I'm down in the Charlotte area & have the same situation as you (i.e. a fescue yard with dead areas from last year's drought). My plan is to overseed/reseed with Lebanon Seed's Winning Colors Plus (a blend of NTEP top rated TTTF varieties & 10% Bluegrass). I'm not an expert but I don't know why you would need or want rye grass in your mixture. I mean, the fescue & rye grass are both cool season grasses. If you get good germination after overseeding you will have a dense stand of fescue throughout the fall/winter/spring. Hence, I don't personally see the need for the rye grass.
Sure, it's safe to fertilize the fescue you've got growing now as long as the fertilizer is guaranteed not to burn, but the fescue will soon be going "dormant" as the temperature rises & won't use the fertilizer you're giving it. Again, Lebanon makes a product called Perk Stress Relief that has a high Iron content & is marketed for summer application. I personally haven't used it but thought I might try it this year (provided it's not another drought situation). I have absolutely no affiliation or ties with Lebanon but did use their products 2 falls ago when I redid my yard from scratch & have been happy with the results. Check out their website at lebsea.com for more info. Good luck.

I thought about using rye because of it's fast germination and the fact that it would provide some protection for the fescue to germinate.

jmill15,

Actually, the danger is that because Rye germinates so quickly, it will outcompete your Tall Fescue seed and the end result is that you will have a mostly Rye grass lawn.

Also, most people make the mistake of not watering long enough when using these mixes. After two weeks, the rye grass up and and going strong. Most people tend to cut back on watering at this point.

Big mistake.

It is only at about the two week point that the Tall Fescue is starting to germinate in large quantities. As a result, the Tall Fescue seedlings (most of them) end up shriveling and dying.

I'm with the previous poster, ditch the Rye grass, unless you want a Rye grass lawn.

Ok..that makes sense. What do you think about seeding the bluegrass with the fescue? Also, should it be a 50-50 mix?

jmill15,

Nope. A 50/50 mix of Bluegrass/Fescue is actually closer to 90/10 if you are doing it by weight.

KBG seeds are much smaller than Tall Fescue Seeds. There are about 1.8 million seeds in a pound of KBG. There are about 250,000 seeds in a pound of Tall Fescue.

In any event, most people who do these sorts of mixes with Tall Fescue normally do 90 percent Tall Fescue with about 10 percent KBG to try to help it thicken up. (As KBG spreads, but most Turf-type Tall Fescue cultivars do not).

Whatever you do, just remember that it can take up to 21 days for most of the KBG to germinate. The Tall Fescue should be doing well after 14 days.

If you want the KBG to have any chance, make sure you continue watering regularly for at least 21 days. I'd go for at least 30 days, just to be safe.