Re-seed?

[russ scrima]

i am planning on doing something with my front yard. i need to put in new grass. the existing grass is about 5 different kinds and weedy. i am thinking about using roundup to kill it all before winter, then cut it to about 1-2 inches and wait till spring and then to use a seeder to lay new seeds . so , i am wondering if this is the best way to do it, and what grass would be the best. i'm in st. louis, mo. so i will need a cool season grass .

thanks,

[Alpine Naturescapes]

One of the best Kentucky Bluegrasses is Midnight.
One of the best tall fescues is Pennington Seed's "Plantation." Tall fescue has better drought resistance, virtually no pests, and better wear tolerance, but if you don't use a top variety like Plantation, it will get lumpy and unattractive in a few years - don't go buy the cheap Kentucky 31 variety at Wal-mart. Unless you have lot's of shade, the only other cool season grass I would consider is perennial ryegrass. But there is the very expensive turtleturf.

Yeah spray now, because some will come back in the spring, and you'll want to spray again.
Have a good T-day.

[russ scrima]

thanks alpine.
i was thinking on the pennington "plantation seed" i have some shade and some sunny, will it grow well in both areas? also , will this give me a great looking lush lawn? thats my goal . i am sending in my soil samples soon to see what i may be lacking in the soil .
have a great turkey day also ,

[Alpine Naturescapes]

Hi Russ,
Yes Plantation has much better shade tolerance than Kentucky bluegrass. You will need to keep your blades sharp though or the lawn will get a brown haze - not as bad as perennial rye though. This particular variety has excellent color and a fairly good growing habit and texture - not quite as pleasing as Midnight Kentucky bluegrass, but personally it is my second choice to KBG. It doesn't have any runners like KBG, so it won't invade your beds etc. If what you want is a trouble free lawn that will stay green most of the year, this is it. I compared it to the more expensive tall fescue variety that Gardens Alive markets, and Plantation blew it away hands down - no huge seed stems, much finer blade texture, and much slower growing. There are a few other highly rated varieties, but I haven't personally sampled them. Plantation rated the highest on alkaline clay soils like I deal with. Hope this helped.

[MortNuke]

Good Question, but I wonder...

If he sprays now, will this produce a mudhole for a yard during the winter and early spring until he re-seeds? What if he waits then sprays Round-Up once, about two weeks (or so) prior to re-seeding?

This is not meant to be argumentative at all...I just wonder about the mud since I've never done this (and may need to!). I'd like to do it as "cleanly" as possible.

Thanks for the advice.

Mort

[Alpine Naturescapes]

The grass and roots should keep the mud at bay until spring. Tall fescue is a little harder to germinate. It needs to be sown the first of April. If he waits 2-4 weeks after spraying, he may not get good results. My experience with roundup has been even though it says it has no soil residual, that grass will not germinate well for at least 4 weeks after spraying. If all he has is a little spot spraying in the spring, he will fair alot better.