I want to overseed my yard with Rye. I live in GA. and have mostly Bermuda Sod. Problem is the builder threw down a few Fescue seeds while completing the yard a few years ago. I had the yard areated and planted with Sahra/Yuma from Pennington that summer. After a few years of professional treatment and much TLC on my part the planted areas look almost as good as the sod however the pesky Fescue still shows. I have been told that the only way to fix the problem is to wait until the summer grass is asleep and then nuke the Fescue with chemicals. My question is how long do I wait to kill the Fescue??? What month??? And then will I have enough time to plant a Rye lawn??? Also any help on a nice high quality Rye for the deep south winter would be appreciated. Thanks in advance Charles
Spraying roundup when the bermuda goes dormant is your only option for killing the fescue. Wait until the bermuda is completely brown, I would guess in mid/late December. As for a Rye lawn, do you realize that you will be mowing while it is cold outside? Rye doesn't stop growing because its cold. It also is a very difficult grass to mow. You must bag it and it grows very fast, requiring a cut every 5 to 7 days. Most folks try a rye lawn one year because it looks nice and then never have one again. As for a good rye grass go to a reputable feed and seed store, maybe a GardenSouth if they are in your neighborhood. Good Luck
And yes it would be too late to plant rye once the bermuda has gone dormant, unless you get a week or so of 50+ temps in late Dec. in which case it would germinate.
I fyou are putting Rye in for fall color then why worry about a little Fecue you will have problems with gettin grid of the rye in early summer.
Tlcgrounds; The pesky fescue grows faster,and taller than the bermuda thus making my lawn look like it needs a trim two days after I cut it. Lawn company tells me that the rye and the fescue will grow at about same rate so fescue won't stand out as much this winter. Pennington Seed Company in Madison,GA. says that an annual rye will dye out (with a scalping )in May or June here in GA. They also say that their perennial rye will last longer into the summer (thus looking bad ) but that perennual would be a waste of quidd because it would not survive a southern summer. I have spot treated fescue with MSMA. Most of the builders KY 31 is going away. I will wait two weeks to plant rye and hope for the best.
