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Location: ๏̯͡๏﴿ Gwinnett-That's a Civil Matter-County
2,118 posts, read 6,372,905 times
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It doesn't sound like you've 100% ascertained what your warm season grass is but warm season grasses, especially established rhizatomous types like zoysia and bermuda are impossible to kill completely and if you don't kill them completely, they will come back.
The grasses you don't want are strongest at the times of the year when your fescue is the weakest and since fescue is not well adapted to Raleigh, NC to begin with, particularly in the sun, it doesn't stand much chance against competition during the warm season.
In all likelihood you will be faced with a lawn renovation each and every fall that will consist of killing off the remaining fescue that hasn't died during the summer and trying to kill off the warm season grass. But that's going to get old and before you know it, the warm season grass will take over the bulk of the lawn again.
This is why I keep pleading with people not to plant that stuff because it's like a tattoo on the planet. Once it's there, it's there for keeps. Shade is your only hope at keeping the warm season grass at bay and by that I mean keeping it's aggressive spreading to a minimum. I would suggest introducing shade to your yard. Fall is a good time to plant trees and if you ever want even a little cool season lawn (to persist year after year) where you are, you're going to need some shade.
Location: ๏̯͡๏﴿ Gwinnett-That's a Civil Matter-County
2,118 posts, read 6,372,905 times
Reputation: 3547
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotzcatz
Do the neighbors have the same type of lawn grasses? There might be a really good reason as to why that variety of grass was planted there.
Or quite possibly how it has spread there.
Even if you start totally from scratch, solarize or replace your soil with a perfect sandy loam with irrigation and all the inputs that tall fescue likes, and all the weed control and pre-emergent you can do, if the neighbors have bermudagrass... you too will end up with bermudagrass. Eventually.
I am considering buying a house in Raleigh NC with a 1/4 acre yard that appears to have 1/2 fescue and 1/2 some type of warm season grass.
I prefer the fescue and wonder how involved it would be to get rid of the warm and establish a good fescue lawn ??
Short answer is very involved and almost pointless, especially if you don't have a lot of shade..
Even the most ardent turf grass lovers I know in this region are beginning to embrace the warm season grasses as the "greener" way to go. The amount of water, herbicide, pre-emergent and fertilizer required for a cool season grass to look good down here and to get rid of the better suited warm season grass is mind boggling, not to mention very expensive. You will find more people embracing and dealing with their Bermuda grass (or any other warm season grass) these days. We certainly have and I hated the stuff when I moved south, especially keeping it out of my flower beds.
Location: ๏̯͡๏﴿ Gwinnett-That's a Civil Matter-County
2,118 posts, read 6,372,905 times
Reputation: 3547
I'm actually not of that camp. ^^^
I'd use Tall Fescue in Raleigh but IF and ONLY IF isn't a single drop of any existing bermuda or zoysia (anywhere near it)
(and you don't mind the maintenance, irrigation, fungicide etc etc etc etc)
Location: ๏̯͡๏﴿ Gwinnett-That's a Civil Matter-County
2,118 posts, read 6,372,905 times
Reputation: 3547
Quote:
Originally Posted by kelly237
This is a house I am considering buying and I asked (through my realtor) about the grass ..
His answer looked like he thinks the mix is a plus LOL
1. Is there more than one type of grass in the yard? It looks like a mixture of Bermuda & Fescue ??
His answer... There is fescue and volunteer Bermuda so it stays green year round. He has a landscaper who maintains it.
ROFL That's a good one. The realtors always have such a way to spin things into a positive.... Lipstick on a pig.
Volunteer bermuda is a noxious weed. It's not even what the sod is made from. The sod is a sterile hybrid bred for performace and high quality appearance (under fairly high levels of maintenance.)
Landscaper that maintains it. BWA HAHAHAHA That's a good one.
Green year round... HA HAH AHHAHA HA
First of all if you want to maintain the bermuda you have to feed it vast amounts of nitrogen at precisely the same time the fescue is struggling to stay alive in the 90+ degree heat and lengthy dry spells. A fertilizer app would be the last nails in the coffin. By the time fall rolled around, you wouldn't have much, if any tall fescue left and if there was, it would be just a few sporadic clumps. A far cry from a lovely year-round green carpet. LOL. There's a solution for that- it's called annual ryegrass but that's a yearly event. It'would also have to mean you'd forgo the winter pre-emergent which is a terrible idea on bermuda as far north as you.
If you want this property, negotiate a lower price to cover a lawn renovation which would include sterilization to kill the bermuda. Very lengthy process!
And plant some trees. Or kill off the remaining fescue and enjoy the bermuda. That's really the only choices you've got. And frankly the first one is a bit of a stretch.
Last edited by cittic10; 10-01-2012 at 06:41 PM..
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