How To Make Tall Fescue Lawn Dark Green

It is satisfying and relaxing if you see your lawn full of life. So, if you have tall fescue grass covering your yard, it would be great to grow it correctly to produce dark green blades. We wanted to help you with this matter, so we have already conducted thorough research on making fescue grass darker.

To produce dark green tall fescue grass, we suggest:

  • watering it adequately,
  • feeding it with the correct fertilizer,
  • mowing as needed,
  • and, most importantly, providing the soil with iron.

Taking good care of your entire lawn means providing it with the requirements needed for healthy growth. Please continue reading if you want more detailed information about tall fescue grass. Doing so might also answer some of your additional questions. Let's delve into the details.

Tall Fescue is a perennial grass with seed-heads, growing up to 1.5 m tall, How To Make Tall Fescue Lawn Dark Green?

How To Produce Dark Green Tall Fescue Lawn

If you want an excellent lawn for play areas, it would be best to have tall fescue as your first option. However, this turf grass often has bare spots, so you need to over-seed it once you notice them.

Even though tall fescue grass often experiences these annoying bare spots, you can somehow avoid them and still produce dark green grass blades as long as you can provide the maintenance methods below.

Additionally, you must remember that it will not occur overnight, so we suggest extending your patience and exerting additional effort on the lawn.

Provide Tall Fescue With The Appropriate Fertilizer

One of the most significant factors to consider when planning to achieve dark green tall fescue blades is to select the appropriate fertilizer.

We suggest using a fertilizer with a low phosphorus amount. And you should try to purchase one with the appropriate amount of nitrogen for your lawn. Ensuring these two factors for your fertilizer will make your tall fescue grow faster and produce greener blades.

In addition, you should also take note of purchasing a slow-release fertilizer. This type of fertilizer will allow your tall fescue to grow effectively healthy.

Feed your tall fescue by following the instructions on the label. Most types of grass require fertilizer from spring to fall. It is best to fertilize during these seasons because your lawn can stay healthy and survive the cold weather; plus, it can develop stronger next spring.

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Give Your Tall Fescue Adequate Watering

The ideal time to water your tall fescue is in the morning. We suggest doing it early because your lawn can still have enough time to dry out during the entire day. Also, it can avoid being consistently wet, which encourages fungal diseases.

It would be best not to forget to water tall fescue because watering helps the grass absorb the soil's nutrients. Lastly, ensure that you give your lawn at least an inch of water every week. A well hydrated lawn will stay much greener.

Apply Iron To Your Tall Fescue Lawn

If watering and fertilizing your lawn wasn't that effective in making your tall fescue greener, you can enrich the soil with iron as your last resort. Iron application is the most effective way of making your tall fescue grass achieve a dark green color. It also works best for bluegrass.

You can apply the iron supplement with the fertilizer every spring. However, it would be best to always check the instructions on the label to prevent overdosing on your tall fescue lawn. If you overdosed on your lawn with an iron supplement, expect blades of grass to all turn gray.

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Mow Your Grass As Needed

Grass grows continuously, and it is a must to mow regularly to prevent it from being susceptible to diseases.

We suggest checking your lawn mower's blades and ensuring that they are sharp enough to avoid damaging the fescue blades by making a clean cut. Damaged grass blades will produce bald patches and discoloration.

Moreover, aside from checking the mower blades, it would be best to check if the lawn mower operates well. Doing so will prevent blade motion inconsistencies, which can also result in damage.

The key you should remember when mowing your tall fescue is not to cut blades shorter than two inches. However, the ideal height would be three to four inches.

You should trim the lawn at least every month. Plus, you shouldn't cut tall fescue more than one-third of its size.

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How To Grow Tall Fescue

How To Grow Tall Fescue - Photograph of a handfull of organic tall fescue grass seed over soil

If you want to know what method tall fescues grow best, the answer would be from seeds.

When planting this grass using seeds, it would be best to check the soil temperature; determine if it is over 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Moderate soil temperature will develop excellent germination.

Bury the seeds about half an inch deep in bare soil. Moreover, you should maintain the soil's wetness until you notice sprouting seeds. Lastly, you should do the first mowing session when your tall fescue reaches four inches.

Can You Grow Tall Fescue Indoors?

You can bring your tall fescue indoors as a container plant since it can be aesthetically pleasing. However, if you plan to do this, you must ensure that it can still receive adequate sunlight to survive indoors.

Why Is It Important To Rake The Grass Clippings?

Why Is It Important To Rake The Grass Clippings Footprints on the lawn after aeration

We highly suggest you rake and remove all the grass clippings and weeds from your tall fescue to prevent diseases from occurring. These can also cause your tall fescue to lose its bright color or even destroy your entire lawn if you don't remove them.

Additionally, once you remove all those grass clippings from your tall fescue, overseeding will result in faster sprouting.

When To Keep Off Your Tall Fescue?

It would be best to keep off the tall fescue after you have planted the seeds. Doing so will ensure it grows evenly, and you can avoid bald patches on your lawn.

And once your tall fescue has developed nicely in your yard, you can freely walk on it. However, if you want to produce healthier and dark green blades, we suggest restricting the traffic on it as much as possible.

How To Properly Care For Tall Fescue

We will provide you below the things you should do regularly to maintain a healthy and lively dark green tall fescue:

Give Tall Fescue Enough Water

As mentioned above, you should give your tall fescue about one inch of water weekly. The reason why tall fescue doesn't need too much water is that it is resistant to drought. And that is because of its long, deep roots.

Best Soil For Tall Fescue

Best Soil For Tall Fescue - Pile of plugs of soil removed from sports field.

Fortunately, tall fescue grass can absorb nutrients and moisture in any soil type you plant it in. Thriving in any soil you provide is one of its excellent characteristics.

Provide Adequate Sunlight

The ideal light you should provide your tall fescue is full direct sunlight to partial shade. This type of grass can still thrive in shady conditions.

Allow your tall fescue to sit under the sun for three to four hours daily.

Feed Tall Fescue Fertilizer

We mentioned earlier that you should utilize slow-release fertilizer with enough nitrogen for your tall fescue. Additionally, you should feed it three to five pounds of fertilizer for a lawn of 1,000 square feet yearly.

Observe Temperature And Humidity

Tall fescue is quite resistant to cold weather. However, if you reside in the northern part of the U.S. or Canada, please be careful in taking care of it since it can suffer from winter harm.

Moreover, it can resist excessively hot temperatures as long as you provide enough water. It would be best always to observe your tall fescue when in drought since it will die if you don't water it at this point.

How Long Is The Lifespan Of Tall Fescue

One interesting fact about tall fescue is that its grass blades can only last 40 days or more. Aside from having bald spots, it is also one of the reasons why you should over-seed your tall fescue lawn.

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It's A Wrap!

It's A Wrap! Car driving on road past lush green field of grass. Outdoors

Making your tall fescue grass achieve a dark green color is actually a pretty simple thing to do. All the steps you need to accomplish are not that complex, so you can do it immediately and wait for the results. And just like any other plants and grass, your tall fescue needs tender love and care.

We hope this post answers all of your questions. However, if you still have additional concerns, please feel free to reach out in the comments and we'll get back to you! If you wish to continue reading, you may check our website for more articles, or start with these:

How Often To Water Kentucky Bluegrass [And What Time Of Day]

Will Kentucky Bluegrass Choke Out Other Grass?

How To Spread Grass Seed Evenly By Hand [Without A Spreader]