A friend of mine asked me if they could plant ryegrass instead of fescue for their lawn. They haven’t had much luck with fescue, and somebody had recommended perennial ryegrass as a substitute that grows better. Both annual and perennial ryegrass are often included in many fescue-blended lawn seed products. Unfortunately, ryegrasses are fierce competitors with fescue and bluegrass, causing serious problems. These grasses are very aggressive and compete heavily with germinating fescue, weakening its permanent establishment. Blended grass seed is often sold as contractor blends because of its quick establishment — generally out of planting season. However, both types of ryegrass die in hot weather. Perennial ryegrass is often planted in locations in higher elevations with cooler summer weather. When temperatures reach the high 80s, ryegrass dies out leaving bare spots. Many seed companies add these types of grasses because they germinate very quickly. Read the label on these blends before sowing an unknown blend. Avoid annual or perennial ryegrass in fescue or fescue/bluegrass blends.

Also, annual ryegrass has infiltrated commercial fescue production fields, becoming a nuisance. Commercial grass producers have the impossible task of controlling the weed during fescue seed production. Unfortunately, it’s almost certain that commercial fescue seed blends will contain a small amount of this weed which is a serious problem for fescue during early spring. There is no plausible control for the weedy grass once it germinates.

Darrell Blackwelder is the retired horticulture agent and director with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Rowan County. Contact him at deblackw@ncsu.edu.