I want to over-seed my lawn in the near future. I would like to know
which grass seeds should I use.

Currently, the bluegrass in my lawn is doing OK, and I probably don't
want to replace it. But it is kind of thinning out in some areas. I
believe this has something to do with the fact that I don't water
enough and bluegrass needs a lot of water. Unfortunately, we have
occasional water shortage problem in where I live (Northern New
Jersey). According to locals, we have watering-ban every three to four
years. Seem like I should choose a grass seeds that is drought
tolerate.

But I am under the impression that bluegrass doesn't work well with
other grasses such as fescus because bluegrass will crowd out other
grasses when the condition is good for bluegrass. I may have to stick
with bluegrass or something that can grow with bluegrass.

My questions a

- Is there any drought-tolerate bluegrass, or bluegrass that is
"sort-of" drought-tolerate to some degree?

- Any other better choice? (No, I am not going to replace the
entire lawn at this point)

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan

"Jay Chan" wrote in message
om...
I want to over-seed my lawn in the near future. I would like to know
which grass seeds should I use.

Currently, the bluegrass in my lawn is doing OK, and I probably don't
want to replace it. But it is kind of thinning out in some areas. I
believe this has something to do with the fact that I don't water
enough and bluegrass needs a lot of water. Unfortunately, we have
occasional water shortage problem in where I live (Northern New
Jersey). According to locals, we have watering-ban every three to four
years. Seem like I should choose a grass seeds that is drought
tolerate.

But I am under the impression that bluegrass doesn't work well with
other grasses such as fescus because bluegrass will crowd out other
grasses when the condition is good for bluegrass. I may have to stick
with bluegrass or something that can grow with bluegrass.

My questions a

- Is there any drought-tolerate bluegrass, or bluegrass that is
"sort-of" drought-tolerate to some degree?

- Any other better choice? (No, I am not going to replace the
entire lawn at this point)

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

I live about 8 miles from the Kentucky border and bluegrass doesn't even do
well here. Most people are switching to petite fescue around here. It
requires less water and has some natural resistance to insect pest. I over
seeded for a few consecutive years in the fall and it made a big difference.
My lawn retains its green color when most of my neighbor's lawns have gone
dormant from the heat. You might want to check out this site for more
information: http://ohioline.osu.edu/lines/hygs.html

In my personal experience, blue does not thin due to low water, but it
just goes dormant. As soon as it cools off and moisture returns, it greens
up and is again thick. I my experience other factors cause it to thin,
like too little sun, bad drainage and other soil problems.

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math


"Jay Chan" wrote in message
om...
I want to over-seed my lawn in the near future. I would like to know
which grass seeds should I use.

Currently, the bluegrass in my lawn is doing OK, and I probably don't
want to replace it. But it is kind of thinning out in some areas. I
believe this has something to do with the fact that I don't water
enough and bluegrass needs a lot of water. Unfortunately, we have
occasional water shortage problem in where I live (Northern New
Jersey). According to locals, we have watering-ban every three to four
years. Seem like I should choose a grass seeds that is drought
tolerate.

But I am under the impression that bluegrass doesn't work well with
other grasses such as fescus because bluegrass will crowd out other
grasses when the condition is good for bluegrass. I may have to stick
with bluegrass or something that can grow with bluegrass.

My questions a

- Is there any drought-tolerate bluegrass, or bluegrass that is
"sort-of" drought-tolerate to some degree?

- Any other better choice? (No, I am not going to replace the
entire lawn at this point)

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Jay Chan

I want to over-seed my lawn in the near future. I would like to know
which grass seeds should I use.

Here is some info on drought tolerant grasses:
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopE...s/drought4.htm
sed5555

I live about 8 miles from the Kentucky border and bluegrass doesn't even do
well here. Most people are switching to petite fescue around here. It
requires less water and has some natural resistance to insect pest. I over
seeded for a few consecutive years in the fall and it made a big difference.
My lawn retains its green color when most of my neighbor's lawns have gone
dormant from the heat. You might want to check out this site for more
information: http://ohioline.osu.edu/lines/hygs.html

Glad to hear that the fine fescue your lawn is doing great. I guess
the fact that bluegrass doesn't suit well in your area gives the fine
fescue a chance to establish and win out over the bluegrass.

But I doubt that fine fescue will work in my lawn. I live in bluegrass
territory. I am under the impression that bluegrass will crowd out
fine fescue in my area if I don't remove bluegrass first (and I don't
want to take this dramatic step yet).

Thanks though.

Jay Chan

In my personal experience, blue does not thin due to low water, but it
just goes dormant. As soon as it cools off and moisture returns, it greens
up and is again thick. I my experience other factors cause it to thin,
like too little sun, bad drainage and other soil problems.

My lawn only has a thin layer of top soil. This may explain the reason
why some area of my lawn is thinning out. I am under the impression
that the thin top soil doesn't hold water well, and the bluegrass
consequently doesn't get enough water. Therefore, I regard my
grass-is-thinning problem as a lack-of-water problem instead of
lack-of-good-top-soil problem. I don't know...

I doubt this has to do with lack-of-sun-light. The areas that are
thinning tend to correlate with having a lot of sun exposure, instead
of lack of sun exposure. I am working on the assumption that
plenty-of-sun-exposure combining with lack of watering may be the
cause of thinning-lawn. But I can be wrong; the reason is that there
are also other factors that may be causing the problem (such as soil
compaction caused by heavy snow piled up along driveway and walkway).

If what you said is correct, I should overseed with bluegrass for now.
If the local government impose watering-ban, I will just have to let
the bluegrass to go dormant, and wait for it to return when they lift
the watering-ban. This sounds like a plan to me. Thanks.

Jay Chan

Here is some info on drought tolerant grasses:
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopE...s/drought4.htm

Thanks for the link.

The article said that bluegrass can tolerate drought by going dormant,
and it can survive and recover when water becomes available. This
sounds good to me. This means I don't need to worry about long term
impact of short term summer drought on my bluegrass lawn as long as I
will have rain fall later on. And that was basically what the other
newsgroup member has already told me here.

I have already found a site that rates bluegrass on their ability to
withstand drought (among many other ratings) -- something called
national... grass... association or something like that. Now I just
have to locate a source where I can order the bluegrass that has good
drought rating.

Jay Chan