I moved into my grandma's house after she moved out in February. She never really cared about the yard. Since february, I've been moving sprinkler heads and making sure that before I try to reseed with a turf type tall fescue later in the fall. I want my new yard to have a good start. I've read through the NTEP progress reports and have decided on a hodge podge of Shenandoah Elite, Turbo, Mustang 4, LS 1200, Faith, and RK 5. This is dependent upon being able to get the seeds from a supplier.

So far since February, the yard has been green, lush, and very thick. Especially in the front yard. The back yard was 'decent' with some bermuda mixed in. But lately, we've been experiencing about 3 weeks now with temperatures around 99+ every day. One day of rain. The front has mostly been dying off. It's bare and crisp, with some chutes of green. I have been trying not to mow these areas leaving them about 5 inches. My front yard also has two real patches of grass that are 'busting'. Growing almost an 1 1/2 inches a week. It's still thick and green. Theres some of this behavior around the curb lines of the yard. I'm assuming that there are two different types of fescue rooted. One, is very heat tolerant. The other isn't. The front yard gets the same amount of water, evenly, over the entire area. I've carefully measured to make sure even coverage is applied.

First Question: Does this appear to be two different types of fescue or should I have soil tests completed in the different sections?

Next, I noticed while mowing earlier in the year that the grass would start to 'dwindle' where my lawn mower wheels kept running over it. I considered a fungal disease (especially in the back yard) but it took over 3 months of repeated traffic for it to start dying. I also water once a week, preventing fungus.

Second Question: Can a fungal disease be present? How quick to they act at killing grass?

I'll have a bunch of questions in the future but I need to make sure I start remedying these problems before I try to move forward with seeding in the fall. Thanks in advance for the responses and thanks for having a great forum! Pics below, or in a link, I'm trying to get it right. In the pics, I did NOT alter any saturation, if its green, its green and alive, if it's brown, it's trying to die...

My Yard

Probably not two different types. I am betting the areas near the curb are holding water better than the rest of the lawn. Perhaps you get a lot of run off from the yard that collects along the curb, and maybe the soil is a bit better there. A comprehensive soil test would be a good idea for the whole yard with the majority of the samples coming from the problem areas. I see definite areas of drought stress (when the grass folds up tight and looks gray) in the other parts of the yard.

Second Question: Can a fungal disease be present? How quick to they act at killing grass?

Sure can, especially in hot humid weather. Oklahoma is a tough place to grow a cool season grass, even TTTF. I get fungal disease in CT on my TTTF, it's just the nature of the beast. Pathogenic fungi are always present in your soil, and they affect your grass when the conditions are favorable for fungal growth (typically hot and humid) and when grass is stressed it is more susceptible. Those track marks can be fungal in nature, or they can be fertilizer burn. If you didn't apply fertilizer recently then it is probably fungal. The mower wheels can push the grass down and it will prevent those areas from drying out, especially if you water right after mowing or mow a wet lawn (which you shouldn't do anyway). You should also be watering just before sunrise, do not water in the late afternoon or at night.

I plan on aerating my whole yard and adding 1/4 inch compost to the surface before seeding. Its hard, compact red clay so go figure. Possibly more than one pass. I also considered some gypsum as I've heard this will help break up clay or help with water retention.

I'll research some fungicide to try to apply that. Once the grass has been 'killed' by the fungus, is it gone gone or will it spring back to life?

P.S. I think the last post was around Sept, 2010. How's your TTTF lawn re-do? Did your varieties hold up well?

I believe it depends on how bad the fungus is if it will actually kill the plant or if it will come back the next year. I have had brown patch bad for several years and every spring, it pretty much comes back beautiful. However, I have always used fungicides, as well (not a ton). Last year I had some patches die, but I think that may have been due, at least in part, to a lack of water.

From what I have heard, it is not possible to get the "dead" grass back this year.

Get a soil test. Let me say that again, get a soil test. So many people refuse to get one, and instead just throw amendments at their soil. Sure, adding gypsum can loosen a tight soil, but this has nothing to do with it being clay. The only way to have the best lawn possible is to have the best soil possible, and the only way to improve your soil with accuracy is using a soil test. The basic soil test at Logan Labs is the one I recommend, it's $20. In addition to that, you can do a soil structure test. Take a glass tomato sauce jar, or any smooth sided clear container that size or a bit bigger. Put a piece of masking tape on it vertically. Fill it up halfway with soil taken from the top 4-6 inches of your yard (use many small random samples from your whole yard instead of soil from just one spot). Then add water to the top and a drop of dishwashing soap. Put the lid on it. Shake it up very well. Set it down on the table. After 2 minutes mark the level of the soil that has settled. Do it again after 2 hours, then again after 2 days. The first mark is sand, the second layer is silt, and the last layer is clay. If the water is cloudy after two days, then you still have some clay in solution. I am betting you have less clay than you think, most people do. Aerating and composting can add organic matter to your soil which is always a good idea.

"I'll research some fungicide to try to apply that. Once the grass has been 'killed' by the fungus, is it gone gone or will it spring back to life?"

It looks to be a bit late for fungicide, usually you use it as a preventative, or just as you notice disease affecting your lawn. Dead grass will only come back if the crowns were unaffected. Fungicide will prevent spread to other areas as well, but since you are planning on reseeding it might be a better idea to let nature take it's course and save the fungicide for your new grass' first summer.

P.S. I think the last post was around Sept, 2010. How's your TTTF lawn re-do? Did your varieties hold up well?

Yes, I renovated in Fall 2009. Right now the lawn looks great and I am very happy with the cultivars I selected. Last summer was brutal, high heat, drought, not what you want for your first summer, but with sensible watering I made it through relatively unscathed. Then the blizzards of 2010/2011 kept snow on it for about 2 months straight which gave me a lot of patches of snow mold, but the grass bounced right back. Currently it is thick and green, and I am pretty sure it's spreading. I have one very small area that didn't make it (maybe the size of half a garbage can lid), but I will fix that in Sept. Here are some pics I just took at about 8 tonight:

A shot from the street (you can see the bare patch that needs a reseed)

Near the house from the driveway

Where the street meets the driveway

Looking toward that point from the yard

Where my yard meets the neighbor's weeds

A low angle shot looking at the neighbors house

And a closeup

I will surely get a soil test. Would it be advisable to get a few 'cores' from around the yard? I don't mind sending in a small group of them but if they're $20 each, then it might be a little cheaper if one sample could greatly represent the whole yard.

Grass looks great tiemco! Those blades did thicken up eventually. You said that you saw some spreading. How noticeable is it?

Most yards are pretty consistent with regard to soil, so I would take 12-15 samples from around the yard, probably focusing in on where the grass doesn't look as good as it does near the curb. Then I would break up the samples, air dry it for a day or two, pick out all the roots, dead grass, and rocks you can, then send it off to Logan Labs. Most people do two samples, front yard and back yard, but if you want to do it all together to save some money that's ok too.

"Grass looks great tiemco! Those blades did thicken up eventually. You said that you saw some spreading. How noticeable is it?"

It's very noticeable in that the lawn is just thicker than it has ever been. It's mostly due to tillering, but I have seen some daughter plants that have spread via rhizomes. I had a very wet spring this year, and I was cutting lower than usual before long periods of rain. I am of the opinion that this helped thicken up the lawn as it had some areas in early spring that were somewhat sparse.

You have Zone 7 listed which indicates you are likely south of I-40. If that is the case growing Fescue or cool season grasses is going to be an endless cycle of planting in the fall, and the grass dying off in the summer. Even if say in Tulsa Fescue is futile unless you have a lot of mature trees and unlimited water. Even Paul James gave up trying to grow Fescue in Tulsa

I hear you Lou. Have heard from family and friends it is brutal in TX and OK this year. Not as bad as 1980, but still hot and no rain since late May except popcorn showers in the afternoon.

But hey don't complain, where I live now in Prescott we have had a very wet year so far. We have had a whole inch of rain/snow since New Years Day. No 100 degree days yet. Have come close, but not yet :-)

Heck we had heavy frost and hard freezes until the end of May. Got no mators at all. They froze to death.

I'm in OKC north of I-40. I have large shade trees that block out the sun during the midday (noon-3pm), except in the back yard and one small section in the front. But more trees are being planted this fall to help shade us out mid-day. The morning sun and afternoon sun shouldn't be too brutal on the TTTF. Plenty of businesses and homes around this area actually are able to keep fescue year round in full sun, no shade, without constantly overseeding (i'm still looking into finding out what this 'magical' grass cultivar is...) We have a water well that can draw enough to keep it watered regularly and often. But yes, having almost forty days of 100+ degrees is hard. I've even seen some bermuda around town trying to go dormant... Nothing in the forecasted high's less than 100 for the time coming too.

But I'm going to try the TTTF still. I'm hoping these new ones will be able to take the heat and sun. I'm open for suggestions on mixing in other varieties, however I still would like the green all year approach. Thanks!