Kentucky Blue Grass vs Tall Fescue: How Turf Type, K31, & KBG Are Different 

I agree! Thank you! :)

I was just looking into this for ideas to overseed when falls a bit closer. Glad to see your having results.

Glad it resonates Kevo! Thanks.

I concur with this view. I have a relatively new lawn (established in 2019, so three summers so far). It was originally seeded with whatever random seed the contractors used (manually seeded south side, north side was hydroseed). Lawn came in, but lots died off in the winter. After that first summer, I took over maintenance and used Scott's regional blend ("Pacific Northwest"), which is mostly ryegrass, with some bluegrass and fescue mixed in. It filled in nice the following spring and summer, but still had spotty die-off in the summer, and then more in the winter. But the stuff that died off looks like the ryegrass and bluegrass; all around, there are these great, healthy clumps of fescue. So, the end of this summer I've overseeded with a straight tall fescue blend, and will use that again in spring. Fact is, our summers are extremely dry, and have been extra hot as well (two separate heat waves over 100 F). I'm not willing to keep the lawn soaked; I do one heavy water before each heat wave, which seems to keep the fescue happy enough (not green, but at least not just completely dead, dried up and withered), but still leaves the other grass varieties dying off in the heat. It will depend a lot on climate, as well as one's willingness to expend huge amounts of water on a lawn. But for my own part, I can't justify the huge water expense for the lawn, and my summertime climate won't support ryegrass and bluegrass without constant, heavy watering. The fescue on the other hand does great, looks great, and seems to hold up better to any traffic as well. I expect this will be true for most of the west and mid-west, which are getting hotter and drier every year.

K31 looks ugly in my opinion

@@Scott-xq2dm yeah, no reason to put up with K31. Modern turf type tall fescue are much better looking and just as hardy, if not more so.

It looks like crabgrass to me

@@chazdarden95 fr I can't stand that shite

Hehe, I figured you were. 😁 Ive got a few kbg vids up my sleeve for the next month or two. Ill be sure to give you a shout out in mine somewhere. 👊

Same here. I chose Turf Type Tall Fescue over Kentucky Blue grass mostly due to better drought tolerant and foot traffic. Turf Type can't fix itself, but you can overseed it. All lawns will need repair every year anyway. That is what I did to my lawn and now it looks full and green. Also, Turf Type would have a better chance if you grow it from seeds I think.

Thanks a lot for your comment! Honestly the two different types do seem to be closer to each other as you move further into colder zones and both feel less clumpy when they are planted densely together. By far their biggest selling points are that they grow tall so you don't have to mow as often, they don't need as much fertilization to do well, and they have much better drought tolerance than KBG. Spend a bit of time and money on annual overseeding every sept and a lawn with either will be just fine for most anybody.

very true, blades are very different and just the vein pattern sticks out even if the blade width is similar. Some people are fine with it and some don't even notice however.

Can't speak for the author of the video, but my experience has been that the blends wind up monoculture anyway, depending on your climate. That is, I'd been using a blend of perennial ryegrass, KBG, and fescue, but the fescue is the only one that can hold up to our hot, dry summers and wet winters. The other varieties die off in the summer, leaving holes that don't come back (i.e. not just dormant). Note that if I were willing to keep up with the heavy watering the ryegrass and bluegrass need, it would work. But I'm not. And if I were, I might as well just have a lawn full of the high-maintenance grass. I'd say a blend of "supervariety" (i.e. there's not just one ryegrass, not just one bluegrass, not just one tall fescue, etc.) is best. Figure out your climate and what sort of maintenance you're willing to do, and then pick the top-level variety to go with. A blend of subspecies of that variety is fine, but don't waste time on different varieties.

Have you tried maintaining it at 2in? Some cultivars of tttf list the height at 2”-4”.

@@desmorider747 I tried 1&3/4 and got stressed up. I've been cutting it at 2.5 since then (only 5 mows) and looks better, but it is mixed with PR and KBG from the precious owner of the house. I'd like to have all TTTF in my 1,200 sqft front lawn eventually

@@upnylawn3519 When I was living on Long Island till I was 20 I worked summer jobs on a sod farm. Kentucky Blue Grass was the thing to have. That can be maintained lower than tttf. Did you bring the h.o.c. down gradually?

@@desmorider747 Yeah I'll probably go with KBG when I do the full reno in fall. For now I just wanted something easy to germinate and that would help me go nicely through the season

@@upnylawn3519 Do you have irrigation system? What kind of mower are you using? Gradually take it down to 2.25in and see how it does at that height. I would think in the Buffalo NY climate you’d have no problem at 2.25-2.50in. If it’s not looking good you can always let it grow longer. This summer I will try my back lawn at 2.25-2.50in with a reel mower, and my front at 3-3.5in. In years past I have maintained lawn at 4-4.5in.

I think you are right, my bad, both grasses use the work Kentucky, grr, I'm sure I've misspoken a few other times too. :/

Yes. He make an error in the explanation. KY spreads, K31 does not.

Be prepared to irrigate, irrigate, irrigate You’ll likely need to put down close to 2 in of water/wk at peak of summer heat If you’re in a drier environment you’ll likely have an easier time growing KBG as long as you can put down enough water. One other thing to consider, among the cool season grasses, KBG is infamous for fungal disease susceptibility especially in hot humid locations My two cents

@@josecito976 Thanks for your response! I'm totally OK watering, and it's a dry climate. You often hear people say the higher temps will be bad for it, but I'm not sure in what way. Like, will it die? Does it just go dormant? You know? That kind of thing.

@@jamesorr1200 in my experience once ambient temps go over 85 KBG will definitely show signs of heat/drought stress. You can let it go dormant if you’re not going to keep up with watering but even when dormant you should continue to water it or risk the plant drying out and dying off

Im also in Central Valley, if u prep your kBG or rye for our harsh summers, for example plenty of potassium, good soil if you water it you can maintain in CA. Some of the parks in my development are Rye KBG mix and remain green while being cut short also. I’m seeding Rye early Sept. 🙏🏻

Can you irrigate more during the summer?

@@juzoli Yes, I have in ground irrigation. Also, the turf is a mixture of tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. Do you think that I’d have to train it for low cutting, by gradually reducing the h.o.c.?

@@desmorider747 Officially, TTTF should be cut 2.5-4 inches, so you should be okay. But the good drought resistance only applies if it cut taller, so it can retain more water. If you water it 1-2x a week, it should be fine, at least you won’t kill it:) But since all places, all soils are different, just give it a try and see. Spend a summer by cutting half your lawn to 2.5, other half taller (3.5), and you will se which performs better. “Can be maintained” is a generic term. Try both, and see which one looks better for your eyes.

@@juzoli Thanks for your time and answers. What state are you in?

@@desmorider747 NJ. I personally chose TTTF because the summer might be hot, and I don’t want to waste too much water on irrigation. For this purpose I will leave it longer. But right now it is at 2.5”. My small front lawn is PRG though because it looks better:)

That's a pretty great idea actually! I will probably do that this fall 😃

Perennial rye will die in Vegas heat, too much for it. Tttf will be better but will probably go dormant in the hottest parts of the year no matter what you do. If you are set on running cool season grass in Vegas then go out of your way to find a Tttf variety that has been "bred" for the best heat tolerance possible. I don't know that off the top of my head but I'm sure you could find out a few varieties quickly by doing an hour of research.

@@TurfMechanic Thank u for ur help I jus over-seeded this april with tttf however im wanna try to over seed with bermuda but i get allergies ever season change here (spring n autumn). N Bermuda puts out too much pollen i hear n its in Vegas the city prefers not the Bermuda bcuz of its pollen. Anyways i always bump into ur vids n enjoy watching it 😊

Yeah sure you can. It isn't mixed like that as often as perennial rye because the grass blades don't match as well but at least with fescue you'll get more drought tolerance to mix in with your kbg. Trick is to getting even spread since the blades will look quite different, especially if the kbg starts checking out in the summer.

@@TurfMechanic right thank you.. I have had the worst time trying to get my lawn together.. i think this year it's because i stopped watering it for a moment and lost track.. being i work a lot

@@nobodybusiness5409 no harm probably, it will come back very soon as temps start moderating. This is cool season grasses best time of the year September through first week or through early November- have fun with it if you get some time away from work that is 🤣

Hey Rudy, all of the cool season grasses, tall and fine fescues, Kentucky blue grass, and perennial rye will work fine in Chicago. The choice is very personal however, what you value will dictate what you plant. Rye and fescue won't spread and will have to be ocerseeded periodically, kbg will fill in gaps on its own but will be slow to mature and hard to grow from seed, fescue will be better able to withstand high temps and lower levels of irrigation. Fine fescue will work wonders in dense shade. Rye will do great cut low and frequently, tall fescue will work well cut tall and less often. All will work just fine, you just need to assess your situation and trust your gut.

@@TurfMechanic Yes, last fall I dug up a section of my lawn, put down new topsoil, planted fresh KBG, covered with a thin layer of peat moss, kept it moist, man, so hard to get to germinate and grow, still have gaps. I wound up tossing a different mix in there just to get something. KBG is so hard to get to grow. I know it spreads, hopefully it will.

Hard to know for sure but it sounds like a fine fescue type. It won't stand up on its own when it's long and fine fescue usually doesn't need a lot of fert so patches might indicate over fertilization spots in the lawn. Could be localized to spots where animals pee? Fine fescues usually do better in shady cool zones and they don't need a lot of attention in terms of irrigation or feeding. Sound like a possibility to you?

@@TurfMechanic ty for the reply. I fert perhaps once a year or every other year. The grass is usually green and thick except for summer. This area is full on sun and always has been. Animals, they would have to be of the wild variety as I have none nor does my neighbor and I'm bordered on two sides with fences opposed them. I'm not keen on the fine fecue. Any recommendation on what to seed these bare spots with?

Hehe, I've pondered the idea of making a two hour long ambient video of just the camera watching the chickens, unedited. I'm sure some people would like that; I do love listening to them in the background while outside.

Yeah, I try to mic up these days which helps filter their sound out. Hope you found the video worth watching anyways!

@@TurfMechanic definitely, watch the entire thing. Great info and the pots of grass really showed it well.

@@aguyandhiscomputer great to hear! Thanks for saying 👊

Hahaha, hysterical comment but seriously I'm glad you liked the actual content of the presentation over the background noise. That was breakfast you were hearing! 😆

Lol, I guess you won't be interested in my ambient chicken sounds video I've been planning all week! 😅

@@TurfMechanic 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Touche' !!!!!

They are also not growing in the ground which wont make it fair either. Point here is not to create a perfectly fair comparison, its to learn from basic home experiments as best as we can. I dont run a lab or try to produce scientifically valid comparisons but what i do create and film can easily be used to learn a thing or two..thats the point.

Yep, I really flubbed that one, I didn't even notice at the time in editing. My apologies, I may remake this video in the future to get rid of the confusion.

@@TurfMechanic I wasn't looking for the mistake. I am in PA and I have been looking for a creeping grass instead of the clumping and I was searching for it while I was listening to you video. It got me a little confused, lol. I had to go back and watch it and pay more attention before I figured out what you meant. Thnak for the info.

I hope I've gotten better over the years, this video was made quite a while back. ✌️