# overseeding w/tall turf type fescue



## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)

someone in another thread recently noted that it's difficult to overseed with just a turf type fescue on a lawn with ***, fine fescue, PRG, ect. Is this true?

very new to this. I live in cincinnati oh and have a front yard with half total sun and half partial shade. I think id like tttf based on what i've seen so far. is this reasonable?

what's the ideal mixture of seed for me? I'll try and get a picture up.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

No, not true. 
Success is harder to come by if you are overseeding KBG into TTTF. Overseeding KBG into any type of grass, as far as I know, is more challenging. KBG takes a long time to establish, so while it is slowly growing it is at risk of being shaded out by surrounding grass such as TTTF. There are forum members who do it, but a general guideline is that overseeding KBG is a less optimal strategy than encouraging it to spread via nitrogen at certain points in the growing season.

It is a fine plan to overseed TTTF into KBG.

As far as mixtures...I think it is probably best to wait for the pictures. Both KBG and TTTF like lots of sunlight, though KBG perhaps more than TTTF. I think TTTF is likely to tolerate some shade. If not, you can consider FF.


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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)




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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)




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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)

Last pic is from early spring....lawn is sad , don't make fun &#128553;


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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)




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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)

Those are from later spring ....lawn has slowly deteriorated up to this point


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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)

When looking at house...left side of walk way has two oaks and is shaded. Right sided is sunny. Three areas as you can probably tell have been recently seeded, sprouted, then slowly died off. One is the circle in the grass left of walk when looking at house (was totally brown last fall/winter after suffocated by leaves) so it was seeded this spring by landscaper and now dying off. Other major spot is right of walk way where I took out a dying tree and it was seeded in spring by landscaper, sprouted up nicely, now dying off


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## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

Have you had a soil test done, there might be something thats preventing your grass to grow. You might need ff with the shade of those oaks.


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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)

iowa jim said:


> Have you had a soil test done, there might be something thats preventing your grass to grow. You might need ff with the shade of those oaks.


Haven't done a soil test yet. That was one of my next questions, when is the right time of year to do the soil test? i have a lawn company doing my fertilization program right now. I called to see if they base their treatments on a soil test and they said no. I was somewhat confused because consensus around the forum is that soil test is a good place to start and then customize the program based on soil test. Sort of confused.


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## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

Most people do there soil tests in early spring, before anything has been applied to the lawn. You can do them anytime but if you have recently applied something to your lawn, that might skew the numbers.Not 100% sure but i think you should wait at least 6-7 weeks with nothing applied to the lawn, before you do the test. Maybe someone will chime in that knows for sure.


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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)

THat sounds reasonable to wait until spring , what you said makes sense to me


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## gene_stl (Oct 29, 2017)

Lovely classic looking house and neighborhood! :thumbup:
cincy is a lot like st. louis in that respect.


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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)

gene_stl said:


> Lovely classic looking house and neighborhood! :thumbup:
> cincy is a lot like st. louis in that respect.


thanks! It's a great neighborhood with some amazing old houses and even better: amazing lawns! Just feel bad mine is pretty much the eye sore on the street....

Love Cincinnati, it's really pretty here and the city has quite a bit going in these days compared to before.


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## MarkAguglia (Jul 13, 2017)

I overseed my northern mix lawn in the fall with TTTF last year and had good results both then and now.


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## ForsheeMS (May 21, 2018)

Bkell101 said:


> When looking at house...left side of walk way has two oaks and is shaded. Right sided is sunny. Three areas as you can probably tell have been recently seeded, sprouted, then slowly died off. One is the circle in the grass left of walk when looking at house (was totally brown last fall/winter after suffocated by leaves) so it was seeded this spring by landscaper and now dying off. Other major spot is right of walk way where I took out a dying tree and it was seeded in spring by landscaper, sprouted up nicely, now dying off


Spring seeded TTTF or KBG will likely die once the summer heat arrives. They have not had time to develop deep enough roots to survive the heat. As others have said, a soil test now to determine if there is anything the soil needs and make any adjustments to the soil. Then come fall you will be ready to overseed/seed bare spots.


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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)

ForsheeMS said:


> Bkell101 said:
> 
> 
> > When looking at house...left side of walk way has two oaks and is shaded. Right sided is sunny. Three areas as you can probably tell have been recently seeded, sprouted, then slowly died off. One is the circle in the grass left of walk when looking at house (was totally brown last fall/winter after suffocated by leaves) so it was seeded this spring by landscaper and now dying off. Other major spot is right of walk way where I took out a dying tree and it was seeded in spring by landscaper, sprouted up nicely, now dying off
> ...


That makes sense in terms of the weak newly seeded spring tttf dying in the summer. I've seen August 15 as a date for fall over seeding. Is there a more specific way to determine when to overseed? Nighttime temps? X days out from first frost?


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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)

gene_stl said:


> Lovely classic looking house and neighborhood! :thumbup:
> cincy is a lot like st. louis in that respect.


I've gone through the cool season lawn guide and bought The lcn guide online...is a article or thread for more details on caring for the newly overseeded cool season lawn that you all would recommend?


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## ForsheeMS (May 21, 2018)

Bkell101 said:


> ForsheeMS said:
> 
> 
> > Bkell101 said:
> ...


Not sure about your area. For me here in central NC it's normally mid to late September but anytime you're dealing with the weather things can change. Whenever your temps start cooling off a little is the time to overseed. With TTTF you'll be watering just enough to keep the seed moist for at least 2 to 3 weeks so even if you start a little early by the time all the seed has germinated the weather will most likely be cooling down.


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## gene_stl (Oct 29, 2017)

I like what @Greendoc says about growing grass seedlings "hydroponically" . If you can manage to keep the soil very wet 24/7 then you can seed any time and the extra sun and warmth will jazz up the growth rate. Of course it is not easy to do.


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## Bkell101 (Jun 25, 2018)

I grew some grass from seed starting about 2.5-3 weeks ago as an experiment since I ruined the grass there anyways and seems like it's working. Who knows though, it'll probably die at some point since I'm super new at this. I'll post a pic to show where I'm at thus far. Used the heat and drought resistant bag I saw at ace and mixed some tttf in just for the heck of it.


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## ForsheeMS (May 21, 2018)

Spring/summer seeding will work if you throw enough water at it. To get it through the heat it will need water nearly every day. The big problem with that is the constant moisture will germinate every weed seed that is anywhere near the surface of the soil. Crabgrass, dallisgrass, goose grass, and these are the hard ones to get rid of. The other problem will be disease. Hot weather and constantly damp grass will lead to fungus issues which will kill the tender young grass. Nothing wrong with experimenting though as long as you learn from it.


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## Chris1011v (Jun 25, 2018)

I also want to seed with tttf this fall. I previously killed everything off as I had some vines growing in the yard. Now it looks like this. I'm also a newbie and would like to know if I should kill everything off again, or leave it and aerate and overseed in the fall? Any help is appreciated.


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## jessehurlburt (Oct 18, 2017)

Chris1011v said:


> I also want to seed with tttf this fall. I previously killed everything off as I had some vines growing in the yard. Now it looks like this. I'm also a newbie and would like to know if I should kill everything off again, or leave it and aerate and overseed in the fall? Any help is appreciated.


I would absolutely kill everything off at this point, and do a reno, yes.


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