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| Based on what my ag extension consultant said, & what I read, I decided to let my back yard go dormant this summer. I didn't water it for about 6 weeks. About 3 weeks ago I started watering again & some of it is greening up nicely, but quite a bit (about 25%) is not looking so good. I think it is mostly KGB, but I overseeded 2 years ago with a blend of sheep fescue, hard fescue, wheatgrass, and canada bluegrass so there is some of that in there also. Is it dead, or do I need to give it some more time?
I'm in lakewood CO (near denver), it has been cool lately (60's-70's), but low 80's recently & near future. |
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| What kind of wheatgrass? The sheep fescue, hard fescue and wheatgrass will definitely snap back (at least most wheatgrasses will). I'm less familiar with Canada bluegrass, so I can't answer that. KBG will go dormant and recover, but if you had no rain at all during those 6 weeks, the KBG may not have survived. Now the question is what will happen next. That's why I asked what kind of wheatgrass you used. Most crested wheatgrass varieties are bunch grasses, but some recent varieties are rhizomatous. Streambank, western and thickspike wheatgrass are all rhizomatous, but less aggressive than KBG. Sheep fescue will spread via tillering, but it's a slow process and it's mostly a bunch type grass. If you think it's not going to fill in and you want a low maintenance lawn, I'd do a dormant seeding with the Cabin Mix from Utah seed. I crafted my own mix, but it's fairly similar to this. I only watered twice this summer, and had a short period of dormancy in about 1/4 of my lawn. |
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| It's some crested wheatgrass, and western wheatgrass. Not sure which varieties. I think there was very little rain in that 6 weeks, about .5 in. I shoulda watered. To do the dormant seeding should I prepare the soil by raking to expose some dirt, or just spread it on top? Or spread the seed then put compost on top? Thanks |
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| To dormant seed, just spread the seed before the first good snow of the winter. No other prep needed. The snow melt and freeze/thaw cycles will carry the seed down and bring it into contact with the soil. The western wheatgrass is a spreading grass, but it's hard to get started. The crested wheatgrass may be a spreading variety, but without knowing the variety, I couldn't tell you. |
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| Thanks bp, I'll look into that seed. So you think dormant seeding works better than fall seeding, or am I too late for fall seeding anyway. |
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| Dormant seeding is a lot easier and is closer to what these seeds would do in nature. It's also probably too late for a fall seeding. |
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| Will that sheep fescue in that cabin mix do OK in a sunny yard, slight SE slope? |
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| Heat isn't very friendly to sheep fescue, but sunlight doesn't seem to be a big problem for it. If it gets too hot, it will go dormant, but it snaps back again. It's one of the most drought tolerant grasses that will do well in our climate (I think it can get by on as little as 5-10 inches of annual precipitation). I've got some that is in full sun and in one area it stayed green all summer and in one area it went dormant for a few weeks. |
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