people and companies do not fertilize fescue lawns in my area after May, but I did for testing purposses. Almost the same happens during the winter months, almost no one here fertilizes their lawn beause their are told not to after Thanksgiving day. I fertilize my lawn almost year round, with the exception being the dead of winter and summer. My lawn remains green during the winter months, not dark green, but nice green. It barely grows, maybe one cut per month if that. ** interesting, yet confusing. Where / what area is this? Do you experience actual four seasons? PS - Do keep in mind, some of us (me) do not know if North Carlonia differs from South Carolina in climate .. honestly! > Anyway, I believe his lawn went dormant because of lack of water I'm sure, not lack of fertilizer. Most lawn in the neighborwood looked like his. What I can't explain is why my so called "waterhog" grass did not go dormant despite the lack of moisture, and the supposedly most 'heat and drought tolerant" cool season grass did...? ** Very intriguing question. Your additional posts to this thread is intriguing to me!

>> He reminded me about the migratory Junko birds that ate much of our bare April fescue seeding last year. You get those too? Around here, they're year-round residents (sometimes). The average Junko (as well as other sparrows) are incredibly lazy. If you scatter just a bit of peat moss atop the blank areas when you dormant seed, they won't be very effective at finding the seeds and tend to do the job of burying them for you. No protection is required when seeding into a partially sprouted stand of grass. You can certainly add KBG to the mix if you like, but keep in mind that it'll tend to take over the lawn over the very long term (many years). Personally, I liked the resulting Abbey/Kenblue bluegrass lawn more than I liked the tri-mix that spawned it. So much so that I renovated to nicer bluegrasses! Under normal circumstances, pre-emergents for incidental weeds go around the time the forsythia blossom (or, when soil temperatures rise over fifty degrees). That takes care of most oddball stuff. You won't be able to apply any pre-emergent at this time as your new grasses will still be sprouting and have to be three mowings old before you use any pre-M or herbicides. Crabgrass sprouts warmer, but may get started in any warm snap in April or May. For that, I'd apply pre-emergent (Dimension, Barricade, most of them work on CG) around June first and realize that it's not going to be perfect. Spot treat any sprouted CG with Weed B Gon Crabgrass Control in July or so when you see it--the lawn will be old enough by then and more.