While it has good shade and drought tolerance, Tall Fescue has some significant drawbacks, including its susceptibility to pests and disease and a coarse clumping habit which is not ideal for backyards.
Cons of Choosing 90-10 Tall Fescue Sod. While it can tolerate partial shade, it won't do well in full shade. Additionally, it's not as tolerant of diseases and insects as some other types of sod, so you'll need to be extra diligent about pest control.
Between the cells in fescue grows an endophyte, a fungus living symbiotically inside the grass. The endophyte is what makes the fescue robust against drought and overgrazing, but it's also what makes it toxic.
Tall Fescue grass will grow well in a wide range of climates and it is tolerant of cold, heat, drought and shade. Tall Fescue is resilient and very durable. Depending on where you live, Tall Fescue may be an excellent choice for your home or property. Learn more about identifying and maintaining Tall Fescue grass.
Tall Fescue is one of the grass types that can compete with Bermuda grass and potentially choke it out in certain conditions. However, it requires proper management and maintenance to suppress Bermuda grass effectively.
In order to maintain a healthy fescue lawn year round, it's important to aerate and seed once per year, and now is the time. Because fescue is a cool season grass, September and October are perfect months to core aerate and overseed your lawn.
Both Bermuda and Fescue grasses are popular due to their ability to withstand wear and tear. So, you don't have to worry about the kids ruining your lawn! Bermuda grass is known to be slightly more durable than Fescue, though and can repair itself when damaged by pets or kids.
It depends on the type of grass. Kentucky bluegrass has runners that help it spread on its own. But many northern grasses are bunch-type grasses which don't spread, so seeding is needed to fill in bare spots. Perennial ryegrass and fescue are among the non-spreaders.
While Kentucky bluegrass stands up to the North's coldest winters, extreme heat and sunshine can scorch or kill its leaves. Tall fescue is more tolerant of hot weather, making it best suited for transitional climate zones and cool-season regions with milder winters.
It can be mowed down with the rest of the lawn if desired, but if never mowed, it will turn brown in the winter season and lay down. Then in the Spring, bright green blades of Fescue start to pop up and eventually cover up all of the old, dead, yellowing grass from the year prior.
Unfortunately, tall fescue also has a downside. Most tall fescue in the state is infected with a fungal endophyte, Neotyphodium coenophialum (formerly called Acremonium coenophialum) that is toxic to animals.
The truth is too much watering or rather, bad watering practices, is the reason why Brown Patch is the biggest problem for fescue during the summer.
In essence, the grass goes into a state of rest, causing visible changes in its appearance and growth patterns. During this period, Tall Fescue ceases to grow, and its color may turn pale or straw-like, giving the lawn a less vibrant appearance.
Zoysia grass creates a thick, soft surface that chokes out weeds and produces stolons that creep along the surface of the soil and expand horizontally.
The most common inhabitants are usually crickets, beetles, grasshoppers, millipedes, and worms. Some of these insects feed on the grass blades, some feed on grass roots, and some feed on each other. Usually, Fescue will grow faster than the average insect can eat and you don't have to worry.
Perennial ryegrass is used for the very toughest applications, premiership football pitches, showgrounds, racetracks etc. Over recent years, new varieties of amenity perennial ryegrass have been cultivated to produce finer leaves in order to produce attractive, lush green lawns.
Zoysia is generally considered the lowest maintenance grass, although other species like Bermuda grass and Buffalo grass are similarly easy to care for.
Mixing in a rhizomatous grass such as hybrid bluegrass or kentucky bluegrass with tall fescue would ideally result in a polystand that has good wear tolerance and recuperative ability.
However, if you're comparing perennial ryegrass vs. fescue, you really can't go wrong with either in a high-traffic situation as fescue is also quite durable. Earth Development knows fescue is also used for school playgrounds and sports fields and is also often used as a pasture grass for horses and cattle.
In general, a fescue lawn will need about an inch of water every 7-10 days, whether from rain or irrigation. Try to water deeply and infrequently. For example, apply an inch of water on a single day rather than . 25 inches a day for four days.
Aeration, combined with seeding, will encourage new growth for grasses like fescue and your lawn will be back to looking lush and green in no time! If your lawn has thin spots, seeding in the Fall will also help fill in areas that did not survive the summer temperatures well or had disease.
When it comes to tall fescue, does grass naturally fill in bare spots? It can but it's not in a rush, especially if your spots resulted from dog urine or lawn disease or even an accident with the mower. Weeds, though, will jump in at a frustratingly fast speed.
It's not recommended to overseed full sun Bermuda with fescue because the Bermuda will overtake the fescue in the heat of the summer and the lawn will look blotchy. The exception here would be if you thoroughly and completely kill the Bermuda first, and then establish a fescue lawn.
Warm-season Zoysia grass, more cold-tolerant than Bermudagrass, also warrants extensive use. Deep-rooted, water-wise Zoysia stays green longer in fall than other warm-season grasses, then it greens up earlier in spring.