[Lawn Lad]

How does one renovate a lawn in Tennessee? A friend of mine moved to TN late last summer and if faced with renovating a lawn that is full of weeds. He's asking for my "professional" opinion, but I'm not in the same climate.

He has been told by a contractor that he should wait until fall to kill weeds and reseed. Reseeding the lawn this spring would be okay, using weeds as shade for the new seedlings.

Personally I'm of a different opinion, but then again, we deal with cool season grasses up north in Cleveland. In Nashville area should one wait until Fall or can you seed in the spring now after killing weeds?

What is the best turfgrass blend/mix for the TN area?

[P-Train]

Now is the time.

Depends on how bad the weeds are.

If it’s mostly bermuda grass that is intruding on a fescue lawn then it’s best to kill out the lawn and start over.

Use a selective herbicide to kill out existing weeds like chickweed, clover and henbit that are actively growing in Tennessee lawns at this time. I would recommend using a liquid.

If it’s a lot less than 50% weeds vs. grass then now is the perfect time to hit it with a pre-emergent crabgrass/ lawn fertilizer in a pelletized form and use a spreader to do so. I like to over-seed using the Rebel II brand. It matches the sod that is grown locally.

I find that talking to the lawn has great ornamental value.

If you repeat the phrase “Go Vols!” over and over the results are almost guaranteed to be positive.

[trees]

What type of grass he's going to use will vary greatly depending on what part of the state he's in. Here in Memphis, the climate and soil type is far different than in Nashville, which is somewhat different than Knoxville, etc. I believe we have 4 different planting zones (5-8) in this state, so... where's he at?

[Lawn Lad]

He is in Nashville. He tells me that he has a mix of fescue, rye and some bermuda. Is Bermuda considered an undesirable in these parts? I could see how the rough stalk compared with the fescue would be. Most likely how creeping bent grass is the thorn in our sides for the KY Blue lawns up north.

P-Train... question regarding the pre-emergent - if this is used we won't be able to seed unless we top dress the lawn. Wouldn't be better off to spray/kill the weeds, lightly fertilize and overseed with desirable turf seed?

I don't know how thick the thatch layer is on his lawn. I'm concerned that the local one truck operator who quoted less than $200 to fertilize and overseed the lawn might simply broadcast seed over the lawn. While slit seeding or top dressing and seeding would be best, aerating and then broadcasting seed would be improved over just seeding.

I'm assuming that turf renovation/cultivation is pretty similar in TN as it is OH. Good seed to soil contact, thatch management, water, fertilizer, etc.

Any comments, suggestions are welcomed to help my friend out in TN. Thanks for the input.