4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
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PSU4ME
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4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by PSU4ME » July 26th, 2022, 5:34 pm

Helping a buddy with his lawn Reno this fall and I’m looking to get the seed. He estimates a 4-6 hour light period and when looking at the seed super store (example) they say under 4, go shade, over 4, go sunny mix.

Any thoughts on that? I’m leaning toward sunny mix

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turf_toes
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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by turf_toes » July 26th, 2022, 9:09 pm

That’s insanity. 4-6 is definitely more of a shade environment. You can get a small few varieties of KBG to grow with that little sun. But it is definitely not the optimal conditions for most lawn grass.

At four hours of sun, most sane people start looking for non-grass ground cover.

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PSU4ME
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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by PSU4ME » July 27th, 2022, 8:33 am

I’m going to get the shade mix and I have some shade kbg cultivars left over here that I’ll lay down first to give it a head start. We just went into a full water ban due to the lack of rain so hopefully we pull out of that. The plan is to get the seed down first week of September but we’ll definitely need to time it weather wise

Green
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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by Green » July 28th, 2022, 1:18 am

The only standard grasses I'd probably try in that situation would be Fescues. (Currently trying a KBG in such a situation, but I know what's probably going to happen. Heck, it's already happening.)

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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by Turk » July 28th, 2022, 11:08 am

Agree with Green, I'd try throwing in some Turf Type Tall Fescue (TTTF), it's done reasonably well in my shady areas and looks a lot better than some of that shady grasses (some of which are downright ugly). I used Pennington Signature Series (Blue Label certified w/ zero weed seed).


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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by northeastlawn » July 28th, 2022, 5:29 pm

I really like the SSS TTTF Shade Blend, it has done great in the front that gets more shade than I’d like to admit. I had their FF shade blend, but hated how it flopped over and burned out as soon as it got into the 80’s. I really never liked the FF, my only complaint is that the TTTF seems to take a long time to green up in the spring, and it also has some what of a sprout and pout phase similar to KBG, but that might be due to the spring seeding.

Unfortunately SSS has been out of TTTF shade blend for a while now.

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PSU4ME
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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by PSU4ME » July 29th, 2022, 1:47 pm

I had him order the SSS shade blend and I’ll mix it with some stuff I have here. It’s only about 8k sqft so we are going to do it up nice with some peat and compost. Full water ban here (for now) so let’s hope we get a change in the weather come sept.

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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by turf_toes » July 29th, 2022, 2:48 pm

You should check on that. Most such watering bands have exemptions if you recently seeded. But check your local regulations first.

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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by PSU4ME » July 29th, 2022, 7:37 pm

Yes town next to us allows a 2 week permit but not our town. Really wish they did.

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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by Masbustelo » July 30th, 2022, 3:45 am

I have areas of my yard that are in the 4-6 hours category. I have Mazama KBG and it does an excellent job.

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turf_toes
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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by turf_toes » July 30th, 2022, 8:44 pm

Masbustelo wrote:
July 30th, 2022, 3:45 am
I have areas of my yard that are in the 4-6 hours category. I have Mazama KBG and it does an excellent job.
So does Bewitched. But the genius at SSS suggested a full sun mix. That’s just dumb for an area with that amount of sunlight.

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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by northeastlawn » July 31st, 2022, 3:54 pm

Does SSS even have any seed to sell?

They have been sold out of most of there seed since the spring. I used to like them as someone who had gold tag / sod quality seeds in small quantities, but until they get a full inventory of seed again, it's tough to trust what they re selling.

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turf_toes
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Re: 4-6 hours Sun or Shade seed?

Post by turf_toes » July 31st, 2022, 8:32 pm

northeastlawn wrote:
July 31st, 2022, 3:54 pm
Does SSS even have any seed to sell?

They have been sold out of most of there seed since the spring. I used to like them as someone who had gold tag / sod quality seeds in small quantities, but until they get a full inventory of seed again, it's tough to trust what they re selling.
I fairness, all sales people will try to sell you what they have in stock. (Be it cars, grass seed or anything else).

I just thought it incredibly bad advice to suggest a fun sun mix for a lawn that could get as little as four hours of sunlight.

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