Growing Grass in Heavy Shade?

[goatchops]

I bought a house in Southern Michigan, zone 5-6, that is surrounded with tall shady maple trees. Great for making syrup and for cool breezes during this crazy-hot summer but there is virtually no grass growing around the house. It's real sandy soil and the fields are full of goldenrod but I'm not sure what kind of grass will grow.

I want to inhibit erosion and just for asthetic reasons. The area I want to plant is mostly barren with a few spindly weeds growing very sparsely- not even worth running the lawnmower over.

Any suugesstions for what type of grass I could plant in deep shade?

Thanks

[Shadow]

Take a walk out in the woods under the trees do you see grass, your know the deep green lawn type No you don't. Now if God can not grow grass under trees you don't have a chance. You can buy all kinds of shade grass but they don't work. Hey I tried for 25 years and a ton of money. Just my experence David

[Alice In TX/MO]

Find someone in your area who knows about native plants. There will be some sort of vegetation that will grow in shade, but likely NOT a grass.

[Harry Chickpea]

Grass doesn't like to grow in deep shade. BTDT.
Look for groundcovers.

[jwal10]

Creeping red fescue or perennial ryegrass over seeded each fall. Trim some of the lower limbs to let in more light....James

[am1too]

Originally Posted by goatchops

I bought a house in Southern Michigan, zone 5-6, that is surrounded with tall shady maple trees. Great for making syrup and for cool breezes during this crazy-hot summer but there is virtually no grass growing around the house. It's real sandy soil and the fields are full of goldenrod but I'm not sure what kind of grass will grow.

I want to inhibit erosion and just for asthetic reasons. The area I want to plant is mostly barren with a few spindly weeds growing very sparsely- not even worth running the lawnmower over.

Any suugesstions for what type of grass I could plant in deep shade?

Thanks

The first thing to do is thin your trees out. They will do better. I have so many trees they are killing each other. No grass. It just won't grow under leaves. Your trees should be no closer the 30 ft min trunk to trunk. If there is no sun showing on the growund cut some more. No sun no grass. The county agent says 60% sun. I don't think it has to be quote that much. My neighbor has burmuda with plenty shade. My grass does great in partial shade. AWood oats gres some this year. It did great last year. Made 5ft in heavy shade. In fact that is almost the only place any green is. I would try orchard grass.

[goatchops]

Thanks for the replies folks- looks like groundcover is the ticket.

[rambler]

Albert Lea Seed House - southern Minnesota - has a heavy shade grass mix. It worked well in my grove, tho you have to understand it's living on the edge & will not tolerate and more stresses - no foot traffic and such - and it is a rather coarse grass.

My cattle, my neighbors cattle 2x - escaped, and as a side note they just love this grass, graze it down when they find it! I'd duspect it wouldn't handle a lot of grazing....

--->Paul

[HeelSpur]

I put grass seed under my cedar trees and it turned out beautiful until it got split ends on the tips, now it looks like some kind of a weed. I blame it on the dollar store grass seed.

[RonM]

See if you can get Kentucky 31 tall Fescue, try it first, Lowes has it around here...

[Maura]

I go with groundcovers. But, as am1too wrote, you need to prune the trees. Not just to let some sun in, but to lessen the likelihood that a strong wind will send a big branch onto your roof. There has to be enough room between the branches that the wind can go through without breaking said branches.

[rambler]

Originally Posted by HeelSpur

I put grass seed under my cedar trees and it turned out beautiful until it got split ends on the tips, now it looks like some kind of a weed. I blame it on the dollar store grass seed.

Red cedar? They tend to put a toxin in the soil that makes it hard to grow good grass under them.

--->Paul

[Alice In TX/MO]

Not a toxin..... natural acid from the leaves.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6207520_grow...dar-trees.html

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Mulch it with ground wood/bark. It will help slow erosion, improve the soil and retain moisture in the sandy soil for your trees, and will help keep the weeds down. Looks pretty good, too.

[rambler]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Not a toxin..... natural acid from the leaves.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6207520_grow...dar-trees.html

I suppose it depends on your point of view - the grass sees it as toxic.

Our back yard has 5 well now 4 red cedars and 5 black walnuts. Poor grass doesn't stand a chance! Wife threw enough different grass seed out there that it actually looks fairly good, but it's a struggle to get anything to grow through those acids and a lot of shade.

--->Paul

[am1too]

Originally Posted by rambler

Red cedar? They tend to put a toxin in the soil that makes it hard to grow good grass under them.

--->Paul

I suspect it is the ph of the dead needles that keeps the grass down.

[Danaus29]

maple trees = root competition

No matter how much sun you have you'll never get a beautiful lush stand of grass under maple trees because of the root competition. Groundcovers are the only way to go, IMO.