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Creeping red fescue - anyone familiar?

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creeping red fescue
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Kayduv45

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I have creeping red fescue lawn (in the good parts) and have been hand pulling the unwanted grasses such as tall fescue, quackgrass, etc. Now it’s time to overseed and cover the bare patches. I can’t buy a bag of creeping red fescue seed at the local Home Depot. To buy online I need to know what to mix it with. I cannot get anyone at the big seed sellers to answer the phone. Does anyone have experience with creeping red?
 
#4 ·
If that photo looks like your lawn, your lawn may be all creeping red fescue, therefore you would not need to mix any other kind of seed with your creeping red fescue seed.

Other kinds of grass seed commonly mixed with creeping red fescue are Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass. Sometimes, but less commonly with turf type tall fescue.

If you can get a good close-up photo of a part of your lawn that you would like to duplicate, maybe we could help you identify the other grasses you have in your lawn that you want to keep and plant more of, if there are others.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Thank you so very much for your reply! I will try and get that photo when off work! Do you know if the creeping red does okay in partial shade? There is a large oak tree in the lawn. I’m just nervous about doing this myself so thank you for your patience. I found some creeping red seed today online and ordered it, like you suggested, without getting a mix. I like the idea of mixing in KBG though. Is there a certain type of bluegrass you could recommend to mix with it? I bought some Scott’s bluegrass seed at Home Depot before I found the picture of what the grass actually is. Would it be crazy to mix that in with the creeping red seeds?
 
#6 · (Edited)
Kayduv45 said:
Thank you so very much for your reply! I will try and get that photo when off work! Do you know if the creeping red does okay in partial shade? There is a large oak tree in the lawn. I'm just nervous about doing this myself so thank you for your patience. I found some creeping red seed today online and ordered it, like you suggested, without getting a mix. I like the idea of mixing in KBG though. Is there a certain type of bluegrass you could recommend to mix with it? I bought some Scott's bluegrass seed at Home Depot before I found the picture of what the grass actually is. Would it be crazy to mix that in with the creeping red seeds?
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Creeping red fescue (crf) does very well in shade. Creeping red fescue is a low maintenance turf grass and some people maintain it as a no mow turf grass. The photo you posted appears to be a no mow lawn.

The negative side of crf is that it can develop thatch over time, and that it doesn't like high temperatures. it can go dormant and turn brown until cooler weather arrives. It does better in the heat if you let it grow long or don't even mow it.

It would not be crazy at all to mix it with Kentucky bluegrass, but when crf is mixed with other grasses, it is normally meant to be just a small percentage of the mix, used mostly for increasing shade tolerance and/or turf density.

Crf also tends to out-compete other grasses and weeds especially Kentucky bluegrass (kbg), so if you plant a mix with higher than 10% to 15% by weight crf, you can still end up with a mostly crf lawn with very little kbg. You can encourage more of the kbg in the mix to grow if you keep the crf mowed short for two months while the kbg grows in.

The Scotts Bluegrass Mix would be a good choice of seed to use because it contains some varieties of kbg that germinate and establish quickly for kbg.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Thank you, again! I appreciate the information more than you know! I do know about thatch! The lawn hasn’t been dethatched in 5+ years and I’m doing that right now - with a dethatching rake! I’ve been working on it a couple hours a day for two weeks. Seems like it’s never going to end. There’s a lot of coarse grass in the lawn as well. I think it was overseeded a couple of times with tall fescue. I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of different problem, coarse grasses - maybe quack grass or Johnson grass? I am not sure. Watched a YouTube video and those two grasses seem to be present. I’m pulling out what I can by hand - don’t know of any other way to get rid of it. I’ve caused a lot of bare spots by doing this so I ordered a lot of seed! It’s getting aerated in two days - trying to finish up the thatch project before then. Then I plan on putting down compost before I seed. Does this sound like I’m in the right track?
 
#8 ·
Yes, it sounds like you are on the right track. It's probably getting late to seed in your area so you need to get it done quickly. Aeration is also a great way to dethatch crf.

You can put the seed down before you compost if you aren't putting down too much of it. If you put seed down after compost try to work it into the compost by gently raking it in a little.

Quackgrass and Johnson grass are hard ones to control, you may have to use Roundup then reseed the heavy infestations.

https://mdc.mo.gov/trees-plants/problem-plant-control/invasive-plants/johnson-grass-control

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/quackgrass_control_in_turf
 
#11 ·
I think I found the variety you were looking at.

https://www.mydirtygardener.com/products/3k-cvqh-3k3q-p

This page has a lot of the same information that I gave you. It does say that it has a medium to dark green color.

You will want to mow it in the spring to prevent any tall seed heads from growing, but later on you may not even have to mow it. When I go over mine with the mower in the summer, hardly anything gets cut anyway.
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
I’ve taken some pictures of my lawn so maybe you can confirm what you think might be good to mix with it. I know we discussed KBG already but thought it best for you to be able to see. The pics also show the dark unwanted grass. Unfortunately the seed I ordered won’t be delivered until Tuesday the 6th. However, we are having unusually warm weather - up in the 80’s over the weekend - so I’m hoping it’ll be okay to plant that late? I’ve broken the lawn into side 1 and side 2 because they seem very different. I’ve labeled some of the photos.

I plan to put down a lot of compost just FYI - was thinking of putting some down even before they aerate to maybe work it into the ground - what do you think about that idea?

Thank you for all the help!
 
#18 ·
Kayduv45 said:
I'm located in Calif on the central coast - 10 miles east of Morro Bay
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I can see that there are some other grasses in your side 1 photographs especially. The photos aren't quite close enough for me to identify them but I think there is probably some turf type tall fescue in there, and there may be some Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass too.

It appears to me that water may be a scarce commodity around there and that would explain why the creeping red fescue does so well. Kbg and prg require more water but turf type tall fescue can handle a little less.

Creeping red fescue will probably dominate anything you try to mix with it and anything that needs more water may not survive.

Do any of your neighbors grow any kbg or prg? If they do, you could mix in one or both of those if you want to give it a try.

Considering your local environment, I think you have a pretty good looking lawn to work with there. :)
 
#19 ·
I’m not sure what you meant by the dark unwanted grasses that you say are visible in the photos, but there appears to be some fine fescue that is darker than some of the rest. You may have some newer darker variety of creeping red fescue in there, or one of the other fine fescues like hard fescue or chewings fescue.

The creeping red fescue that you ordered says it will be medium to dark green, maybe overseeding with that will blend the colors better?

Newer varieties of kbg and particularly prg will probably be darker than the lighter creeping red that you seem to like.

The only way to make a lawn look completely uniform is to kill it and start over with a fresh seeding or sodding.
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
KerbDMK said:
I can see that there are some other grasses in your side 1 photographs especially. The photos aren't quite close enough for me to identify them but I think there is probably some turf type tall fescue in there, and there may be some Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass too.

It appears to me that water may be a scarce commodity around there and that would explain why the creeping red fescue does so well. Kbg and prg require more water but turf type tall fescue can handle a little less.

Creeping red fescue will probably dominate anything you try to mix with it and anything that needs more water may not survive.

Do any of your neighbors grow any kbg or prg? If they do, you could mix in one or both of those if you want to give it a try.

Considering your local environment, I think you have a pretty good looking lawn to work with there. :)
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agrostis said:
Whats your location on this map ? I'm guessing somewhere out west. -

https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/Default.aspx
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According to that map I'm in zone 9a - I've heard it referred to as the "transition zone".
 
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