2 questions about residential grass...

[greybeard]

Sorry to pose a city person question here in forages, but Didn't know where else to put this... My "lawn' is mostly St Augustine in the front, over grown with crabgrass and common bermuda everywhere else on the premises.
I'm fine with the bermuda but need to seed some places that are bare. Bermuda, from my past experience is very hard to get established and I see lots of something called Tall Fescue seed for sale locally. I know absolutely nothing about any kind of fescue, as it was a dirty word back in East Texas where coastal bermuda and bahia reigned supreme. What is Tall Fescue and how hard is it to get established in a relatively dry hot area? Can I plant it now and hope to get it rooted before winter? (I do have a lawn irrigation system tho)

In an area where the previous owner let his dogs go poop and pee, I planted some bermuda seed and this morning I noticed something had invaded the area last night.
The coffee cup is for scale and the mound of dirt something dug out may fill 2 of those coffee cups. . Any ideas what might be down in that approx 1" diameter hole? Mouse/mole/venomous serpent...................................................itty bitty graboid?

 

[Brute 23]

In my experience if you pour the fert and water to the bermuda and st aug, it will take over bare spots. You just have to watch for too much shade or things like that. Products like weed and feed are great if you put them out when they say. It will clear up the weeds and other unwanted grasses usually.

Cutting the areas of unwanted grasses shorter and leaving the grasses you want taller really helps also. It seems odd standing there but helps.

The fert is also good for your trees also. You will see them pop.

There are companies that will come and apply fert and herb based on the time of year. It works and is not that expensive.

 

[greybeard]

Thanks, but I have no trees and the only shade is one side of the house for 2-3 hours.
(I'm Texan born and raised. Sun is good for the soul and (trees) are not your friend!)

 

[southernultrablack]

IMO, the fescue won't do any good in the summer heat. It should be planted in the fall, as it will go dormant in the summer. I don't really have any valid input on a viable option, just my experience with fescue.

 

[kenny thomas]

I am in fescue country and when the weather gets over about 70 it goes dormant. It doesn't handle dry or hot very well. Must be established in cool weather. Dark moon of February.

 

[Philip-TX]

no help on the grass, but snakes can't dig.

 

[wbvs58]

I think synthetic grass is the way to go GB.

Ken

 

[Ouachita]

The grass doesn't know it's residential grass. Sounds like you're discriminating. I suggest treating it the same as all of the unwashed rural grass.
Besides, you don't need anymore grass clippings to tote off.

 

[farmerjan]

I think it is moles or chipmunks... but I am not familiar with the type of small varmints you have down there... I have mole "holes" like that in the garden in places... just one little hole where they seem to come out at night....

 

[1982vett]

Spider

spiders that dig holes in ground - Google Search

My St. Augustine took beating last winter. Coupled with the loss of several shade trees, I have several areas not liking the extra sun and heat. It takes a lot more water if it gets full sun ALL day.

 

[Brute 23]

That's like some kind of horror movie where a ton of spiders come pouring out of a hole.

 

[greybeard]

Thanks. I guess I will just plant the bermuda and hope for the best.
(artificial grass is too cost prohibitive)

I saw 'something' pushing dirt out of the hole yesterday after I posted, but couldn't tell what it was, as it never came completely out of it's hole. I'm going to place a large and relatively heavy glass bowl over the the hole and maybe get a glimpse of it. It's shaded most of the time by a big rose bush and the porch eve. Strangely, we have a rescued from East Texas woods calico cat that normally is aggressive as hades regarding anything that moves on ground level but has paid no attention to this varmint at all. I never considered spiders but very well could be a big one. I was thinking maybe a mouse, but I know Calico would have been all over it in that case.

I suppose I 'could' just dig down and find out but might kill a 'good' critter. Would love to have a resident horned toad but I don't think that's what it is.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

It would be a 'wonder' if you could successfully mix the species as Bermuda and St. Augustine are warm season grasses and tall fescue is a cool season grass. All 3 are perennials. My recommendation for your yard is don't do it. The likely result will be a splotchy looking yard with some green and brown splotches in the summer and some brown and green splotches in the winter. I don't have first hand experience with Bermuda....yet. Give me about 3 months......new thread coming soon. It's too cool here in Ohio. Ho9wever, if you were able to get all 3 of these grasses to grow in a pasture, you would quite literally have growing forage on a year round basis though. As your tall fescue seed is going to be KY31, be aware of fescue toxicosis. This can be a nuisance in Ohio where I am, but a disaster where I am going, if you aren't careful.

 

[greybeard]

I am familiar with the toxicity problems associated with Fescue.
There are 3 different types of fescue listed on the seed bag label. I forget what they all are and you can see the difference in the actual seed.

I already have green grass and brown splotches year round. Few lawns here escaped the single digit low temps we had in 2021 and the 3 consecutive days and nights of freezing rain last winter.
It's why crab grass has been able to take over so many lawns. Cold killed off most of the St Augustine...

 

[simme]

I expect warm season grasses would be better suited than fescue for lawns in central Texas. I think fescue would need lots of water in the warm months to stay green. Do any neighbors have fescue? St. Augustine is not very cold hardy. I tend to think of St Augustine as a grass for coastal areas. You might look at Zoysia. Better cold tolerance, drought tolerance and will tolerant some shade if that is an issue. You could buy a small amount of sod to place in the most bare spots. Then once established, transfer plugs from that area to the spots where the st augustine has thinned out. Over time, the zoysia would spread over the yard. I am over half finished converting my fescue to Palisades zoysia that way. We had 8 degrees around Christmas and in the 90's now. It does well. I don't water it.

Thin stands of fescue and other grasses are subject to intense competition from crabgrass in the summer. I use Prodiamine (generic Barricade) pre-emerge herbicide in February. It is a wettable powder. Gives about 8 months of control.

The endophyte toxicity is not a problem in a lawn like it is in a pasture. Actually a positive in a lawn since it increases persistence and drought tolerance.

 

[greybeard]

Do any neighbors have fescue?

About 1/2 here in the part of town I live in, tho I don't know what type Fescue they have. The rest are split between St Augustine and Zoysia with a few having what I call 'junk'.

 

[greybeard]

Mystery solved I think. Was about to pull some weedy looking crap from an area about 3' from that hole but Just across the sidewalk from the hole, near a different rose bush. Yes, I today, discovered another bunch of disturbed soil which at first, I took to be yet another fire ant mound. A few minutes later, I watched a very large winged and stingered black and yellow creature come walking along in broad daylight and afraid of nothing, dragging a cicada with it. (black and yellow scare a fellow?) It and it's prey quickly disappeared down a partially hidden hole not far from the disturbed soil. I am evidently ground zero for cicada killin wasps.

I have a 20 year old but still sealed quart of Malathion concentrate. Fear that, winged stingered creature..

 

[Chuckie]

Wow, am I late to this party, but that hole is a Vole hole. Favorite food of the Coyote. Those holes are everywhere here. Voles are destroying soybean fields and lawns and flower beds. They are saying that the "No till" practice in West TN is helping the Vole to hide underneath and take out the crops. No till is on my land so I tell them, no Coyote hunting on the property as they are keeping them in check. A vole used to be called a field mouse as it is larger than a mouse, but smaller than a rat. It has a half tail, with longer hair, and they multiply so fast. These Voles are invading my pastures and the Coyotes are constantly digging them up. A Coyote does not tear the ground up, as he listens to where the vole is and grabs it from where it hears it. So you only find a hole where it was pulled up. The cat brings them inside all the time. This is what the ground looks like in the picture below where there is nothing to hunt these Voles. Then next is what the soybean fields look like where there is no predator to kill them out. Those spots are large enough to park full size vehicles in and larger. For some reason, these voles are increasing with a tremendous population. I see hawks grabbing them all the time. Also, I have sunken areas in my front yard where they have formed colonies. The Zoysia grass just grows down into the sink hole that I cannot get rid of. I keep filling it up, and it keeps sinking back down. There were two King Snakes in one of the sink holes late one afternoon this past summer. I was thankful to see those. I know this sounds extreme, but people keep asking, "What are these holes in my yard?" An extension agent not from my county told my husband when he was alive, that if you start killing off the coyotes, you are going to have a bigger problem on your hands with the voles. Those pictures below show the damage they do if go unchecked if you are seeing a problem. This is not from my soybean field. Voles also destroy your trees. When you see something has chewed on a young tree in the winter and all the bark is gone, voles want what is under the ground and just right at the surface. I have had to collar all young trees that do not have developed bark yet. They will eat the roots off of alfalfa. That center picture is a soybean field in Kentucky.
Here is an article from Ohio about the Voles in no-till crops. https://www.no-tillfarmer.com/articles/6256-voles-munching-tips-to-fight-back

 

[Hpacres440p]

Mystery solved I think. Was about to pull some weedy looking crap from an area about 3' from that hole but Just across the sidewalk from the hole, near a different rose bush. Yes, I today, discovered another bunch of disturbed soil which at first, I took to be yet another fire ant mound. A few minutes later, I watched a very large winged and stingered black and yellow creature come walking along in broad daylight and afraid of nothing, dragging a cicada with it. (black and yellow scare a fellow?) It and it's prey quickly disappeared down a partially hidden hole not far from the disturbed soil. I am evidently ground zero for cicada killin wasps.

I have a 20 year old but still sealed quart of Malathion concentrate. Fear that, winged stingered creature..

Those wasps are spider killers too-I've seen them drag bugs 2-3 times their size across a pretty good distance. Other than the holes, if it's killing cicadas it isn't a bad thing.
We have a split Bermuda St Augustine lawn area. All dependent on rain, no sprinklers. Bermuda in the sun, St Augustine in shaded areas or east side of buildings. Nice mix

 

[Logan52]

Fescue country here. It establishes in the cool of early spring and is productive through June and again in the fall. It stays green all winter unless we have some really hard freezes (below zero). It is basically dormant in July and August and were it not for crabgrass and clover, the cows would be on slim pickins in midsummer.
My yard is basically fescue and white clover. Crabgrass takes over in the summer. I think you would be better off trying to encourage your Bermuda and St. Augustine.