Help with backyard grass?

[ReggieT]

Hey guys,

I live in Birmingham, AL and I have about 30% shade in my backyard.
I have tried a number grasses including heat resistant fescue and grass designed for shady areas specifically.
The results have all been the same, looks good healthy and green yet when the heat & humidity of late May and the summer months come in they wither up and die!
I'm not ready to invest in high dollar Zoysia or sodding bermuda just yet.
I see this certain fescue looking grass thriving on the sides of our highways in extreme heat all summer long. 
I have considered double seeding bermuda or perhaps pasture fescue that farmers use for their cattle. Maybe even clover?

Any thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks, 
Reg

[Southside]

Fescue is a cool season grass, does not matter what variety - K31, Creeping Red, etc.  When the heat comes on the fescue goes dormant.  Clover is also a cool season legume, sweet yellow clover being the exception but that won't do well for a lawn.  Red clover will last longer in the heat - maybe until around June over your way.   Coastal Bermuda would work well down your way in the heat, but it loves nitrogen.  I suspect what you are seeing along the highway is actually Weeping Love Grass, if it looks like it grows in clumps.  Love grass is a bunch grass that is heat and drought tolerant and will grow in poor soils.  The other option is the dreaded Johnson Grass - which by the way I absolutely love.  Technically a warm season grass but I call it a "long season grass".  It will grow around here from mid April until the frost kills it, and the stuff will grow 8' tall if it's not cut back.  Drought and shade tolerant.  The more you cut or in my case graze it back, the more leafy it becomes as the season progresses.  

With any of these giving them some water when it turns warm will help a lot, also aerating your soil so that water, oxygen, and roots can penetrate what is often hard packed makes a big difference.  

We operate a grazing dairy when the wood is not keeping me occupied so I guess that makes me a grass nerd.  I know it bugs my wife when I am walking along and getting excited about vetch, brome, and otherwise watching the grass grow.  

Hope this helps.       

[thecfarm]

What kind of trees you have in your backyard? Those may not be helping the grass.
Water helps.
I have 2 big red oak trees in my backyard. I put the water to the grass. It does seem to help. And I live in Maine.

[Raider Bill]

Will bahia grass grow there? It is very heat tolerant. Another kind we have is St Augustine but I don't think that will take the cold.

[gspren]

Most years by June I wish my yard would die back or at least stop growing.

[bags]

Soil test--- wont grow if it doesn't get what it needs.

[SawyerTed]

+1 on the soil test.  Also what time of year are you sowing your grass?  It will do best if sown in the fall early enough to get established.  If sown in the spring it likely wont survive the heat.  

[Magicman]

St. Augustine is our "go to" here.

[Jeff]

We had the same issues here in the north. Heavy shade and the gross died out in summer. The secret? WATER. My son put an irrigation system in for us over the course of 3 father's days. Fertilize 3 times a year and grass problems are gone. Even the pig roasts don't wipe it out anymore, and man, it use to.

[Magicman]

Maybe that is because you don't have to worry about fertilizer @Jeff because a buncha "bull gets shot" at the Pig Roast.  At times I have seen it knee deep.  

[Raider Bill]

I put in a fertilizer system for my sprinklers. Its simply a 35 gallon barrel hosed into the suction side of the pump.
I mix up 2 lbs of miracle grow or a qt of fish emulsion in the 35 gallons and run that mix through the sprinklers every so often generally once a month.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

See if you can find a grass called Orchard Grass. It loves shade.

[caveman]

There are several varieties of St. Augustine grass.  Some are quite tolerant of shade.  Of the turf grasses in Florida, St. Augustine is the most shade tolerant, Bermuda is the most shade intolerant and Bahia, Zoyzia, and Centepede fall in between the two.  Based on the hardiness zone maps, most of these should grow in Alabama.  St. Augustine does require some maintenance, lots of water and chinch bugs like it.

[ReggieT]

Hmm...this is proving to be kinda daunting! :'(

[ReggieT]

Looks like Centipede may be a good choice...gotta do more research though. 

[pineywoods]

Stay away from bahai. Dang stuff is like trying to mow rope..

[Raider Bill]

Stay away from bahai. Dang stuff is like trying to mow rope..

Roger that! You need sharp blades.

[ReggieT]

That's ironic you mentioned Bahia...I was considering that.
I was considering that as well...perhaps even the Zoysia that does well from seed.
Basically I just want decent greenery and coverage in the backyard with minimum maintenance...

[Southside]

You could always go the Kudzu and goat route.   :D

[Magicman]

Bahia ain't minimum maintenance for backyard grass unless you have Goats. 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Bahia ain't minimum maintenance for backyard grass unless you have Goats.  

The mow you plant, the mow we mow.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I grew up in N. Fla a couple hundred miles south of you. St Augustine was the most shade tolerant on our place and we had many types because we had a monument business and any time we cleaned off a lot to put chips down we brought the grass home and put in a low spot. Bahia seemed to put a 9" seed head out about every 3 days and always looked ragged. I always remembered centipede as a high sun grass and I don't think it does well in the shade. Zoysia grass was very thick and beautiful grass but I don't remember growing it in the shade. Good luck.

[james]

well... 
you could always try... 


concrete and green paint!!!
james ;D ;D

[ReggieT]

Hmm...kudzu the only grass I know worse than Johnson grass! smiley_dunce

[ReggieT]

Here is the Auburn Soil Test: