Tall Fescue is the type of grass that I recommend the most often for lawns here. However, it is a cool season perennial. That means that its management is going to be different from warm season perennials like bermudagrass or St. Augustine grass. Let’s talk about seeding tall fescue for a lawn because we are approaching the time of year when it’s appropriate to seed it.
Tall fescue is a perennial grass, meaning that you don’t need to reseed your lawn with it every year. However, if you seeded tall fescue in the spring you will need to reseed it. Because tall fescue is a cool season grass, it doesn’t like the heat. If it’s not well established, the summer heat will kill it. That’s why I recommend planting it in mid-September. Planting in mid-September will give it time to establish throughout the fall and spring before going through the heat of July and August.
There are a number of varieties of tall fescue available. Usually when you buy a bag of tall fescue seed it will have several different varieties in that bag. This is a good thing because the different strengths and weaknesses of each variety are able to cover for each other. Kentucky 31 variety is the old standard for tall fescue. However, there are many new hybrids, which are much better for lawns.
One of the reasons that I like tall fescue for our area is that it has some of the best shade tolerance. With the amount of trees that we have, shade is often a limiting factor to plant growth. Creeping red fescue is actually a different species from tall fescue but it has even better shade tolerance than tall fescue. These grasses will still struggle in deep shade. What they have is a tolerance of shade, meaning they still prefer full sun, but can take some shade.
When planting tall fescue it is important to prepare the soil first. Taking a soil test and bringing it to your County Extension Office (67 Lakeview Circle Hiawassee or 165 Wellborn St Blairsville) will give you a lot of information about your soil. You’ll get fertilizer recommendations and lime recommendations specific to your soil from a soil test.
Before planting till and incorporate all the lime and fertilizer that is recommended on your soil test. Incorporate the lime and fertilizer into the top 3 to 4 inches, or deeper if possible, of the soil. Ideally, you want to seed 5-6 pounds of seed per 1000 ft2. After seeding rake the seed into the top quarter inch of the soil with a hard rake. If the seed goes too deep, it will struggle to germinate. Apply straw mulch on top of the soil. This will help to conserve moisture in the soil and keep your seed from being washed away. Ideally, you want to keep the top 2 inches of soil moist, but not wet for the first 3 weeks. After that just water once a week if there is no rainfall.
Start out cutting tall fescue at 2 inches as the grass matures you can raise the height to 2.5 to 3 inches. In areas of shade, it’s better to let the grass grow a little taller to give it a better chance to compete with weeds.
If you have questions about a tall fescue lawn contact your County Extension Office or email me at Jacob.Williams@uga.edu.