Tall fescue grass help

I got so damn tired of having fescue. So much maintenance and needed so much damn water in the summer. It is not weed resistant whatsoever. I said screw it and got zoysia. I love the zoysia. I don’t understand why anyone would want to deal with having fescue.

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I got so damn tired of having fescue. So much maintenance and needed so much damn water in the summer. It is not weed resistant whatsoever. I said screw it and got zoysia. I love the zoysia. I don’t understand why anyone would want to deal with having fescue.

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I have an incredibly shady front yard. Parts of it get sunlight only a 2-4 hours a day depending on time of year. Fescue is the only thing that can handle it. I have a zoysia/bermuda back yard, but it would never live in my front lawn.

I'm in Middle Tennessee as well.

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I have an incredibly shady front yard.

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that's my problem too... front yard doesnt get enough sun for Zoysia

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aerating and overseeding are worthless without a quality annual care program.

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Agreed. If you don't have an annual care program, you will be aerating and overseeding all the time with bad results. Whatever is causing your lawn to perform poorly hasn't been addressed.

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Aerating fescue is not necessary as it is not a thatch producing grass.

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I disagree. If your soil is compacted, core aeration will absolutely help. It will also provide excellent seed to soil contact if overseeded afterwards. Aerating is different than dethatching. I'm sure you knew that and just mispoke.

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TTTF will typically germinate in less than 10 days so now would be a good time to put it down.

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Yep, it's the perfect time.

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If you try to kill off the existing grass you are going to push your timeline back at least a week or two waiting for it to die.

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The only thing I would say is that if your grass is mostly weeds, then go ahead, bite the bullet, and roundup the yard. Wait a few days to ensure the product gets to the roots and then seed. That would be my plan.

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If you have soil compaction, mechanical aeration is treating the symptom and not fixing the problem. There are university proven organic granule products that will aerate, provide organic matter and increase microbial activity way better than mechanical aeration.

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core aeration provides instant results that will help. It won’t last too long, but it helps and will help with overseeding.

Liquid or organic aeration is supposed to provide long lasting help, but it’s effects are not immediate. If he is trying to seed now, I would do core aeration and follow up with liquid if he can.

I agree that slice seeding or pushing the seed into the ground is more effective than broadcast spreading seed after core aeration. If he’s not doing it himself though, cost comes into play.