I belive he's in NJ and what he has is Zoyzia. I'm also in NJ and have the same grass in my front yard and my neighbor has it as well.
Issues are: lack of moisture, because trees absorb it all; lack of nutrients, because trees absorb it all; lack of sunlight, because trees absorb it all; tree debris causes acidity issues, which grass doesn’t like. If you had an irrigation system and fertilizer/emergent program, fescues will grow in shade, at a tall (4”+) cut height.
I’ve had great, tall fescue yards in timbered areas. However, I controlled every aspect of the property maintenance. The average person usually struggles with it, with too short of cut height being the biggest issue, followed by no treatment program. Shit doesn’t just magically happen, I’m afraid.
Funny this subject came up now, I've been researching some southern grasses myself! Looking at your pic, I figured Kentucky bluegrass but the slow-growing sounds more like that zoysia....which BTW I thought it was strictly a southern grass like Bermuda. Lawn maintenance down here is different, I used to be big on bagging my clippings but that doesn't seem to be too popular where I'm at now. So since I got a ZT when I first got here, I decided to do the whole when in Rome do as Roman thing so I stopped bagging, which saves me a few hundred on a bag set-up anyhow. We just bought another home which seems to have more crabgrass than any other species...lol....I was going to buy one of those tow behind sprayers and try using weedBgone but during my research, I read somewhere that it's not worth doing this time of the year as it'll all die soon enough as the cold weather arrives. If ANYONE has any weed killing tips (esp for the dreaded crabgrass!) it'd be greatly appreciated!!! I'm 99% certain I have decent patches of Bermuda, I keep hearing the only real way to spread it (or zoysia) is by getting 'plugs'.....could I, in theory, get a plug cutter and take plugs out and replant them in newer weed-infested areas??? I hear bermuda/zoysia will overpower the weeds easily, that true?
In for the anti-crabgrass info. F that stuff!!! Yes on the plug cutter. I bought one on Amazon and have been cutting plugs and transplanting every year. It's the best way to spread that stuff around.
Find a SiteOne location and seek their advice. No one knows what they do, for your specific area. But, a crabgrass-specific application is needed, as it’s tough stuff. https://www.siteone.com/ I’m in central IL. Crabgrass won’t go dormant, for quite awhile. In fact, it’s still going to seed and continuing to spread its goodness.
Crabgrass had to be killed in the spring with a specific herbicide. The all-in-one's don't work on it because, well it's grass. What I use is a crabgrass specific from Pennignton. It keeps it down to a very manageable level. When I mow, I f I see it, I dig it up.
Lebanon has a pre-/post-emergent in their granular line that works. I glyphosate mine, let it dry out, scrub it up, and spot-seed. I’d use the Lebanon, but, it has a very long residual and I don’t want my pets on it. It’s very nasty stuff, so much so that I always applied it at daybreak, on calm, high dew point mornings, right before a rain. Just the dust in the air kills any ornamentals. As soon as I’m done, my clothes go straight into the washing machine and I hit the shower.
Looks like there's a SiteOne only 20 minutes away, will go check them out today and see what advice they have for me! Thanks for sharing that info Duc! I purchased some post-emergent crabgrass specific stuff just before leaving NJ and as luck would have it, I can't find it yet....still have lotsa boxed up stuff to go through!
So, since we are talking lawns here, how does one get rid of creeping charlie? Short of killing everything (already did that once), I've had no luck.