Too late to plant grass in WNC?

gregfender · Nov 5, 2011

I just had a large portion of my yard graded in prepartion for getting the driveway paved befor winter hits. My question is how late can I get away with planting some rye-grass and get it to come up to keep things from washing?

toppop52 · Nov 6, 2011

Mix in some Fescue and if you have a couple of weeks without hard freezes, you should be fine.

fortuneneo · Dec 2, 2011

Just mix it properly.

ajmbonaire · Dec 2, 2011

fortuneneo said:
Just mix it properly.

Could you elaborate on the mix? I have the same situation. I just overseeded with rye and it seems to be doing fine.

toppop52 · Dec 2, 2011

The only reason I suggested mixing the fescue is he's in western NC where the climate is somewhat similar to here, and if it were to get colder than normal before it all could germinate the fescue seems to tolerate that and actually helps the other variety by attracting moisture to the roots.

samhudson3 · Dec 2, 2011

Depends on which part of WNC...check with your Ag extension agent. They'll know for sure...ask for a copy of "Carolina Lawns" which is an excellent publication.

I'd also put down some (dolomitic) lime and a bit of 10-10-10.

samhudson3 · Dec 2, 2011

BTW, I was in Asheville the weekend of Nov 20 and it was 76 freaking degrees...we've cooled down now but it's headed to the 70s this weekend here in central NC.

jenkinsph · Dec 3, 2011

I would go for it if you can do it right away, and I agree with planting the fescue and the annual rye. I would also recommend you seed it heavy and use a starter fertilizer, if you are lucky most of it will come up.

Craig Clayton · Dec 3, 2011

I really do not know much about grass seed . I had a landscaping project that took longer than excepted and last year in late November I did the almost final grade with almost frozen top soil.
It got a bit warmer and I threw a bag of grass seed on and the next day it snowed and it stayed this way until spring. Well come spring the grass seed came up. This November I did the final final grading and I threw on 2 bags of grass seed in an area of 1000 sq feet. There is snow again on it. If nature holds true to form the grass seed will start to come up when it is still too muddy for me to walk out in the area.

Craig Clayton