Grass seed mixes, how do they work?

[uwaeve]

Astonishingly dumb question, I know.

What happens to the mix over time? For instance, I look at the recommendations for different sun, irrigation, drainage, and wear.

I realize I can put different mixes down in different areas, but assuming I just pick a kbg/prg/ff mix. Will they all sort of establish in the mix percentages (I understand mix is by weight, the actual plant mix will be different). Over time, does one type outcompete the others due to prevailing conditions? For example (and I'll probably get this example wrong) let's say ff does better in the shade than the other two. Over a period of time, will the shadier parts of the lawn tend towards higher percentage ff?

My backyard is south facing and goes abruptly from turf to 60' trees. Hence, there is a strip along the border that gets very little sun, and it's clear the grass there is pretty uniformly finer and lighter, which I'm sort of guessing is the fescue, whereas up towards the house the mix of medium bladed darker stuff I'm assuming is kbg shows up more and more.

In this picture, for instance, if you drew a diagonal line from the bottom left to top right, the upper left portion is lighter and more uniformly finer, though it's tough to tell from the picture as that turf is further away, whereas the bottom right blends towards darker medium bladed.



I guess I'm asking because it seems like the recommendations from the umass turf management guide etc tend to recommend mixes, and if I do wind up going that route, I'm trying to predict the uniformity through the years going forward compared to say a kbg mix or monostand.

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[oze]

Astonishingly dumb question, I know.

What happens to the mix over time? For instance, I look at the recommendations for different sun, irrigation, drainage, and wear.

I think that this is an astonishingly excellent question, and one for which I am looking forward to hearing the expert replies. In addition to landscaping differences, I also wonder about how fertilization, mowing height and irrigation preferences among the different types of grasses affect the mix in the long term, given the one size fits all approach that I take. Great question!

[Green]

Depends on a lot of things. I can only speak to what I've seen. Where I live, I've noticed that PR tends to decrease slightly over time due to hot summers if there isn't shade and enough water, and cold winters when it dips below zero. We have some yards where KBG and rhizomatous FF were seeded, and they're all or almost all FF now, 30 years later. I attribute that to low input management--the people who fertilize once per year or not at all.

[bernstem]

Different grasses will slowly move to dominate areas of the lawn where they are more suited unless we actively work against the natural selection. It is also intersting to look at the appearance of a monostand in different growing conditions. Density, blade width and color will all vary and may even look like different grasses in different areas. They will still look more uniform than a mix, but they may not look identical.

[Parsec]

I have a 30-year old northern mix lawn and I've noticed the same things as you do with your lawn. Most of the grass in my shady areas are fine fescue. The grass in the sunny areas is has wider blades, but I'm not sure what type of grass it is. I just know it's not FF. If you don't like the FF you can try to fertilize a lot, especially in the summer. It only likes 1-2 lbs N per K annually.

[tlinden]

Ditto. The area where we had a tree is all fine fescue. The rest of the yard is tttf/kbg. its one reason I want to do a full reno because that little spot doesnt like the heat.

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