Custom Lawn Seed - Shade & Traffic

11 years ago

Hi,

I am new to forum, but have read a number of discussions on grass seed mixes for certain applications. It looks like their are a lot of knowledgeable people here and I was hoping to get your input.

I am looking to put together a custom seed mix for my lawn. We are in eastern Oregon, where it is generally sunny and dry. We rarely get below 20F in the winter, but we to get around 100F in the summer. Our lawn, however, is very shaded by large trees and and also has some dog traffic - I know, I know, a near impossible combination! Actually the lawn is big enough that it doesn't get pounded that bad by the dogs, but it is heavy shade. Probably 2-4 hours of sunlight each day.Regardless, I would like to maximize the traffic tolerance of the grasses that will grow in shade.

I have been studying the NTEP reports and have a "wish list" but, finding somebody that has all of the grasses and is willing to custom mix 50-100 lbs is pretty tough to come by. Is Williams Seed or The Hogan company my best options?

I am looking for some feedback on a mix I am thinking for the above application. I am a little torn on whether I should stick with shade tolerant TTTF and KBG, or if I should also work in some fine fescues? I saw where tiempo made a very nice shade lawn a few years back using straight TTTF.

Here is what I was thinking:

10% KBG (Bewtiched, Zinfindel, or Quantum Leap)
90% TTTF (3rd Millinium SRP, Bullseye, Essential, or Falcon IV or IV)

Or should I substitute some chewings (Intrigue II or Longfellow III), hard (Beacon or Spartan II), or creeping red (Navigator II or Jasper II) for some of the TTTF?

My above mix is purely from studying the reports and I really don't have any idea on how they will mix aesthetically. Any advice?

Thanks!

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Comments (3)

tiemco
11 years ago
Shade is probably the biggest barrier to having a great lawn, but if you get 3 good hours of full sun in the morning you should be able to grow a nice lawn. I have areas that get 2-3 hours of full that do very well. I used tall fescue. Fine fescue would have worked, but it has a lot of issues. One is that it just doesn't look all that great. It is very fine and wispy. It also goes dormant in the summer, turning a light green to tan, and it really doesn't blend all that well with any of the other cool season grasses. It also doesn't handle traffic very well, so the dogs will have to tippy toe around the yard if it's all fine fescue. I would stick with TF, focusing on the cultivars that did very well in the shade trials, page 37 (http://www.ntep.org/data/tf06/tf06_12-10f/tf06_12-10f.pdf). If you want to mix in some KBG, stick with the shade tolerant ones (Bewitched, Apollo, America, Right), stay away from the compact midnight cultivars, as they generally do poorly in the sun. There's no guaranty the KBG will survive in the heaviest shade, but in the sunnier areas it should do OK. Hogan has some of the newest and best TF cultivars, but there are other seed sellers you can try like Williams, Pawnee Buttes, FM Brown and Sons, etc. You can also usually buy 50 lb. sacks from the grower directly as well. You should also seed in the late summer/ early fall, not the spring.
KJ_592
Original Author
11 years ago
tiempo,

Thanks for the feedback. Very much appreciated.

I checked with Williams on putting together a mix of 10% Betwitched, 30% 3rd Millinium SRP TTTF, 30% Traverse SRP TTTF, and 30% Crossfire III TTTF, but he was out of those TTTF until fall.

FM Brown said the would not custom mix quantities of that small (50 lbs).

I did not check with Pawnee Butte, but it looks like they have a pretty weak TTTF lineup.

Hogan also would not custom mix quantities that small, but he would sell 50 lbs of a similar mix he put together for a large client. This was 25% Bullseye TTTF, 25% Faith TTTF, 25% LS 1200 TTF, and 25% Falcon IV. This looks like a great mix for most applications, but not the best for the shade as Faith and LS 1200 are towards the bottom of the NTEP for shade evaluation.

Should I just go with the Hogan mix, or wait to get my mix from Williams in the fall?

Thanks!
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tiemco
11 years ago
The Williams mix is much better for shade. The Hogan blend is very good, but I agree with you, it is an underperformer in the shade, especially LS-1200. If you are seeding in late summer, then I would wait, as long as Williams gets the seed to you before or on your seeding date. You don't want to be in a situation where you don't have the seed you want late in the season. I would probably not have the KBG mixed in so I could seed that separately. KBG seed is very small in comparison with TTTF. You will get much more even distribution of the KBG if you seed it by itself, and then seed the TTTF by itself. This isn't necessary of course, but it's something to think about.