What type of grass seed?

SarahFair · Apr 4, 2017

This will be our first spring and summer at this house. We moved in in early October and the grass even then was sparse.

Im not looking to create a golf course, just fill in the bare areas.

Its mostly shaded with filtered sun.
Some sandy soil in the back but the rest of the soil is pretty good, just compacted.
You don't hit any red clay til about 6-8" down.

Its all high traffic areas.

What kind of grass seed will I need?

Georgia Hard Hunter · Apr 4, 2017

with the part sun you'll have to go with fescue be it K-31 cheapest or named turf type varieties more expensive but better root systems and better performance in the summer if planted correctly. Its late for fescue do all the soil prep to get the roots deep (at least heavy aeration) if you cant do the soil prep wait till mid Sept to plant

NCHillbilly · Apr 4, 2017

Creeping red fescue is about the best grass you can grow for shady areas like that.

Elkbane · Apr 5, 2017

Sarah,
With that amount of shade, I'd be tempted to go ahead and try to get fescue started this year. It's a little late if it was hard clay in the blazing sun, but in this case the shade actually helps you.

I'd try to do it with an "overseeder" or "silt seeder", or "slice seeder" that you can rent at a rental place like Sunbelt. It's been effective for me when doing rehab of smaller areas. I typically go over it once without the seed in the hopper, then repeat with the seed. You'll have to gauge how much soil disturbance you get out of a single pass and decide for yourself how to run it. And you'll need to be prepared to water it....

Here's a discussion to guide you if you decide to go this route.
https://www.lawnsite.com/threads/overseeding-machine-vs-core-aeration-seeding.67593/

Here's what they look like.
https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/how-to-revive-lawn-slice-seeder

Elkbane

shakey gizzard · Apr 5, 2017

I think you'll forever be fighting the root system of that oak. Seed, top dress, water,water, water! ::;

SarahFair · Apr 6, 2017

Thanks everyone! Ill look into the advice given!

nrh0011 · Apr 6, 2017

another vote for fescue.

Miguel Cervantes · Apr 6, 2017

SarahFair said:
Thanks everyone! Ill look into the advice given!

You'll fight fescue twice yearly and with it being high traffic will hate it even more. You'll have to set your mower high to keep it alive too.

Find someone with some St. Augustine grass and let them pull up a bucket full of runners for you to sprig in. In a year or two you'll have the best full shade grass you can have back there that can take a fair amount of traffic.

Most will tell you it won't grow here, or winter kills it, but once it is established it does fine. I can take you to at least three lawns where it has been in for over 20 years up here to prove it.

NCHillbilly · Apr 6, 2017

Miguel Cervantes said:
You'll fight fescue twice yearly and with it being high traffic will hate it even more. You'll have to set your mower high to keep it alive too.

Find someone with some St. Augustine grass and let them pull up a bucket full of runners for you to sprig in. In a year or two you'll have the best full shade grass you can have back there that can take a fair amount of traffic.

Most will tell you it won't grow here, or winter kills it, but once it is established it does fine. I can take you to at least three lawns where it has been in for over 20 years up here to prove it.

The creeping red fescue is a different critter from turf-type tall fescue. It will live dry shade with heavy foot traffic. It's the only thing we've ever got to grow in those kind of situations.

Miguel Cervantes · Apr 6, 2017

NCHillbilly said:
The creeping red fescue is a different critter from turf-type tall fescue. It will live dry shade with heavy foot traffic. It's the only thing we've ever got to grow in those kind of situations.

Down here we call it a weed. It looks too much like crabgrass. :rofl:

sinclair1 · Apr 6, 2017

I will assume you just want a green yard, so I will add to be careful treating or putting weed and feed type stuff on it. You have a lot of poa and you would lose it if treated.

You can kill it off after you get some fescue going in there or what mig suggested. I never saw st Augustine do very well up there, but he lives there and is in the business

Miguel Cervantes · Apr 6, 2017

sinclair1 said:
I will assume you just want a green yard, so I will add to be careful treating or putting weed and feed type stuff on it. You have a lot of poa and you would lose it if treated.

You can kill it off after you get some fescue going in there or what mig suggested. I never saw st Augustine do very well up there, but he lives there and is in the business

Though I'm not a big proponent of Master Gardeners, this person gets it right;

http://www.gwinnettmastergardeners.com/2007/11/st-ausgustine-grass.html

sinclair1 · Apr 6, 2017

Miguel Cervantes said:
Though I'm not a big proponent of Master Gardeners, this person gets it right;

http://www.gwinnettmastergardeners.com/2007/11/st-ausgustine-grass.html

I believe You. I have seen many shaded St Augustine lawns, just didn't know about that far north as far as success goes.

I mentioned the treatments as a buddy thought he had a nice lawn until he treated it, but it was mostly crab grass and POA, so it was mud there after.

Sarah may not want to deal with runners either. Or brown dormant turf in the winter

Miguel Cervantes · Apr 6, 2017

sinclair1 said:
I believe You. I have seen many shaded St Augustine lawns, just didn't know about that far north as far as success goes.

I mentioned the treatments as a buddy thought he had a nice lawn until he treated it, but it was mostly crab grass and POA, so it was mud there after.

I wasn't refuting you, just offering up a link for Sarah to read. I've actually played a POA green, cut at 1/64th. Still had seedheads. :rofl:

The best thing about St Augustine is it doesn't cave to compaction, being a true surface rhizome runner, and will grow right up to the trunk of an oak tree, totally immune to their allelopathic acids.

sinclair1 · Apr 6, 2017

Miguel Cervantes said:
I wasn't refuting you, just offering up a link for Sarah to read. I've actually played a POA green, cut at 1/64th. Still had seedheads.

The best thing about St Augustine is it doesn't cave to compaction, being a true surface rhizome runner, and will grow right up to the trunk of an oak tree, totally immune to their allelopathic acids.

It's a nice lawn, it just has more rules than she might want to deal with, like what ever she uses on her front yard, will kill the St Augustine.

Miguel Cervantes · Apr 6, 2017

sinclair1 said:
It's a nice lawn, it just has more rules than she might want to deal with, like what ever she uses on her front yard, will kill the St Augustine.

Sarah's pretty organic. Don't know for sure, but I'd bet she doesn't use chemicals on a lawn. She'll have to answer that one for us.

sinclair1 · Apr 6, 2017

Miguel Cervantes said:
Sarah's pretty organic. Don't know for sure, but I'd bet she doesn't use chemicals on a lawn. She'll have to answer that one for us.

I bet you're right. That just leaves if she wants a lawn that's goes dormant and turns brown in the winter

I had a shaded yard like that and would hit it with annual rye each October for a nice lawn for 5 months

Miguel Cervantes · Apr 6, 2017

sinclair1 said:
I bet you're right. That just leaves if she wants a lawn that's goes dormant and turns brown in the winter

I had a shaded yard like that and would hit it with annual rye each October for a nice lawn for 5 months

Ever use Italian Perennial Ryegrass? Amazing stuff and one of the deepest darkest greens I've ever seen for winter cover. Augusta National is covered up with it right now on the outlying areas and road frontage.

NCHillbilly · Apr 6, 2017

Miguel Cervantes said:
Down here we call it a weed. It looks too much like crabgrass.

I think you're thinking about something else. Creeping red is very fine-textured, makes a good looking lawn.

Miguel Cervantes · Apr 6, 2017

NCHillbilly said:
I think you're thinking about something else. Creeping red is very fine-textured, makes a good looking lawn.

Must have been.

Not sure it could handle our heat and droughts. Fescue in general struggles with the heat and humidity with poor air circulation in our area. It takes a special amount of attention in tight enclosed areas. In fact, I've never seen it anywhere around Atlanta. Doesn't mean it isn't there, I've just not experienced it. Zone 7 seems to be it's furthermost southern zone for growing which in my experience is don't push the zones. If something is rated for zone 1 to 7 then I consider 2 to 6 to be optimum environmental conditions. Then again, I lack experience with this grass in our area.

What type of grass seed?

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