Fescue – Growing In a Bermuda Lawn

Q: Okay, don’t laugh. I’m new to the world of lawn care. Since my lawn is composed of way too many different types of grasses (bermuda, fescue, centipede, zoysia…don’t ask) I’m not sure if the attachments are weeds or some type of cool weather grass.

A: Hey – I’ve had a lawn for thirty years – and I get weeds in my grass too!

You have fescue, an evergreen, cool-season grass that is common in thinly growing bermudagrass lawns.

Since bermudagrass can usually crowd out fescue, your first job is to figure out how to make the bermudagrass thick.

Is the soil hard? Maybe it needs aerating.

Does water flow over the spot when it rains? You need to channel the water elsewhere.

Is there too much shade? Trim nearby trees (or switch to fescue, which likes light shade).

Don’t spray a non-selective weedkiller on the fescue, you’ll inevitably get some of it onto the green bermudagrass crown. That will leave a dead spot in spring…..ripe for further invasion by crabgrass or fescue grass.

My solution? Spray glyphosate (click for sources) on a home-made cotton “wiper” and kill the fescue that way.