By DoMyOwn staff
Everything you need to know about growing, maintaining, and protecting a healthy perennial ryegrass lawn.
Perennial Ryegrass is a popular cool-season turfgrass that can be found across the United States, but thrives in coastal states with cool temperatures, and moist climates with mild winters, where it can serve as a permanent turf. This dark green grass tolerates light shade but does need some sunlight and to be well-watered regularly.
Perennial Ryegrass is also frequently used in warm-season turfgrass, such as Bermuda, to improve the look of a dormant lawn during the winter months through overseeding in the fall.
Perennial ryegrass germinates and grows quickly, making it a good choice for new developments looking for ground cover fast.
Ryegrass grows in clumps and does not spread laterally with rhizomes like Kentucky bluegrass or some other turfs. For this reason, it is important to be as even and thorough as possible in spreading ryegrass seed on your lawn, whether it is for new growth, or for overseeding purposes.
Mowing recommendations will stay the same during perennial ryegrass’s most active growing period in the fall and winter months. During the usual growing seasons of fall and winter, cut the ryegrass blades to a height of between 1 and a half and 2 and a half inches.
If you’ve applied ryegrass for overseeding use among a pre-existing warm-season turf like Bermudagrass, you should lower your mower height in the spring. Cutting the ryegrass more closely as the soil warms up will allow the dormant warm season grass to emerge and get the sunlight it needs to recover.
If your ryegrass is active in the summer months and suffers under high temperatures or drought, raise the height of your mower to between 3 and 4 inches to reduce stress on the turf.
A general rule for good lawn health is to avoid removing more than 1/3 off the top of your grass’s height with any mowing.
In some cases, Perennial ryegrass often requires added Nitrogen, but for the best lawn health, we recommend using a home soil test kit to learn more about your soil and what it may need or have too much of.
With the results from a soil test, you can decide on the right combination of fertilizers or soil amendments to meet your ryegrass turf’s needs.
Fertilizers are usually applied 2 to 4 times a year, typically in the early spring, late spring, summer, and fall. You should fertilize with an organic fertilizer in the summer if you have cool season grasses.
Perennial ryegrass is also a thirsty turf, requiring a very regular watering schedule to look its best. Find a schedule that helps you to provide your ryegrass lawn with adequate hydration during its growing season. We recommend at least one inch of water per week. Watch out for signs of overly dry soil or signs of heat stress to stay on top of any watering needs your turf may have. Soil composition and the amount of sun and shade your grass is planted in will play a big part in how well it maintains moisture.
Although Ryegrass produces less thatch than most other cool season turfs, it is recommended that you rake up any leaves, lawn debris, or thatch in the fall so that the ryegrass can grow unobstructed through the winter.
If you intend to overseed your lawn with perennial ryegrass, it is best to make that application just after aerating the soil for the more productive seed growth.
To prevent the germination of unwanted weeds on your lawn, try applying a pre-emergent weed preventer herbicide in the early fall, before the first frost comes, and a second time in the spring, before the soil temperature warms to 50 degrees. Do not apply pre-emergents during seeding of cool season grasses. If planning to plant ryegrass, avoid using a pre-emergent that season. In some cases, you can use a product with active ingredient mesotrione during seeding.
If you have bermudagrass, you may want to use a post emergent to eliminate any remaining ryegrass along with some late winter weeds that may have popped up in the Bermuda to help it come out of dormancy faster. This is a personal preference on how thick you want your Bermuda without competing ryegrass.
If you have already seen weeds in your perennial ryegrass lawn, identify them with the help of DoMyOwn’s Lawn Weed Guides or ask your Master Gardener’s program within your local extension service office for help.
Find a post-emergent selective weed killer that is labeled safe to use on ryegrass.
It's best to protect your lawn with regular preventative fungicide treatments. Apply the preventative fungicide treatment to your ryegrass lawn every 2 to 4 weeks, starting in late spring and through to the end of summer.
Rotation is important to consider when applying fungicides to prevent disease resistance.
Perennial ryegrass can be damaged by insects who feed on this type of grass. Look for an insecticide labeled for use on residential turfgrass that offers control of the pests you’ve spotted and follow the label directions closely for the best results and the fastest control of lawn pests.
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