Perennial Rye vs Tall Fescue: Differences Up Close & Compared
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- čas přidán 6. 05. 2021
- If you are thinking about growing perennial rye or turf type tall fescue grass from seed then hopefully this video will help you decide between the two.
Both grass types are cool season varieties but they carry in their ability to deal with extreme heat and drought in addition to their ability to be cut short versus tall.
I have been growing both varieties in pots as well as in my yard so I have a lot to say about the two grass types.
You can see the following videos which should serve as previews to this video:
► Growth Speed of Perennial Rye & KBG: • Kentucky Blue Grass vs...
► Germination Temp of Perennial Rye: • Temperature & Speed of...
► Fine Fescue vs Tall Fescue: • Fine Fescue vs Tall Fe...
► Grass Seed Application Rates: • Grass Seed Application...
Written supplemental info:
► Make sure to see my full tall fescue guide over on my website here: turfmechanic.com/turf-type-ta...
► If you haven't considered Kentucky Blue Grass (KBG) then this comparison video may help you decide on the only major rhizomatic grass type of the cold season varieties: • Kentucky Blue Grass vs...
Also, for transition zone homeowners looking into a low maintenance heat tolerant grass like tall fescue you may find that Centipede grass may work better for you. It's considered to be a warm season grass type but it never goes dormant during winter. So long as you don't experience many freezing nights during the average winter it could be the perfect grass type for you.
► You can read more about Centipede grass here: turfmechanic.com/warm-season-...
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Studies also show that as TTTF is cut higher, it allows the roots to grow deeper. Also allows the plant to shade the ground and preserve water and keep the ground cooler.
I gotta say I think you're up there with the Ginja as my favorite lawncare youtuber. You really do a great job explaining and you can tell you know your stuff.
Excellent video explanation Brian, great job with the camera on the closeups too!
I learned a few things here and was glad to see those blades compared. Now I can identify them in my yard. Good stuff.
Great job Sir informative video, I couldn’t decide what type of grass seeds I needed for my lawn, Now that you have educated me I know exactly what I need for my neck of the woods.
Once again THANKS ✅👍✅
Great comparison once again!! I overseeded with PR and TTTF and I think it will look great! I hope I could have a full lawn of PR in the future, I believe our humid weather here in Buffalo would be great for it
Love these comparison videos!!!!
Great info. It's sometimes confusing trying to figure out when and how to do things. You made a lot of sense and raked in layman's terms.....lol.. PS: I really enjoyed your guest host!
Very good and informative video. I learned a lot 😊
I just planted perennial ryegrass where my hoa lawnscapers couldn't grow grass due to the salt from winter trucks on the grass. The perrennial rye grass seems to tolerate quite high salinity, I couldn't get any other seed to grow in those salt bare spots for years and years in Chicago. Great video! lots of great camera work and detail.
Prg for the win!
Very helpful and very informative. Thanks a heaps!
Thanks for the detailed video
great explanation. thanks. I was struggling trying to figure out which type of grass to use for my reseeding project.
So glad to hear I was able to help out! Thanks for watching and good luck with your project!
This is fantastic content Brian. I have slowly added TTTF to my front lawn over last 6 years to reduce water needs and increased drought tolerance. KBG is still a part of it and holds it together well. I’m in SE Michigan and lawn is west facing so it has helped.
Thanks for the compliment Sean! And that's great to hear that you've been successfully mixing fescue into your kbg lawn over the latest seasons, ive never knowingly walked on a tttf-kbg lawn so the texture under foot is a point of curiosity for me. Maybe cut in that 3-3.5" zone would be sweet spot and I see the benefits of the lawn resistance to summer dormancy, self repair, and cold hardiness. Thanks for your comments 🙂
@@TurfMechanic I’m hoping the 2nd from highest on my Ego 2156 fits the bill for mulching this KBG TTTF mix. Middle setting 4 did mostly ok, little bit of unevenness but it’s growing fast so not noticeable after a couple of days. Definitely not as barefoot soft as it used to be but water bill is better!
I have to say over the years I get paranoid when I overseed, that a K31 type variant is not in the mix. Lots of regular bunching circles of TF in peoples lawn in my neighborhood. I’ve had my share of having to use roundup and a shovel to win the battles.
This is actually really helpful for me. I’m trying to decide what type of grass seed to purchase as I’m renovating my lawn. I’m in the Portland area btw. There’s an area on grass at a local park that looks beautiful right now. It’s extremely dark green and lush. I’ve been trying & failing to figure out what it is. I’m going to go there today and get a sample of it. Hopefully between this & your video comparing KBG, I can finally figure out what it is!
I will have to say I love this series, I wish you did a comparison for different brands and types of kgb, perennial rye, or tttf.
I've thought about it and may touch on different variations or varieties this coming year.
Awesome explanation for a beginner like me! Thanks!
So glad you found it helpful! Enjoy your lawn this year, we were all beginners at one point! 😃
I can attest to the increased brownness and debris when TTTF cut shorter. Now I know why! Thanks! I mow higher as the summer approaches and don’t have to water as much.
Definitely a good practice to mow higher and less often as temps creep into the hot zone, I have been planning a vid on this topic in my summer prep series. Thanks for bringing this point up now for people new to the lawn game! 👊
Thank you for keeping it simple and detailed . I enjoy your educational videos.
You are welcome Steven and as I've said a bunch of other times in comments I'm always so happy to know that so many people want to learn more about their lawns on a deeper level. I love the smell of fresh cut grass just as much as everyone else but I like learning more about the lawn than most people do. It's nice to know I'm not alone 😁
Gained a new subscriber! Nice to see educated people on their crafts!
Love to have subscribers that apricate the details. Don't be a stranger Juan and hope you catch my next video; it's got a brief garden tour at the end. :)
@@TurfMechanic looking forward to it, keep doing what you're doing!!
Great stuff!! Subscribed! Im in coastal CT and debating the Rye / Fescue for backyard.
@13:02 I love the Polar Vortex mention. 😀 😜 That thing has been dropping further south recently
Thank you for sharing your knowledge on grass types. I am trying to learn all this. Now i know why my yard may look better mowing in one direction. Shinny side verses matt side..does rye grass get seed heads? I have some grass with seed heads in the back...
Thank you for the explanation. My TTTF rhizome type you mentioned will not penetrate into the subsoil beyond the topsoil? Am I understanding you correctly?
what a great vid
So, I’m in mid illinois and we get garbage weather on both ends of the spectrum. I’ve been dethatching and overseeing my ten year old lawn with Black Beauty Ultra for the last four seasons. It’s doing well, but I have leftover KY31 from the pasture our subdivision used to be. I mow every day or every other day when the weather is good with my Honda at 2.5”. My question is, with a mix of TTTF/KBG/PRG can I get into reel mowing with a Cali Trimmer at 2” with good results?
Hi there. Great video. I live in northern Kentucky. It stays in the eighties to mid nineties as far as temperature goes in the summer. I want to plant new beautiful grass that will survive this. I mow at 3.5" to 4" temperature range. Any help, advice and thoughts is very much appreciated.
Perennial rye has a beautiful sheen to it and the blade is pointy and a line down the middle, Costco scoots seed uses a lot P rye
Thanks for showing me the difference!
You're welcome Chris, in hindsight I wish I would have mentioned a few other things on the video but I think a followup blog post may be helpful to clarify a few of the extra details. Thanks for watching my stuff!
I live in the Sacramento area and I have Bermuda grass and tall fescue. The tall fescue gets hammered by the sun and has died off in parts of my lawn. The Bermuda is filling in those spots but goes dormant in the winter. I've been trying to overseed tall fescue but it's just coming in really patchy. Would ryegrass be a better substitute to be green in the winter while the Bermuda is dormant than tttf?
With Rye vs Fescue, does one clump up more than the other? I'm pretty sure I've only seeded rye, but recently have little clumps of darker grass in one area, fairly shallow roots.
Grottax is a mix of grass seeds. Can I use it where I have san Agustín grass? I’m in tx
great video. love the detailed view you put on it.
also if you dont mind as i come across few types of recipes for grass and wondering what the mixtures would be to achieve such blends
here is the info:
Premium Dream Blend
#1 selling and best performing turfgrass for residential home lawns
Drought tolerant
Perfect for kids & dogs
Self repairing
Low maintenance
Loves heat & full sun
Low allergy
Broad, soft leaf
King of turf for shade
Higher upfront cost, but less maintenance costs over the lifetime of your lawn
Chinook Blend
Ideal for residential, courtyard or pool
Non-invasive
Not suitable for dogs
50% less mowing than other turf types
Slow growing turf
Low allergy
Low nutrient requirements
Automatic irrigation recommended
Low water once established
Tuff Turf Blend
Drought tolerant
Watersmart
Fine leaf, dense growth
Aggressive growth
Great for kids and dogs
Highly resistant to most common insects & pests
Fast to self repair
Great for a backyard play
what types of grass would you add on each blend for warm medditeranean climates. where we have loads of humidity and droughts in the summer
hoping for your reply
Please forgive me for a less detailed or researched reply; I don't have a ton of time now but I don't want to ignore your question. Humidity here in the US is what fescue lawns in the south face and fungicides are used widely in that area. Bahia is a good performer in the humid environments of Georgia but they don't tend to face as many drought conditions. If you are OK mixing in less boutique turf varieties K31 (a rougher bunching fescue) has high drought tolerance and less disease problems in high humidity, it's got a lighter shade to it so it may not give you even color but at least you'll have more stable grass with less problems. If humidity drops in the summer then buffalo may be an option to overseed into the lawn in May for establishment in June & July. It doesn't like humidity but if it's growing during a hotter-drier time during the summer it may fill in the weak spots when the rest of the turf is struggling. Your other good option is probably to look into very specific cultivars of TTTF that are particularly drought resistant or disease resistant without regard to color, those cultivars are something I can't advise on off the top of my head. I'm less of an authority in warm season grasses or humid climates but possibly Zoysia mixed in could give some summer help but again it may not evenly mix well with the seed mixes you are already looking at. Good luck!
I planted perennial rye grass and the tip on it are turning brown. What would make this happen?
My Kentucky 31 is brown like yours. So are my stems. Is this normal?
Do you still believe that PRG shouldn’t be mixed with TTTF because they’re very different? I feel like a small amount of PRG seed mixed in would be beneficial. TTTF blades have gotten so much thinner in the last few years 13:00
Does this mean that terf type tall fescue is a clay buster? I planted spring bulbs in my clay soil lawn. Do all of these grasses work well with bulbs, or would some be more likely to outcompete bulbs? Tall fescue does seem like a good option in arid zone 5b where temps were in the 90s for weeks this summer.
turf vs terf
I recently planted 100% perennial rye which is described as “Rapid tillering and spreading growth habit improve wear tolerance and recovery.” Does this mean it will be able to repair itself like KBG or does it just mean it will thicken quickly?
I take that to mean it will thicken quickly so blades may widen faster and each grass plant (bunch) will have more leaves quicker. Having no stolons or rhizomes it's won't spread and repair the way kbg would.
So I need to ask when to plant Perenial Rye in Eugene Oregon and where can I buy the seed you mentioned?
if it was me, I'd plant perennial rye in Eugene around Aug 20, it should look like a lawn by august 30 and then have three solid months of fall weather to grow before going dormant for the winter. The Pleasant Hill PR seed was used for the pot in this video. I bought it off amazon but it's unavailable these days. Lots of ryegrass seed options are available in the PNW though so your local gardening stores will probably carry good seed for your exact location. Otherwise online seed stores are abundant. I am not affiliated with any of them.
Yeah, I'm looking for a fall plan.
You recommend not mixing Perennial rye and tall fescue but high traffic winter lawn seed mix in my area has those two in the mix. Is that ok to use or Should I avoid it and stick with a bluegrass mix?
What did you end up going with?
@@PNWLawnGuy I mixed perennial rye and bluegrass.
@@LUXFlimandCinema how does it look now?
@@PNWLawnGuy had some rain last week so it’s looks wonderful. I’m worried about the heat getting to it in the next month or so. But my Bermuda should be coming through more anyways. I let my sprinklers take care of the rest
Both TTTF and perennial rye can be bought as bunching or rhizomatous (spreading).
Do they really spread? Or is it a sales gimmick?
Trying to debate if PRG will work better than TTTF here in Phoenix , Az. Cold season 50-80 degrees o_O
Prg will need more water probably so fescue might be better for watering restrictions if you have any.
Good video! Here's some added information...
At about 6:00 you indicate that both PR and TTTF will not fill in a bare spot. The newer varietals of TTTF most notably produced by Turf Merchants Inc in your Oregon area (i.e. 4th Millennium) will produce rhizomes. I researched the heck out of what what type of grass I was going to plant. I went with 4th Millennium Turf Type Tall Fescue and have found that it does much better in drought situations. Sadly, with global warming in the Pacific Northwest Washington coast... Droughts are real and even perennial ryegrass is having difficulty keeping up in the july-august timeframe.
this is good info -- would be much easier to see what you're talking about if you could keep the camera still, though. E.g. at 7:40, you're trying to show us something, but the camera is all over the place
Can tall Fescue handle the heat here in northern South Carolina? Zone 7
It should be able to handle it, that's the transition zone so a few options can make it there if cared for well. You may even be in Bahia territory although that's a weak spot in my knowledge bank. Fescue may have some fungal threats there but it would look crazy good through late fall and even winter compared to warm season grasses. Focus on root development and stress resistance for better summer performance.
What is a good grass for dogs in Southern ,WV
I looked up Beckley and see annual rainfall in the 40-45" per year and both winters and summers seem "not extreme". I think any of the cool season grasses would work there so it a matter of your dog's. Do they dig, are they big, are they energetic? Do you prefer heavy fertilization or regular seeding or spot repair. Smaller dogs or less energetic dogs will make smaller damage to lawns so self repair of KBG might be perfect especially if you do higher fert rates where the dogs go. RTF could be a great option too. If you regularly need to repair digging holes or trampled areas then grasses easier to seed and establish like Perennial Rye or fescue might be better. I'm experimenting this year with installing a duragrass turf mat under my lawn where my big dogs cause the most damage. You could look into that as well for your trouble areas - your natural lawn grows through the artificial layer which is designed to protect the ground under paws and the crowns of the grass itself from being trampled.
I live in NY state which would give me the best yard here
Please do bermuda vs zoysia
I would love to, maybe this summer, I have to grow them first and its too cold here in the spring to do that. I'd like to grow a bunch a warm season grasses this summer so hopefully I'll get that done- fingers crossed.
The results are in..... if you can grow either one ....you are winning the grass game.
I have Zoysia front yard inherited, planted annual rye and tttf backyard, and prg and tttf side yard. Life is interesting and fun here in Richmond va
ive heard kbg overseeding in the fall is a waste of time is that true.
KBG takes a long time to germinate 30 days or so as long as you get it planted so it is established before frost it will be find
It takes longer to germinate and root up, so it requires more attention. Try to water it continually, especially after sundown, so the soil stays moist throughout the evening. Some newer varieties can germinate in 15-20 days. Also, warmer soil temps will make anything germinate faster, from tomatoes to grass seed. I overseed with TTTF about 2 weeks earlier (2nd or 3rd week of August) than everyone else in my area, and I've noticed much better results.
Now I'm going to have a screwed-up looking lawn because I seeded with tall fescue a clean mix and some cheap groundwork quick grow, oh well the pig will have grass to eat.
8/29/2021
1. Oregon has neither climate nor terrain uniformity: it has coastal area, a swath of valley through which I-5 runs from Portland to Ashland, a mountainous terrain defined by the Cascades, and a high desert in Eastern, Oregon. Each region has its distinct climate.
2. In the. Summer, Oregon experiences temps from 90 to 110 degrees from its central valley to its desert regions, inclusively. So, you are mistaken when you say it doesn’t get very hot in Oregon.
3. Perhaps rye and tall fescue thrive differently in different regions of Oregon.
1. Jackson County is the warmest area of Oregon, nowhere near the desert regions, with an average high temp of 89 in July and 88 in August. Now you know:)
Would PR work for central Kentucky??
I think you could make it work, might be hard if you have a long hot muggy summer but it's probably doable.
@@TurfMechanic It is pretty hot and muggy here during the summer. You got any recommendations on a good TTTF?
@@case8987 I haven't started recommending specific seeds, there are so many to choose from. What I do know though is tall fescue is susceptible to fungal diseases like brown patch so whatever seed company you are looking at id choose something that had high disease resistance over other options that may have deeper color or higher drought tolerance. You might even want to consider your options with often hated K31 - it has a much better tolerance to brown patch that tttf but you'd be sacrificing turf density, color, and feel going that route.
what grass on that lawn in the video.
PR mixed with KBG, a touch of fine fescue in there. It's a contractor's choice sod from before I cared enough about grass.
Great video but you need to sharpen your blade mate, your lawns tops are all brown :)
Dr. House
If you Google....tall fescue is considered an undesirable grass. Its listed along side quack, nutsedge, crabgrass, etc. So WHY do seed companies sell it? I hate the stuff. It's clumpy and stands out from other grasses. Especially if it's dry out. So back to my question...why is it sold ? To me it's the equivalent of selling a bag of quack grass or crabgrass.
Randomly online right when you commented, there are rough fescues which are not for lawns, there is also k31 (kentucky 31) tall fescue which is closer to lawn desirable grass but still clumpy. It tends to be best for the "back 40" on large properties away from the best grasses near the house. That's where turf type tall fescues come into play that are far more desirable for actual lawns, and withing the tttf category there are numerous varieties of tttf that can be selected based on individual preferences or requirements. Tttf is a great grass for many people all over the place, very different than the rough field fescues that are frequently labeled as weeds.
@@TurfMechanic thank you!!! At 12:30 am central time. 😂
@@question_it_701 no problem 😁 it's only 1030 here, just got the kids down for the night so timing worked great 😊
@@TurfMechanic 👍👍👍 oh...and I'm in North Dakota.