Turf Type

Kentucky Bluegrass
Common cool season grass that spreads well and fills in bare spots. Will go dormant in hot, dry weather. Recommended blend with creeping red fescue and perennial ryegrass to up wear and drought tolerance.

Kentucky Bluegrass is desireable for many reasons, one of them being the plants ability to spread through the use of rhizomes (sub-surface stems which produce new sprouts). This allows for bare spots and damaged areas to be filled in through the plants natural growth tendency. Another advantage of Kentucky Bluegrass is the uniform deep green color.

Although Kentucky Bluegrass requires moderate watering, it can also survive prolonged periods of drought and damaged areas tend to recover quickly.

Kentucky Bluegrass requires on average 6-8 hours of direct sunlight. Some varieties have better shade tolerance, such as rough bluegrass (which does not do well in full sun areas).

Insects can do damage to Kentucky Bluegrass. Some of the pest to look out for are: white grubs, billbugs, sod webworms, and leafhoppers. Insecticides and grub control can be applied as a preventative or curative, depending on the extent of damage and time of year. For more information in insects, refer to Turf: Insect ID.

Pros:

• Self spreading, fills in bare spots well
  
• Recovers quickly from drought
  
• Cold tolerant
  
• Withstands moderate traffic
  
• Repairs damaged areas
  
• Uniform green color

Cons:

• Slow to germinate
  
• Shallow root system
  
• Will go dormant during periods of drought
  
• Not shade tolerant