How to Create and Maintain a Beautiful Green and Healthy Fescue Lawn

The following are expert tips on how to create and then maintain a beautiful and healthy fescue lawn. It’s right for you if your lawn is within 50 miles of Interstate-85. I guess some of the methods are relevant to other areas. My experience, however, is based in the Greenville-Spartanburg, SC area. I85, from Montgomery, AL to Virginia, has similar weather and soil to my specific area, and therefore my specific advice will apply. Why listen to me? I started mowing lawns for a living 38 years ago (I was 13). Since then I have received “a lot of education” regarding fescue. This education includes college (Clemson), first-hand experience (over 2,000 lawns), tips from golf course greenskeepers, tips from quality fescue turf farms, and tips from other professionals in the lawn care industry. .

First, realize that you need to do WHAT you need to do WHEN you need to do it. Garden centers and the like will sell you seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, etc. At any time of year. That does NOT mean that you can apply these things or perform these tasks at any time of the year. Imagine if a farmer planted his crop or harvested his crop at his whim. does not work. You know the season or time of the year, in which you must perform certain tasks. Your next step is to measure the area where you want to have your lawn. The QUANTITY of seed, fertilizer, etc. What you use is almost as important as when. I will give you amounts to use per 10,000 square feet.

THE BEGINNING: Installation of your new fescue lawn should be done around September 15th. Never before September 1 or after October 31. If your soil needs lime to correct the PH (it usually does), this is not the time. Lime can inhibit the germination of your new seed. We like to apply lime in July. Another “pre-plant” task is to eliminate the competition for your fescue. August is a good time for this. If your lawn is over 50% bermudagrass and weeds, you may want to use Roundup and kill it all. If you have a reasonable amount of fescue, you can treat the weeds with 2-4-D or another type of lawn weed killer. 2-4-D should not be used after mid-August as it may inhibit fescue germination.

The next step is soil preparation. The best method is to till the soil thoroughly and then gently rake. A close second is to use a core aerator. You can rent a self propelled type (5 HP gas engine) at your local rental equipment store or maybe your local hardware store. I realize that most homeowners (and many landscape companies) don’t aerate enough. You need your lawn to look like it has millions of holes. As a guide, we used an aerator for a full 3 hours on approximately 10,000 square feet of lawn.

Seed and fertilizer application is next. Relative to the total cost of your lawn and its maintenance, seed is inexpensive. Buy the best you can find. A “blue label” seed from Oregon is a safe bet. You will need to apply 5 pounds of seed per 1000 square feet for new lawns or 3 pounds for existing lawns. You want to make sure you have even coverage. We like to spread half our seed from north to south and the other half from east to west (relative direction). Your fertilizer will need to be about 8 pounds of nitrogen per 10,000 square feet. We like 16-4-8. A 50-pound bag of 16% nitrogen has 8 pounds of nitrogen. There are many types of “starter fertilizers” available. We have found that they are more expensive than 16-4-8 and not more effective. As with seed, extra care must be taken to ensure the fertilizer is evenly distributed. It’s a good idea to “roll” the lawn with a lawn roller after spreading the seeds. This ensures good contact of the seed with the soil.

Water. Let me go back a step and explain why you need to plant very close to September 15th. Fescue thrives in temperate climates. He doesn’t like it if it’s above 85 or below freezing. That gives us two good growing seasons: fall and spring. Winter slows the growth of fescue, but doesn’t actually harm it. The long, hot days of summer can be brutal on fescue. Before summer begins, you want your fescue to be as mature and healthy with long roots. The way to accomplish this is to get the fescue to grow as long during the fall and then regrow as much as possible in the spring. Now when the 100 degree days of July hit you, your fescue can survive. So plant the seed as soon as it’s cool enough (September 15) and now you need to water so it germinates as soon as possible. Ideally, you should have a properly installed irrigation system. We like to run our irrigation system for a very short time (3 – 5 minutes per zone) 3 times a day. We do this until we see that the seed has germinated. Normally this takes 10-15 days. For the next 2 to 4 weeks, or until the grass is about 3 to 4 inches tall, we water once a day. If at any time you can walk on your lawn and your feet sink as if the ground is too muddy, turn off the water for a couple of days. If it rains well, turn off the water for 2 or 3 days. When your new lawn gets close to 4″, it’s time to mow it. You want to have not watered in the last 36 hours. You will need to set your mower to the HIGH setting. 3.5 to 4 inches is a good height. Then you can water your lawn afterwards. For the rest of the fall and then again in the spring, we recommend watering your lawn extensively, but only 1 or 2 times per week About the equivalent of 1 inch of rain per week is a good guideline.

Here’s a good schedule (quantities are per 10,000 square feet):

• September 15: 50 pounds of seeds, 50 pounds of fertilizer 16-4-8
• Oct 30 – 25 lbs of fertilizer (with something close to 30% nitrogen)
• Feb 15 – Apply pre-emergence weed control (prevent crabgrass). Quantity varies, read instructions
• Mar 15 – 50lbs 16-4-8
• May 1 – 25 lbs 16-4-8, apply before emergency
• july 200 lbs lime

I’ll write more in a future article about general care, weed control, and insect control for your beautiful new fescue lawn.