Thursday, April 10, 2008
Mixes take advantage of fescue, bluegrass strengths
John Arbogast
Landscape consultant John Arbogast answers your questions every Thursday. Send questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to:
Dear John
5102 Greenfield St. SW
Roanoke, Va. 24018
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Q: I live in Richmond. I have been dealing with a turf store here and have been using their grass seed mixture on my lawn called Southern Lawn Extreme. I have been very pleased with it. The one question that I am unsure of is the proper cutting height; the salesman said to cut it at three-and-a-half inches; however most of the sites on the Web that I have gone to say to mow tall fescue between two and three inches. I was wondering what you would recommend Also, I am going to put you on the spot. Is there a better mixture you would recommend for a person who wants a nice looking lawn and whose lawn has very little traffic? In other words, what is the best grass seed for the Richmond area to get a very good looking lawn?
A: Southern Lawn Extreme is a popular turf seed mixture that contains mostly turf-type tall fescue seeds and a smaller amount by weight of bluegrass seeds. This mix takes advantage of the durability of turf-type fescues, which naturally grow in a “clump” fashion, and of the spreading growth habit of bluegrass, which helps to knit the fescue plants together.
I do recommend cutting this and most other grasses at heights based on the changing seasons and the stresses that nature places. I recommend cutting Southern Lawn Extreme turf at 2 1/2 inches mowing height in the spring and fall (and winter too if the grass is growing there in Richmond) and at 3 inches mowing height during the summer. Mowing frequency should be based on removal of no more than one-third of the grass height at a time, regardless of the cutting height.
The best grass seed for an attractive lawn in Richmond, in my opinion, is one that is a blend of turf-type tall fescue varieties, like the one you’ve used.
Turf type tall fescues are usually more tolerant of soil compaction from traffic, if your lawn ever has any, than the bluegrasses seem to be. Bluegrasses do seem to have a better recovery potential, though.
Proper seeding rate, excellent area preparation prior to seeding, proper post seeding care, especially watering, and overseeding in future years are all just as important as searching for and using the best seed for your city. The site that you’re stuck with, which includes how good or yucky the soil is and problems like poor drainage, will have a great impact on most grasses. Water is necessary for survival of any grass in the east. Most grasses need a moderate amount of fertilization annually for best color and density. As most lawn owners can attest to, lawn grasses just aren’t something that we can “plant it and forget it.”
Q: How much of a Redbud tree can I prune off at a time? I planted some Redbud trees many years ago, and I’ve been moving the volunteers around in my landscape to make things look better and provide greenery. However, some of the volunteers have grown several feet tall but don’t have a good shape. They need a lot of pruning. I live in western Virginia.
A: Try not to remove more than about one-third of the leaf producing branch parts of any woody tree in any one growing season. However, Redbuds grow fairly quickly, meaning that they should recover from pruning nicely.
The following are some factors that allow us to prune more than 1/3 from a Redbud in a year. Pruning should be done on Redbuds during the spring immediately after blooming. A Redbud should have had many full-sized leaves during the year prior to pruning more than 1/3.
Redbud pruning should leave many feet (or inches for a small tree) that will quickly produce new leaves to make sugars for the tree. Redbuds pruned by more than one-third should be watered weekly during the growing season if drought occurs.
