Dr Dirt: Tall Fescue Can Be Tough To Kill
Dear Dr. Dirt: We have an ocean of lawn with little islands of what we are told is tall fescue. How do we eliminate the islands? Matt, Indianapolis
Dear Reader: Tall fescue is a dark green, wide bladed, deeply rooted perennial grass that is found growing everywhere. It is widely used along roads and on farms for erosion control. Because of its course texture it readily shows up in lawns where in comparison the desirable grasses are fine textured. The only control is Roundup when the plants are actively growing. It usually takes a couple of treatments to completely kill it. However, be patient and wait until you are sure it is dead before seeding new grass. Otherwise you will be back to square one! Once it dies, take a sharp spade and dice the clumps up and down like you were dicing an onion. Then sprinkle some new grass seed over the clump and water. The dead tall fescue foliage serves as mulch for the new grass seedlings. There is a turf type tall fescue that makes an excellent lawn when planted alone in a solid stand. Do not blend it with bluegrass and ryegrass.
Dear Dr. Dirt: I have some kind of fungus growing on the trees and bushes in my yard. My pine tree is shedding needles. What is this mold and how do I get rid of it? Chris, Indianapolis
Dear Dr. Dirt: Where do I go to have my soil tested? Is it worth doing as I have buried leaves and straw last fall and will be burying manure this spring. What should I expect to pay for the testing? Dave, Carmel
Tall Fescue Control Methods
Since Tall Fescue is a perennial grass that lives through the winter, pre-emergent annual grass controls are not effective.
How To Keep Tall Fescue Green In Summer
Here we offer you some effective tips to help your tall fescue in summer survive the heat and stay lush and healthy throughout the hot months.
1. Mow Accurately
Ensure that your mower is at its highest setting when youre mowing your tall fescue summer lawn. Ideally, you should mow tall fescue at 3 ½ to 4 inches. Additionally, mow only when necessary. Prolonged dry periods can interfere with lawn growth and mowing. When the grass is affected by moisture stress it can result in further lawn damage.
2. Water Properly
If you dont have an irrigation system in place, set up a sprinkler to water your lawn during prolonged spans of no rain and elevated temperatures. This will help your lawn to withstand the environmental/heat stress.
Tall fescue grass protects itself from prolonged drought by turning brown . Its not dead and revives itself when rainfall occurs. However, if drought stays for long enough and the temperatures are too high, it can die.
In case theres an irrigation system in place, set the system to run during the early morning, between 4 and 6 am. This allows water to enter the soil and the loss to evaporation will be less. Early morning watering will also help in disease control compared to watering in the middle of the night or evening.
3. Reduce the Inputs
Its best for your tall fescue lawn to tolerate minor infestations of weed during summer until fall when you can kill weeds more safely.
4. Schedule Fall Lawn Care
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Best Tall Fescue Grass Seed For Your Lawn
Tall fescue, native to the European continent, was introduced to the United States in the early 1800s and quickly became one of the most popular grass kinds.
There are over a hundred different types of fescue grass in the genus Festuca spp. There are hundreds of tall fescue cultivars, more developed in the hunt for the toughest lawn seed.
Tall fescue lawns can be created by laying sod. However, tall fescue is commonly grown from seed because it is a fast-growing grass. The best tall fescue grass seed will differ depending on the temperature and location.
Some types thrive in deep shadow, while others thrive in broad sun and are more drought and heat tolerant.
Tall fescue cultivars are most suited to lawns in the northern portion of the United States. However, there are notable exceptions.
Learn more about this lovely emerald green grass and why the fescue seed products listed below are among the finest for a range of lawn settings.
All You Need To Know About Tall Fescue
Tall fescue is valued for its adaptability to a wide range of climates and its tolerances for cold, heat, drought and shade. In its preferred growing zones, tall fescue provides lawn owners with outstanding options for improving lawn resilience and durability. Depending on where you live and your lawn goals, this versatile grass may be an excellent choice for you.
- Cool-season grass with improved heat tolerance.
- Suitable for northern and southern transition regions.
- Tolerant of heat, drought and shade.
- Disease resistant.
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How To Tell If You Have Tall Fescue Or Crabgrass In Your Lawn
by Matt Corrion
Recently I had a client express frustration about his inability to kill the crabgrass weeds in his lawn.
It turns out that what he had was tall fescue rather than crabgrass. Tall fescue is a spreading cool season grass that often appears in lawns. It has a courser texture than bluegrass, and will sometimes green up in the spring earlier than the rest of the lawn.
Pennington Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue Penkoted Powder Coated Grass Seed
Pennington Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue grass seed will assist you in creating a lovely lawn with excellent texture and color.
This specific mix of grass seeds is heat and drought tolerant, so you wont have to worry about the many threats to your lawn.
This grass seed may be grown in full sun or light shade. You may produce a beautiful lawn that stays healthy throughout the growing season thanks to its special seed treatment, and you wont have to worry about the seeds not sprouting.
It has a fungicide that protects it from a variety of illnesses. It also absorbs more water and needs less to maintain its vibrant green hue.
Pros:
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Lawn Maintenance Tips For Tall Fescue
By: admin|Published on: Feb 9, 2016|Categories: Uncategorized|
Tall fescue the cool season go-to lawn for much of Southern Australia is a wonderful choice of grass for a wonderful amount of reasons.
For its hardiness, whether it be in the face of an extended drought, or coping with a heavy frost, theres almost no better choice for the cooler climates of Australia than this unfussy, low maintenance lawn.
Low maintenance doesnt mean no maintenance though, and while it can certainly survive in harsh conditions, you may need to give it a bit of a helping hand if youre looking for it to thrive. Here are some general guidelines to help you get your patch of fescue to be the talk of your street.
Watering
Drought tolerance and generally minimal water requirements are key strengths of fescue, which means you want to be careful not to over-water. For the cooler climates of Australia where air and overnight moisture isnt lacking, only the most infrequent watering should be required.
When over-watered, fescue can be prone to diseases that are fostered in the damp. If youre in a humid area where the moisture is unavoidable, a preventative fungicide treatment may be in order.
Overseeding
Overseeding can be a great chance to inject some different life into your lawn. New varieties of fescue with different strengths are coming out every year, and may help keep your lawn looking healthy even when your original variety is struggling.
To overseed fescue:
Fertilising
Mowing
Kill Orchard Grass With White Vinegar
Spraying white undiluted vinegar on orchardgrass is an effective method of removing the grassy weed from the lawn because vinegar is eco-friendly and nontoxic. It doesnt affect humans and pets.
To kill orchardgrass on lawns, you will need a spray bottle with a tiny nozzle, a measuring cup, and concentrated white vinegar.
For every one meter feet of lawn covered in orchard grass, you will use 2 cups of white concentrated vinegar. Remember to apply concentrated vinegar when the grass is dry. Any water on the lawn or rainfall may wash away the vinegar before it entirely kills the orchardgrass.
Heres how to kill orchardgrass with vinegar:
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How To Get Rid Of Tallfescue 11 Easy Steps To Follow
How Do I Get Tall Fescue Out Of My Bermudagrass
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Reader Question:
The new house I purchased last year had a combination bermuda/tall fescue sod laid down by the builder. Now I have a yard thats 65% bermuda with clumps of fescue popping up through out the yard.
For the last month, I have been cutting the grass relatively short to shock and kill the fescue allowing the bermuda to take over. To this point, that hasnt happened yet. The result is a grass that isnt an attractive shade of green and isnt comfortable to walk on. In the areas that are completely bermuda, the lawn is a nice shade of green and is comfortable.
Is there any way to kill the fescue without damaging the bermuda? Will planting bermuda seed help speed up the transition from a mess to bermuda?
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How To Get Rid Of Tall Fescue
- If Tall Fescue has appeared on your lawn, we recommend a post-emergent spot treatment with Eraser 41% Glyphosate.
- This is a non-selective herbicide that kills any plant it touches so be careful not to get it on desired grass. In heavy infestations of Tall Fescue, it’d be best to spray your lawn and then reseed.
How To Kill Fescue Grass
18 July, 2017
Fescue grass can rise from the soil to become a blight in many lawns and gardens. Fescue grass grows in clumps, which makes it stand out when compared to traditional bluegrass. Because of this growth habit, fescue grass is frequently seen as a weed. It can be difficult to mow effectively and is known for its hardiness. It begins growing earlier in the year when it is still too cool for other grasses to begin spreading, and this is the best time to eradicate it. Killing fescue grass needs to be done carefully to preserve the rest of the lawn or garden.
Spray the fescue grass clumps with glyphosate, found in many common herbicides, in early spring when it first starts growing. This helps kill it quickly before bluegrass starts growing normally. Damage to the rest of the grass should be minimal.
Cut the fescue grass down to 6 inches in height if it is longer than that later in the year. This will make herbicides more effective in killing it. Longer fescue grass is hardier and more resistant to chemicals.
Request that a lawn care service apply TFC in the Fall. TFC stands for “Tall Fescue Control” and it is a restricted-use herbicide that will slowly kill fescue grass while leaving other grass around it intact.
Pull or dig out any remaining clumps that have not yet been killed off after the herbicides have been applied.
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Additional Tall Fescue Characteristics
Tall fescue tolerates shade better than all common cool-season lawn grasses except fine fescues. It establishes easily from seed and germinates more quickly than Kentucky bluegrass. Tall fescue’s naturally extensive root system can reach 2 to 3 feet deep, much deeper than other cool-season grasses.3 This contributes to superior heat and drought tolerance.
Compared to ordinary grasses, tall fescue varieties from Pennington The Rebels Brand have 40% more roots. In addition, water-conserving Pennington Smart Seed tall fescues require up to 30% less water year after year than ordinary grasses do.
Unlike grasses that spread by horizontal above- and below-ground stems, tall fescue is a bunch-type grass. It grows in clumps and spreads primarily through vertical shoots called “tillers,” which grow from the base of the grass plant itself. This growth habit makes tall fescue easy to contain and keep out of flower beds, but it limits its capacity to repair itself when lawn damage occurs.
How To Get Rid Of Orchardgrass In Lawn
Orchardgrass grows in huge clumps and taller strands than the average turfgrass. It is also light green in color, which affects the look of your lawn. With an average height of 2 to 3.3 feet tall, orchard grass is best removed from turf before it spreads and takes over the lawn. So, how do you get rid of orchardgrass?
The best way to kill orchardgrass in lawns is to spot-treat it with a glyphosate-based herbicide such as Roundup. Spray and cover the undesired weed with the herbicide when it is actively growing and allow it to absorb the weed killer. Uproot the orchard grass when it dies and replace it with new sod.
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Scotts Turf Builder Tall Fescue Mix Grass Seed 7 Lb
Scotts Turf Builder Tall Fescue Mix is a heat-tolerant tall fescue mix with adaptable coated seeds that may use in many situations.
It comprises a mix of southern-bred tall fescue cultivars that are meant to boost the lawns heat resilience.
The coating comprises a water-retaining agent to keep seeds moist before germination, an antifungal to prevent grass disease, and a nutrient to speed up the development of early sprouts.
The tall fescue mix from Scotts comes in a 7-pound bag, enough to seed 1,750 square feet. This heat-resistant tall fescue mix is ideal for transition states, such as Arkansas, Tennessee, and the upper half of Louisiana, which fall between USDA Zones 7 and 8.
It grows well in sunny and shaded regions of a yard, making it ideal for overgrown lawns in northern states.
Pros:
- Faster, thicker, greener grass
- Long-lasting southern bred grass that thrives in complex summer conditions of sun, shade, and high traffic
Cons:
What Is Tall Fescue
Its rare to find grass that thrives on clay soil. Tall fescue grass is one of these sod grasses, with minimal mowing and fertilizing requirements. In the summer, it does, however, require thorough watering.
It may be used as a lawn in either sunny or partly shaded conditions. Unlike warm-season grass species, tall fescue in lawns stays green in the winter. The plant comes in many cultivars, some of which look like fine fescue but have broader leaf blades.
Tall fescue is perfect for the lazy gardener since it requires minimal mowing and little fertilizer. Tall fescue is turf grass that can withstand extreme heat and drought.
Its dark green grass with coiled leaves that has a gritty feel. It generally spreads by seed and grows most vigorously in the spring and fall, and the grass has deep roots.
The plant produces a small panicle with reniform spikelets 3 to 4 inches long in the springtime. Tall fescue grass is a bunch of grass, and established lawns may ultimately die out in some regions, necessitating the replacement of the grass.
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