Am I fooling myself?

I’ve been battling my Tall Fescue lawn for years now. Am in East TN. Zone 6B I think nowadays. Spending around $3000 a year or more when you factor in weed services, overseeding, big summer sprinkler water bills, etc.

The lawn still never looks good. Always has patches, or some kind of issues, etc.

So I am thinking of nuking the entire thing and redoing the entire lawn with some kind of high-performance Bermuda. I understand I’ll have a brown lawn, but the trade-off is:

  1. Full green lawn in-season with the ability to fix itself.
  2. Will choke out other weeds, so I wouldn’t need to spend that money on lawn service yearly.
  3. Don’t need to overseed every year in fall.

Options exist if I care to have a green lawn in winter, such as spraying it green or seeding some rye in, etc. Am I missing anything here, or is this more or less accurate?

They call it the transition zone for a reason. This means no grass type does great all year. The only exception with Bermuda is that you can overseed with annual rye in fall to keep it green all year, but that involves a lot of elements that I normally don’t suggest. You can’t really paint dormant Bermuda; you’d need to overseed with rye if you want it to look decent in winter. If you don’t mind dormant Bermuda from October to May, go for it! But that could really increase your costs with this size lawn.

In TN (Nashville area), around 80% are fescue. I recommend re-evaluating who you are using, their knowledge, and how the lawn is being cared for. Consider your actual willingness to invest financially and physically. The lawn may not look great from late June to September, but tall fescue generally looks decent the rest of the year. Also, gauging expectation is important along the way.

Don’t do that. Bermuda is very invasive. Need some up-close pics in three months. I’m in 6b in KC, and everything looks rough right now.

Quincy said:
Don’t do that. Bermuda is very invasive. Need some up-close pics in three months. I’m in 6b in KC, and everything looks rough right now.

Yeah, but it’s costing me a lot of money for it to look bad, lol. It looks worse in summer.

@Yan
Maybe Zoysia would work better.

Where do the yellow patches proliferate?

Have you done a soil test?

Are you top dressing with compost and plug aerating during your overseedings?

Pace said:
Where do the yellow patches proliferate?

Have you done a soil test?

Are you top dressing with compost and plug aerating during your overseedings?

Yes, every year I top dress and aerate. The yellow patches are sporadic everywhere. The lawn service company is better than True Green and they do the testing and amendments, etc.

I’m also tired of spending $3k a year if I can just do Bermuda once if done right.

@Yan
What’s your watering schedule and duration like?

Does your irrigation system create puddles on the lawn?

How short does your lawn service cut?

After your lawn service cuts, are the grass leaves cut ragged or clean?

Has your lawn service reported pest activity?

Do you have pets that regularly roam the lawn?

Get some Zoysia grass sod and run it all over the yard. When I lived in West TN, I used Palisades Zoysia, but East TN might prefer Empire. I always tried to seed tall fescue in shady spots, and it always died in West TN. It’s a little hotter in the summer on the west side of TN, though. Don’t do Bermuda; you’ll have a muddy yellow lawn for more days of the year than when it’s green.

Bermuda will thrive here from May to mid-October and be brown in between. The tree in front is pretty high trimmed, so there should be enough sunlight for Bermuda (which needs full sun). It might thin out in spots, though.

If you plant more trees in the future, go with a shade-tolerant Zoysia (Emerald or Zeon) or you might provide enough shade for tall fescue to thrive in hotter months. Zoysia would be dormant but loves the heat of TN summers.

@Lennon
It looks bad now and worse in summer. If it’s going to look bad anyway, am I better off saving the $3k a year and going Bermuda? A bag of rye in the fall should fix it, right? That’s easy and cheap to do?

@Yan
If you want to maintain green year-round, go with Bermuda and overseed with rye. Zoysia has a thick root system, making it difficult for rye to take hold. Having had both Bermuda and Zoysia, I find Zoysia softer and nicer but slower to grow and recover from damage.

@Lennon
Would Zoysia now be better than Bermuda if I’m set on getting rid of the fescue?

Get a bore put in to save on water.

Jace said:
Get a bore put in to save on water.

Water is probably the least of my costs.

Yan said:

Jace said:
Get a bore put in to save on water.

Water is probably the least of my costs.

Really? What a difference it is on the other side of the world :joy:

Bermuda will look worse in winter. If that’s not a deal-breaker, you’re mostly right on your other points. You will still need to spray pre-emergent every year to keep out Digitaria, Poa Triv, and Poa Annua, but that’s standard for any lawn. Bermuda chokes out common Bermuda (which is seen as a weed) and broadleaf weeds, but grassy weeds might still invade. Pre-emergent is crucial because Bermuda goes dormant when soil temps drop to weed germination temps and can’t crowd out germinating weed seeds.

There is other maintenance with Bermuda, such as edging. It requires regular watering to maintain its color and is very nitrogen-hungry, requiring more fertilizer than cool-season lawns. Keep in mind that common Bermuda doesn’t do well in shade.

Take all this into account when selecting your hybrid Bermuda, as some varieties have better shade tolerance and might be better fit for your area.

@Kiran
You can check your local soil temperatures here.

Top Choice Contractors Fescue seed will grow in sand, dirt, water, anywhere you put it, and it’s 99% weed-free. Maybe the grass you are using is just not good.

Hartley said:
Top Choice Contractors Fescue seed will grow in sand, dirt, water, anywhere you put it, and it’s 99% weed-free. Maybe the grass you are using is just not good.

It’s the best fescue seed you can buy.