Which Seed Would You Choose?

jpzsports · Jan 27, 2025

I would appreciate recommendations for which seed I should purchase from TwinCitySeed. I live in NH and have a primarily kentucky bluegrass and fine fescue lawn. Over the years, I've worked hard to improve the quality of my lawn, but I've also dealt with ongoing battles with poa trivialis. After years of digging out and spot spraying triv patches with glyphosate but constantly finding more and more triv, I tried Velocity PM last year and have been seeing some success. It's too soon to say if it will eradicate it for good, but we'll see. My front and side yards are doing well, but last fall I did several applications of Velocity PM on my back yard which was where poa trivialis was most prevalent. Note that my background is shaded the most too. At this point, I have dozens of dead and bare areas in my backyard and plan on doing a thorough overseed in the spring to fill things in and hopefully outcompete any residual poa trivialis. I wanted to get advice regarding which seed mix I should purchase. I know fine fescue typically does well in the shade. KBG isn't typically best but that is what I have the most experience with (although germination time is painfully slow). I believe Mazama is likely best for shade. I've been using perennial ryegrass with good success for reseeding various bare spots after killing off poa triv and the rye has done well at filling in quickly and blends in nicely. I'm tempted to use more perennial ryegrass in my backyard but am not sure how it would handle the shade. And lastly TTTF sounds good for it's density and shade tolerance, but I don't have much experience with it and just want to make sure that any potential TTTF that I use will blend in well and not look too thick bladed.

So with all that being said, I'm trying to find the best elite and most optimal grass that will:

Handle my shaded backyard well (which tends to stay somewhat moist even without any irrigation)
Hopefully resist being overtaken by residual poa trivialis
Be more resilient against Velocity PM if I need to spray areas in the future (I believe PRG, FF, and TTTF can, but KBG can have some die off)
Blend in relatively well with my current yard (although this seed will be primarily for the backyard)
Be overall high quality and dark green
Definitely need the seed mix to be 100% free of any potential poa trivialis seeds

I'm open to recommendations! I was looking through your TwinCitySeed and was narrowing it down to:

Tuff Turf ‘After Dark’ Lawn Seed Mixture - potentially the darkest mix and seems to be a good blend of TTTF, PRG, KBG and it mentions good winter hardiness and shade tolerance.
Shady Lawn Seed Mixture - good for shade and has a nice blend of TTTF, FF, PRG, and Mazama KBG
BLUE RESILIENCE Tall Fescue & Kentucky Bluegrass Mixture - Mostly TTTF so not sure if this is too much of an extreme change for me but I was wondering if the rhizomes for self-repair would better outcompete triv? Not sure.

S1010 · Jan 27, 2025

Xanadu tttf is supposed to have finer blade, blue note kbg has good shade tolerance, siletz prg spreads somewhat.

Tttf won't mix well with what you got probably but it willhandlethe shade best and might choke up some trivialis.

If its me I kill everything, wait a while to make sure all is dead while watering and reseed in fall.

Green · Jan 31, 2025

TTTF does not usually compete well with Triv. Fine fescues can compete better in shade. KBG doesn't seem to compete well either. If using TTTF, you'd need to do a major overseed and even then it might be tough getting a new species established into an existing lawn. TTTF plus FF can work agronomically, but if not uniformly dustributed, it looks like thick and thin grass next to each other.

If renovating, you could try TTTF plus KBG and only use FF added in for the shady areas.

GaryCinChicago · Feb 1, 2025

jpzsports: Back up before leaping forward. You've battled everyone's demon with lack luster results, just like many before. Information overload is not what you need now. There is no magic grass seed.

First - this area is the rear of the house, the backyard, correct?
How much traffic does this area get during warmer times? Do you have kids running and playing here? Birthday parties with bouncy houses? Overnights in tents? Do you have a dog(s)? If so, how big?

What cultural practices do you do throughout a year? Mulching, dethatching, core aeration, hard raking? Does this area have irrigation? if yes, how much is it used in a usual week?

Then ...
You state you have a <primarily kentucky bluegrass and fine fescue lawn> and then state <reseeding various bare spots after killing off poa triv and "the rye">

So ... KBG, FF, and PR? That's everything but Creeping Bent. Introducing an elite cultivar will not be your magic bullet because cool season grass thrives in sun. Poa Trivialis thrives in shade. Your experience has proven that.

wiltonlawn · Feb 2, 2025

Some wisdom here. If you can get more light back there and better drainage that would help whatever cultivar(s) you choose.

PoutingSprouts · Feb 5, 2025

So you have shaded grass that tends to stay moist without irritation. It’s not what you want to hear but I vote don’t fight the triv and plant supina. It’s a lighter shade of green but has its own beauty. It will eventually take over the triv but it thrives in moist shade. Outsidepride sells the seed.

If you don’t go the supina route, to answer your question I vote option 2 out of your list as it seems to have the best chance of thriving in shade.

Which Seed Would You Choose?

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