# Looking to get into blue grass



## Maleksick (Mar 28, 2019)

Hey guys. Just moved into a new home in January and the yard was seeded with fescue and looks terrible. I want to slice seed this spring to try to get the lard looking better and I want to Have the deep green/blue look of blue grass. What's some of the seeds you all have found are the best and where to get them. Only lawn and garden stores around me are big box hardware stores.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Don't seed in Spring unless you have to. Wait for late Summer for this unless you need to add more now.


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## mowww (Jan 16, 2018)

Check out NTEP and find a site's data that is close to you. What part of Missouri are you in and what is your willingness to perform maintenance including spraying? I ask because some of the blues across Missouri get hammered with every disease under the sun, whereas some of the finer bladed tall fescues do well in the humidity outside of brown patch and can look great too.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

There are some fescue cultivars which are as dark if not darker than bluegrass. Many lawns are seeded with K31 which is a tall fescue cultivar but not a turf type tall fescue. It may take good cultural practices to maintain bluegrass depending on your area. Bluegrass also may take 3 weeks to germinate and then a few more weeks of minimal growth during their sprout and pout phase. By the time summer hits, if it gets hot, you may lose a lot of it since it isn't well established. I would recommend seeding a turf type tall fescue in the spring as it has a quicker germination and no sprout and pout phase, and if you really don't like the color, then consider a renovation in the fall. This will give you time to do research and have a solid plan to go forward with. Welcome to TLF!


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## KCBen (Jun 18, 2018)

@Maleksick Welcome to TLF! I see that you are in MO and likely have the same weather patterns as us in KC. Even though it's recommended to wait for starting KBG until the fall, you can get your fescue looking good and dark before then and maintain it pretty well through the summer.
We moved into this was my fescue lawn after a few months work. Using Milorganite really deepened the color and there are some products you can look into that will also help boost the color. Mostly products containing iron. There is one called Screamin' Green you can search for and submit a request for a free sample bag (probably wouldn't cover 15K though)

I eventually did a renovation and killed it off bc I personally did not like the texture of my particular grass and wanted to mow low, but it definitely had curb appeal before I did that.


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## FORT (Oct 26, 2018)

@Maleksick I am in KC and I did a reno last fall (TTTF) and here is what it looked like. If you are dead set on doing Blue Grass, might look into mixing in some TTTF. I ordered my seed from Seed Super Store, and am very satisfied with the end results. Hogan Seed is good as well.


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## Maleksick (Mar 28, 2019)

That's exactly the look I'm going for. I'm in Hannibal in a brand new neighborhood and I'm looking to stun the neighborhood with my lawn. What is tttf? And what seed did you use for that look or is that like a midnight seed.


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## FORT (Oct 26, 2018)

Maleksick said:


> That's exactly the look I'm going for. I'm in Hannibal in a brand new neighborhood and I'm looking to stun the neighborhood with my lawn. What is tttf? And what seed did you use for that look or is that like a midnight seed.


Yes, it's TTTF. I bought my seed from Seed Super Store (SS1000, it was a 4 way blend of 4th Millennium, Traverse 2, Titanium 2 and Regenerate)


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## Maleksick (Mar 28, 2019)

@FORT do you think I should kill off the yard in the fall and seed the bluegrass or just slice seed it with the fescue already there. Do you think the blue grass will over take the fescue.


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## FORT (Oct 26, 2018)

Maleksick said:


> @FORT do you think I should kill off the yard in the fall and seed the bluegrass or just slice seed it with the fescue already there. Do you think the blue grass will over take the fescue.


That's a tough call. It really comes down to how much time and money you want to put into the project. The bluegrass will spread and take over the fescue eventually. I know reading through other people's lawn journals that they have had really good success with killing off their yard and doing a 80% TTTF 20% KBG mix. The KBG fills in the spots where there fescue didn't take.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Since you're in new construction and have to seed now...

The sooner you do it (slice seed into the existing stuff) the better, before it grows too much and establishes.

That said, are you sure you don't want to do a TTTF/KBG mix?


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## FORT (Oct 26, 2018)

Or just a TTTF blend like me?


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## Budstl (Apr 19, 2017)

I picked out my cultivaters from here. I went with more diesease resistance since we're in the transition zone.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

^FYI, Rugby II is currently sold out; you won't be able to get it unless some random mom and pop garden shop near you has a stash of it from last year.


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## Maleksick (Mar 28, 2019)

@fort your fescue blend gives you that dark green color like a midnight blue grass does. Or is it just that green because of the stuff you add to your lawn and soil.


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## FORT (Oct 26, 2018)

Maleksick said:


> @fort your fescue blend gives you that dark green color like a midnight blue grass does. Or is it just that green because of the stuff you add to your lawn and soil.


It's a combination of both. Before my reno, my grass we never that dark, not matter what I put on it (Milo, iron, N, etc..). After my reno, I just did some spoon feeding of N and added some micronutrients and it turned that dark green. I can't wait to see it this year!


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Midnight is no longer the darkest grass. Some ryegrass is actually darker. Many of the newest Tall Fescues are as dark as Midnight.


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## Maleksick (Mar 28, 2019)

@Green really? I didn't realize that. I thought blue grass was the darkest. Well that raises new questions like which ryes are the darkest and are they perennials and which fescues are the darkest. And do they make a
Mix of the both. I'm assuming the fescue and rye is easier to take care of since everyone keeps asking me if I really want to go with kbg.


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

I would do the champion ryegrass blend honestly.

If you get into reel mowing it will handle it no questions.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Yes, there are some Perennial Rye cultivars that are darker than Midnight. Check out the NTEP ryegrass tests to see how the colors compare. It's listed under genetic color. I'm not sure off the top of my head, because I go for slightly lighter ryegrass cultivars since the really dark ones are too dark for my Tall Fescue and Bluegrass.

There are also a few Tall Fescues that are as dark as Midnight, but again I'm not certain which ones those are. The ones I use--Flame, Summer, Titanium 2LS, Firecracker SLS/LS, and Bullseye are medium-dark green, so a bit lighter than what you want.


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## TheLawnNewbie (Jul 31, 2018)

Maleksick said:


> Hey guys. Just moved into a new home in January and the yard was seeded with fescue and looks terrible. I want to slice seed this spring to try to get the lard looking better and I want to Have the deep green/blue look of blue grass. What's some of the seeds you all have found are the best and where to get them. Only lawn and garden stores around me are big box hardware stores.


This is the blend I got from Hogan's. I am spring seeding because our weather will allow it. 
Tenacity will be your best friend!


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## Budstl (Apr 19, 2017)

Don't use perennial ryegrass here in missouri. It doesn't do well. Why don't you do a mix of turf type tall fescue and kbg. 
Go with something like 4th millennium, regenerate, or traverse 2 fescue. 
Then add in 10% award, mazama, bewitched, or midnight kbg 
Can't really go wrong with any of those choices. 
Take a look at seedsuperstore.com 
You don't have to buy from their, but you can read up on those varieties.


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## drenglish (Jun 22, 2018)

^^ FWIW I renovated my lawn with a dark TTTF and KBG mix. For TTTF I got 4th Millennium, Traverse II, and Regenerate SRP for color and disease resistance in the transition zone. I added in 20% Kentucky Bluegrass by weight and chose to mix Midnight, Bewitched, Award, and Everglade based on the same quality scores I was looking for in a few categories. In areas of more shade in used more Bewitched over other blue grasses.

At the time Mazama and a few other new top performers were not available but I am going to include these in any future renovation/repairs going forward for their performance in the Transition Zone.

Also, take whatever I'm doing with a grain of salt as I'm south of you in Arkansas. So, we'll see how this pans out this summer .

Here's an area I'm going extra crazy with - bluegrass only cut at 0.5", yes I need to sharpen my reel mower's blades ASAP, and yes there's a good chance I might not post any pictures in my journal during July and August of this year :lol: :


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