Grass/ground cover suggestion for yard with huge Oak trees...

first thing would be to cut the tree limbs as high above the ground as possible. If you can cut them up so that nothing hangs below 10', great. if you can get full clearance higher than that go for it.

second you need to make sure you have quite a bit of topsoil above the roots. Ideally you want 8"+ between top of roots and top of soil.

After that, try and find the most shade tolerant grass type for your region. If you are way down south you have a few options.

I had a Zoysia lawn in Nashville but didn't think it would be a go here in Southern Louisiana.

My old yard with dense pecans has dwarf mondograss. It's super dark green and can be mowed like grass (but much less frequently).

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second you need to make sure you have quite a bit of topsoil above the roots. Ideally you want 8"+ between top of roots and top of soil.

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Do this if you want to kill the oak trees... oak roots need to breathe.

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Do this if you want to kill the oak trees... oak roots need to breathe.

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That is only true for specific types of oaks generally found in the western areas of the country. The majority of oaks will be fine.

But it is a requirement (4" bare minimum) if the goal is to grow grass under the canopy. If not, then no grass which was the original question.

get the canopy of the oak lifted and thinned out to allow more sunlight.

you won't get grass all the way up to the roots. Leave about an 8' radius from the trunk as mulch area and then if sunlight permits, plant some palisade zoysia. if its heavy shade, super blue liriope until you have enough light for sod

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I put a couple inches of mulch from some ground stumps around a 15” red oak in my yard last year. It may have killed it. I raked it away when it was clear that the tree was in trouble. It’s not looking great but may survive.

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Was the mulch up to the tree? Oddly when you put mulch around an oak that tends to be a good thing but you cannot put it up to the tree itself The mulch needs to stop before it touches the collar/bark of the oak.

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It was left about 6 inches from contacting the trunk. And this was a thin layer. I was shocked by the response. No roots are on top of the ground.

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Sounds like something toxic or diseased might have been in the mulch then.

Maybe. Like I said, I just raked it out away from the tree to a layer that isn’t even solid anymore. All mulch is still under the crown, but the tree has leafed back out.

ETA: I put this same mulch around young sapling redbuds in tree tubes and they’re doing fantastic.

Large shade beds is the best option. More expensive upfront, but will be cheaper in the long run since there is no turfgrass that grows well in dense shade without needing to reseed/resod yearly, no matter how shade-tolerant the variety is.