Bent Grass vs Bermuda for My Lawn

[Stan131]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but I'll ask. I live in Indiana, during the summer months my lawn, which is mainly fescue burns out. I want to overseed next year with either Bent grass or Bermuda. Is it possible, and which would be better for my area???

[boogielicious]

2 minutes ago, Stan131 said:

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, but I'll ask. I live in Indiana, during the summer months my lawn, which is mainly fescue burns out. I want to overseed next year with either Bent grass or Bermuda. Is it possible, and which would be better for my area???

Welcome to The Sand Trap.

Bermuda may need more warmth than Indiana has. Bent is more prevalent in the Northern Climates. What about Kentucky Blue! I have that mostly in my yard in Mass and it holds up to heat well.

[RussUK]

Just do what i did. Got rid of all the grass and replaced with the top grade synthetic grass. Cost us £3000(ish) to do the back garden but we can use it all year round, dries quick, no muddy footprints in the kitchen, the kids love it plus its great for golf practice (i use a mat so i dont damage the grass).

No lawn mower, no watering and looks good all year. Got it done last year and best thing we did.

Just need to sell the Flymo now

[klineka]

Regardless of what grass type you have, you will need to water it during the summer to prevent the burn out.

Also check your mowing height. During the summer you need to have it set at a much higher mowing height than you would in the spring or fall (no lower than 2.5", and depending on how dry it is, could probably get away with 3.5")

I would not recommend overseeding with bent grass or bermuda. Bent grass is very difficult for general homeowners to maintain and is very disease-prone, and you are too far north to have bermuda, it has virtually no tolerance for cold temperatures/snow.

I'm in a similar climate as you, and I would recommend overseeding with either Kentucky blue grass or perennial rye grass, depending on what you want your yard to look like and how short you want to mow it. There are so many variables to consider as well, including how much sun your yard gets, does your yard get a lot of traffic, what is the overall health of your yard now, are there a lot of bare spots that need filled, etc.

Here is some basic info about both types

Kentucky Blue Grass

• Typically going to like a slightly taller mowing height and typically can mow at 3"+
• Will spread out more as it fills in, so it would be a good choice if you have some bare spots throughout the yard, but KBG also takes a long time to germinate (Can be 14+ days for some varieties).
• More of a dark/emerald green in color

Perennial Rye Grass

• Can be cut shorter, even under 2" depending on time of year and weather.
• More of a clump type grass, so it doesnt spread as quickly as something like KBG, but PRG germinates very quickly, I just killed off and replanted a ~1,000 sq ft section in my yard with PRG and saw germination at the end of day 4 after seeding.  
• Usually more of a brighter green in color

Let me know if you have any other questions about grass types, fertilization, or the overseeding process in general. Outside of golf, lawn care is one of my other main hobbies so I'd be happy to help!

[The Flush]

Jumping here for grass advice as well.  I have some areas of what I think is a creeping red fescue in my "lawn" of K31 fescue and a lot of other greenish stuff. It is much finer and tends to lay down. I think it looks better than the rest of my lawn.  I think it may be slowly spreading. Any thoughts on trying to get this creeping fescue to take over my whole lawn in southern Ohio? Just let it creep or should I overseed the lawn?

[klineka]

8 minutes ago, The Flush said:

Any thoughts on trying to get this creeping fescue to take over my whole lawn in southern Ohio? Just let it creep or should I overseed the lawn?

Depends. How big is your yard? How much of the current yard is the creeping fescue v. the K31? How thick is the grass that is not creeping fescue? How patient are you?

If you want the creeping fescue in your whole yard, the quickest solution is to just overseed with the creeping fescue seed, but I'd suggest buying seed that only has the creeping fescue from online or a garden supply store, not a blended bag of different seed types.

Something like this

Creeping Red Fescue Grass Seed

---

Creeping Red Fescue is a cool-season grass used in cool, shaded, mountain sites, such as camps, resorts, and cabins where low-input of mowing, fertilization, and irrigation is desired.

If you want to overseed this fall, I would do it ASAP, but there is still probably another 2 weeks or so where you can overseed for Southern Ohio and still have enough time for the new seed to come in and establish itself before the first frost.

At a minimum I'd recommend dethatching and possibly aerating prior to overseeding.

[Release]

Your local hardware store or if you have a sod farm close by, they will have the better mix of grass seeds for your area.

Common question they'll ask are the location of the property , the type of climate you will have over your property, sunny, Shade, or sun/shade mix........  Your local source will also have information on which type of disease are in your area.

It'll pay to talk to an expert in you local area whom will save you lots of time and money.

This year, for whatever the reason, many of my neighbors lawn are looking pretty sad.  Growing up, I thought the grass never dies, they always come back from bad weather, however, in the past several seasons something is going on there.

Even the neighbors whom thatched and overseed their lawn every Spring are having the brown patches in their lawn.  The ones redone their yard by removing the turf and put down top soil and new grass several years ago also having issue. 

Pretty sure you'll have a local supplier for sod and seed ( sod farm ) in the suburb, get some advice from them.

Edited September 28, 2019 by Release

[Buckeyebowman]

On 9/12/2019 at 8:00 AM, RussUK said:

Just do what i did. Got rid of all the grass and replaced with the top grade synthetic grass. Cost us £3000(ish) to do the back garden but we can use it all year round, dries quick, no muddy footprints in the kitchen, the kids love it plus its great for golf practice (i use a mat so i dont damage the grass).

No lawn mower, no watering and looks good all year. Got it done last year and best thing we did.

Just need to sell the Flymo now

You remind me of a local eye surgeon, who we did a wine tasting for, at his home, many years ago. You had to have eyes like an eagle just to spot his driveway! You drove back in about a half a mile, through a solid woods, until you came to the house. Talk about secluded! There was no lawn, just rock gardens around the house, filled with plantings. 

When I asked the doctor why he had no lawn, he explained that it was intentional! He had neither the time, nor the inclination to cut grass! And he didn't want to have to hire someone to do so. He simply wanted the rock gardens around the house, and forest for everything else. It's one of the more terrific homes I've experienced.