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Tue, Jul 19, 11 at 10:24
| Well crud!
I have a small courtyard that was long neglected. I cleaned it up, tilled the hard soil, leveled it out, and rolled in fresh healthy fescue sod (a big fence and ornamental tree keep it in the shade most of the day). This was two months ago. Here in OK, it has been in the 100s since, like, February, so I was putting the sprinkler on the fresh grass for about 20 minutes in the morning, and 20 minutes at night every day for a week. A large section of the grass started immediately dying. I checked the soil and it was soaking wet underneath, so I cut back on the watering to allow it to dry out some (15 minutes only once a day). Another large section of the grass started dying. Still too wet. I start throwing out lots of fescue seed and just hand watering to keep just the surface damp. The seed comes up in small clumps all over, and the rest of the sod starts dying. Looks awful, and nothing is working. Could be that after 32 days of 104-112 temps that fescue just can't grow, who knows. HELP! Any ideas?? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Definitely sounds like fungus and heat killed your grass. Watering at night is a no no when it's hot and humid. The prolonged moisture is an ideal enviroment for fungal disease. Tall fescue is one of the more heat tolerant cool season grasses, but not the heat you have. Also, you really can't successfully seed a cool season grass in summer in OK. I think the only cool season grass you could have success with is hybrid bluegrass. For your area a warm season grass like Bermuda, St. Augustine, or Zoysia would be the better choice. |
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- Posted by bassplayer7 6 (My Page) on Tue, Jul 19, 11 at 10:52
| Ditto tiemco. I think you will have better success with warm season grass. It may be dormant longer in the winter but you should have less trouble during the summer. |
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- Posted by Retroman1969 none (My Page) on Tue, Jul 19, 11 at 11:02
| Excellent info and advice, thank you! It's what I feared, that our conditions this year are a black hole for shade grass. Going to a Bermuda or zoysia was going to be my next move (heck, even buffalo grass because of the unreal heat we've had) Thanks again. ;) Pic of the bloody aftermath: |
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