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Nurse grass necessary with KBG?

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Posted by KMack17 6 NJ (My Page) on
Tue, Jul 24, 12 at 16:38

I'm planning my fall lawn work and have 2 areas that will need seeding. I've done a soil test and have good conditios for turf growth. Both areas get 6+ hours a sun a day, so I want to seed with KBG.

My questions is about the benefetis/necessity of a nurse grass like perennial ryegrass. One area has decent turf already established and I'm just going to overseed, so I don't think a nurse grass is necessary. The other area is heavily infested with weeds that I will kill off or hand pull before seeding and will be left with very little grass in that area. It's a level spot with minimal drainage issue, so should I buy a mixture with 20% perennial ryegrass as a nurse grass or just plant 100% KBG?

Thanks for your help

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RE: Nurse grass necessary with KBG?

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Been reading many forums for 10 years and never heard of a nurse grass. I can think of reasons why you would not want to mix in rye but I cannot think of any reasons to mix the two. Go for 100% KBG. Now are you going for the Elite look or for the "contractor grade" of seed? Either one can be made to look incredible.

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RE: Nurse grass necessary with KBG?

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I'm looking at a quality blend of KBG, something like Midnight, Everglade, and Bewitched, but I haven't completely made my decision.

From what I've read of incorporating a nurse grass into a mixture of KBG, it is due to the long germination time of KBG, which could be around 21 days. The nurse grass germinates early and helps to protect the KBG seed until it gets established. I would prefer not to have any perennial rye in my lawn, but want to make sure the KBG has the best chance to germinate and get established.

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RE: Nurse grass necessary with KBG?

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You can use annual rye if you want, it will die out next summer. It's not a bad idea on sloped areas as the annual rye will be up in a few days and help prevent erosion, but you could also use Penn Mulch or seeding blankets to prevent that instead of a nurse grass. I wouldn't use perennial rye.

That KBG blend you mentioned is OK, but Midnight and Everglade are both compact midnights. It would be better if you had a compact America instead of one of the compact midnights.

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RE: Nurse grass necessary with KBG?

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Thanks, the area is level, so I'll skip any nurse grass. Do you have recommendations for a good KBG blend for NJ zone 6 or a way for me to do the research myself?

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RE: Nurse grass necessary with KBG?

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You can see how many of the latest KBG cultivars perform in your area, and in certain situations at www.ntep.org. Most people that want a great lawn buy their seeds separately, instead of relying on premixed and big box store blends. Bewitched is a great performer, and does well almost everywhere. Most of the compact midnight cultivars all look alike (Award, Midnight, Nuchicago, Everglade, etc), although some do better in areas like disease resistance, drought tolerance, etc. Prosperity is a compact America that has very dark green color that will blend well with compact midnights and Bewitched. Zinfandel is a mid Atlantic that is a great performer, although it's not a "mainstream" cultivar, and I know of only one supplier. The convention when making a blend is one compact, one compact America, and one compact midnight in equal parts, but you can add other varieties like aggressive, mid Atlantic, shamrock, etc. Here is a comprehensive list of classifications (Prosperity is mislabeled as it is considered a compact America). http://www.sroseed.com/IdeasInPlay/PDF_articles/KentBlueClass.pdf

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RE: Nurse grass necessary with KBG?

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Excellent, I was just going to pick a few cultivars that had positive information, but that is some good objective data.

Thanks for your help.

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