Good weather news for you, Cap, and a question, too....

[Big Muddy]

Just looked at the forecast for your area, and looks like some wet stuff for you around Thursday.

Question, you said earlier that you were planting some fescue and ryegrass, last week...I plant tons of rye grass every year, but have never dealt with fescue....I assume the fescue is primarily for the cattle, but will deer browse on the fescue any better than the ryegrass???....thanks, Bro.

[Captain]

No, fescue is just for the cattle. It really has no wildlife benefits at all. I don't even think deer like walking through it, and there is certainly no food value there for quail, turkey etc.... It's just a good cool season grass that grows well in clay land, makes good hay in the spring and is what most folks have around here for their yard grass. Kentucky 31 is what we plant in these parts.
In my opinion it makes a great hay crop and keeps soil from eroding. But basically it's worthless to wildlife.

[Thumper]

I don't even think deer like walking through it.

Hmmm, why don't you plant big 300 yard swaths of it with a separation in the middle and have it funnel down to a narrow path right to your deer stand? Like a working alley and chute into a crowding pen? :D

[BarryBobPosthole]

There's some folks have it here in their yards too and they're mowing all the way into December.

Lots of folks use it for pasture too here but its likely more popular further south than us. I don't know why, but I always associated fescue as something you'd plant in wetter places. Not sure why that stuck in my head.

I know once you put it in, you ain't getting it out. The guy who farmed this spot my house is on had it because of all the trees we have. It grows pretty well in shade too. I sodded zoysia after having them scrape all the grass off my lot and there STILL clumps of fescue I have to dig out here and there. Its like nutgrass! You dig it out and two grow back
it seems!

BKB

[Chicken Dinner]

Funny how different zones react to it. Most lawns here are fescue with a little zoysia thrown in. Typically, zoysia will strangle any fescue that tries to get started.

[BarryBobPosthole]

My zoysia doesn't grow fast enough or thick enough to do that. Sure wish it would! The folks who have fescue lawns here, if they keep it mowed short so it doesn't clump, have some dang fine looking lawns!

The other thing is army worms. We get those here seems like in really dry years in summer and sometimes in fall. Their moths blow in from friggin Texas and they can eat a lawn down to the bare ground overnight! They seem to home in on the bermuda and fescue lawns.

BKB

[Thumper]

The mucky-mucks here all have St. Augustine ... take tons of care ... regular pest control, tons of fertilizer, bazillions of gallons of regular watering ... costs a fortune to maintain.

Us give-a-fucks have Bahiagrass ... it's brown if it's dry (no sprinklers), green if it's wet and even though we don't really have winters, it goes dormant anydamnway and I don't have to mow for a few months. ;)

[Captain]

I have very little experience with Army worms. Two years ago we saw our first ever march across a hayfield. They seem to be very easy to kill. Just some liquid Sevin in a field sprayer and they died about as fast as we treated. But I can see where they would ruin a field fast if you don't stay on top of them. The treatment was cheap and other than the time it took to spray they were really not a problem.

[Chicken Dinner]

I'll water the veggie and annuals. But, I absolutely refuse to water my lawn and it really suffered this year for it. Lots of big brown patches in the backyard. (Screw it. It'll come back next spring.) Unless you're going to be doing it everyotherdamnday, it seems like the only thing it really helps grow is the weeds. I probably have one more mow left in a couple of weeks and I'll be done for about four months.

[Thumper]

Mine's about to shut down too CD. It was mowed on the 8th and has hardly changed at all. I figure one more mowing just to get it trimmed for the "winter" will do it. I really don't know how that stuff knows it's winter, but it always stops growing around October/November. Heck, the temps are still consistently in the mid-to-high 80's, but it simply stops growing for some reason. Fine with me ... it won't have to be mowed again until about March!

[Big Muddy]

I haven't mowed my yard since July because of the drought!!!
Wife kept sprinklers going, but all it did was run up my water bill....she finally gave up.
This morning, I'm looking at a blessed 5 inch rain, since early yesterday morning, and believe it or not, there's very little water standing.
You can almost hear the soil, sucking it up!!!

[jb]

Have to mow every five days or the house disappears. Mixture of fescue & blue grass, sprinkler system and a 5 step fertilizer makes it happen, but then it's turns white for 6 months of the year too.