Question
I live in kentucky...about an hour north of Lexington, near Cincinnati, OH.  Iwould like to overseed in spring as well as repair a fairly large bald spot which just would not grow!  I've heard people tell me the seed I should use is "Kentucky 31."  I bought some, but only had minimal success as I was unable to repair the larger bald spot mentioned earlier.  So what is my plan of attack come March...the 3rd week of March I suppose?  The lawn is currently cut at about 2 inches for the fall.  Should I aerate or use one of those vertical mowers?  Please help as I would love to have a plan come spring time.  Thank you!

Answer
So, You're living in the Bluegrass State and you want to grow Tall Fescue?  Birthplace of Kentucky Bluegrass?

First off, I can't thank you enough for those beautiful, silky green Bluegrass blades.  I'm told it grows everywhere - everywhere, that is, where people aren't growing Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb., also called Reed Fescue, Ryegrass and Tall Fescue).

According to the University of Kentucky Agronomy Dept., this grass is being cultivated on more than 5 million acres in Kentucky alone.  Add another 35 million acres in the South Central U.S.  Those numbers make K-31 the most important cool-season grass grown in the nation.

Not the newest, mind you.  But the most commonly grown.  Must be a reason for that, right?

A scientist discovered Kentucky 31 on a farm in eastern Kentucky back in 1931.  He brought seed samples back to the university for some r&d.  Up to then, the ultimate Fescue was Alta, introduced in 1923.  As you can imagine, grass genetics was a specialty with relatively little past research to build on.  When the Depression hit, it was hardly a priority.  That was followed by a War.  No wonder K-31 was the only game in town for decades.

And of course, nobody's perfect.

What those aforementioned Kentucky 31 mega-acres don't tell you is that a large percentage of that acreage is used for grazing.  Ailments with names like Fescue Toxicity and Summer Syndrome are just a few of the problems associated with Tall Fescue.  If you're not going to feed horses and cows with it, these problems don't really factor into your decision.

But there were other imperfections.

The Texas Cooperative Extension experts (http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/turf/publications/tallfesc.html) calls K-31 and Alta "coarse textured and produce a rather weak turf." They also note that even Kenwell, Kenhy, Fawn and Goar varieties, which were later introduced, shared some of those flaws.

My friends at Seedland.com (www.seedland.com) like to point out: "Tall fescue is best known for its Kentucky 31 variety, but there are also new improved turf-type varieties available with more shade and heat resistance qualities along with other desirable traits."

Ohio State Extension (http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/4000/4011.html) goes so far as to warn homeowners: "Do not use Kentucky 31 tall fescue".  

Serious superior turfgrass didn't come along until the 1970s.  Rebel, Houndog, Olympic, Adventure and Falcon were part of the parade back then.  Notes Texas Coop Ext: "These new turf-type tall fescues are finer textured and produce a denser turf than older pasture-type varieties.  They also provide year-round green color for lawns."  But it's a series called "Bonsai" that they point to as today's Fescues Of Choice.  Turf Merchants Inc. (http://www.turfmerchants.com/fescue.html), Oregon-based grass inventors/wholesalers, takes it even further, declaring that "Bonsai created the market" for modern Fescue.  They post a photo of it on their website (http://www.turfmerchants.com/gallery/Bonsai2.jpg)

Kentucky 31?  Maybe there's a better grass for you.  Most certainly there's a better Fescue.

TMI sells its big clients several Tall Fescues with the strengths for sod and big-ticket landscaping.  This is what they say about Bonsai 3000: "Bonsai 3000 is the next variety in the Bonsai series that has been bred for improved disease resistance and turf quality over earlier varieties. The plant progeny that became Bonsai 3000 produced lower growing turfs with finer leaves, greater density, darker color and greater tolerance of close mowing."

My friend, I think you were right to get a second opinion here.

Fescue has a lot of strengths.  There's nothing better in the Northeast for shade.  Seedland's advice: "Earlier seeding under trees that have shed their leaves will help the fescue to use the extra early heat to germinate and easily establish before the trees completely leaf out in the spring."  It's traffic-tolerant and it stays green all year.  If it isn't colder than 10 below Zero in your region - my resources say it's not - and you want a low maintenance grass that will take pets, BBQs, frisbee and kids - in light shade - this would be a terrific turfgrass choice.

Seedland devotes a full page to Tall and Fine Fescues (http://www.fescue.com/) - some homeowners find the deluge of information overwhelming, others enjoy the heavy thinking.  Seedland currently stresses the newly introduced Defiance XRE blend, which adds Brown Patch resistance along with improvements in already solid strengths of older varieties.

Lawnseed.com (http://www.lawnseed.com/), which sells a proprietary blend of TMI products for homeowners, simplifies your decision but includes tips on how to grow the best possible grass under a tree canopy or in full sun.  I think that any of these grasses will perform beautifully under difficult circumstances in your neck of the woods.  If you are talking about full sun and low traffic, you would take a closer look at Kentucky Bluegrass or Ryegrass.

The thing I love about these new grasses, and all this research, is that they invent something you can grow on the great American Lawn without pouring all kinds of toxic waste all over your property.  Being resistant to this that and the other thing means that if you really play your cards right, Jay, if you mow right, if you fertilize property (WITHOUT anything from Scotts Ortho Monsanto etc!), if you avoid things named Grub Killer and Weednfeed, you will have great grass, great soil, the greenest most beautiful lawn money can ever buy.  Awesome.  At least I think so.  God bless America.

Pats on the back for getting a headstart on this question.  I would avoid aerating, it wrecks the soil structure and upsets the earthworms.  Rake and fertilize (NO weedkiller!) as needed.  A good old fashioned hand mower is the ultimate, but you can get by with a regular mower as long as you are mowing on schedule at the perfect height, which varies depending on what kind of light your grass is getting.  Throw in some pretty Clover to build up the Nitrogen and nourish the soil.  And let me know if you have any questions.