As promised, here are the pictures (again, sorry if this is a double post - I haven't quite figured out this forum).

Here is a link that might be useful: Back yard photos

Fescue in Las Vegas? Are you kidding?

Sorry but Fescue is a cool season grass and does not stand a chance in Vegas. There is not enough water and money that can keep it alive.

In Vegas you only have about 2 choices for turf grass being Bermuda or Buffalo. They are the only types that can take the heat and dry conditions.

OK just looked at your pictures. That is not fescue, at least what was sodded is not Fescue. You have Bermuda, that has been over seeded with something like Fescue or Rye grass.

You lost most of the Bermuda because you did not water and fertilize enough. It is dying from neglect, heat, and drought.

However you can bring back the Bermuda, but it is going to take a lot of water which is a pricey commodity in Las Vegas. You are going to have to water every day, and fertilize every 30 days.

Las Vegas soil is mostly granite rubble and coarse sand. It does not hold water or nutrients.

I don't mean to argue, but there is a lot of bermuda planted in Las Vegas, and I'm pretty sure what I've got is not bermuda, at least not the same type of bermuda that I see around Las Vegas. The blades are tall and thin, and do not send out stolons.

I admit that I don't know much about bermuda, so I suppose there could be a bermuda variety that looks closer to fescue. But my limited experience with bermuda tells me this looks completely different.

I don't think not watering enough is the problem. I watered quite a bit. Perhaps I should have watered longer and less frequently? I tried that originally too, but the water ended up puddling and then draining off the lawn.

Also, to bolster my claim that this could be fescue, I'm linking a pdf from the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension which states that bermuda and fescue are the tow main types of grass grown in southern Nevada, and that fescue does "reasonably well" here. Pg. 15 under the heading Turfgrass Management.

Okay, enough arguing (even though I said I wasn't). When you say that its bermuda that has been over-seeded, are you suggesting that the overseeding was done by me as opposed to at the sod farm? I've only overseeded rye, and patched a little with whatever is in emerald carpet.

So thanks for the response, TW. Any advice for how to bring it back? I already water 4 days a week (its still in the 60s and 70s here). What fertilizer do you recommend?

Here is a link that might be useful: U. of Nevada Cooperative Extension Article

This is the grass planted in the office park where I work.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:94990}}

My parents used to live in the hottest part of the California desert and there was fescue everywhere, so I believe you.

I was hoping you'd tell us how often you water. Yes you have killed your fescue lawn with kindness. The grass you describe is rotten with a disease. Start to fix it by stopping the frequent watering. With temps in the 60s, you should be watering monthly, not daily. Watering deeply is going to take some weaning. If you are getting runoff, you were right to stop wasting the water. But instead you should have asked how to get the soil to accept the water. It could be your sprinklers simply apply it all too fast. Or it could be your soil is relatively lifeless and needs a little care to open up.

My first suggestion is to spray your lawn with baby shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Use an Ortho hose end sprayer (easy to find, use, and fairly bullet proof). So if you have a 2,000 square foot lawn, put 6 ounces of soap in the sprayer, fill it with water, swirl it around, and spray it all out as evenly as you can. Do that right before you irrigate and the soap will allow the water to penetrate deeper. Repeat every week or so for 2 months or until you notice the water penetrating faster. You might notice the soil feels soft after you water. Whatever it takes, you must back off on your frequency of watering. You might need to water more often than once per week during the summer but even in Las Vegas, you should not have to water daily.

If you want the grass to look like it does in the photo, you have to stop seeding with random seed. It will never look like that grass unless you fix on one and only one seed. Fescue is one of the few grasses that needs to be seeded annually to become dense.

Thanks for the advice. Just a little more info:

I checked my watering schedule, and I'm a little embarrassed to mention that I'm watering 5 days a week (M-F) 10 min/station, three times a day. So 30 minutes total, 5 days a week. I turned the water off Sat and Sun because that's when my kids play the most in the back yard.

So I take it that if the fescue is dead, then its dead. I can't revive it without re-seeding, correct? Bah.

Question about bermuda - the bermuda I've seen around Las Vegas needs to be trimmed very short. Its almost like a carpet. I have doubts as to whether my mower can actually mow that short.

If I want to plant bermuda, do I need to kill all the other grass and then till it under? What's the best way?

Thanks for all the help

OMG! 10 minutes per station, three times a day, 5 days per week? Dude, please follow the advice of dchall and texas-weed. They will not steer you wrong. And if you have questions, please be sure to ask. You are now officially in turf rehab.

So I take it that if the fescue is dead, then its dead. I can't revive it without re-seeding, correct? Bah.

Yep when it is dead it is done and has to be reseeded. Bermuda on the other hand goes dormant when it does not receive enough water, and comes back with water. However it will not wait forever and will also eventually die.

Question about bermuda - the bermuda I've seen around Las Vegas needs to be trimmed very short. Its almost like a carpet. I have doubts as to whether my mower can actually mow that short.

Yes Bermuda is kept very short. That is why I mentioned it has to be mowed at least twice a week if irrigated and fed. However not all Bermuda grass is alike as their are many varieties all requiring different maintenance techniques.

1. Most of the common types from seed are used for pasture hay and erosion control and those are not mowed but rather cut once or twice a year to harvest hay. They are rarely ever fertilized except once in the spring and never irrigated. Not something you would want for a turf grass

2. Improved common seeded types for turf grass and the quality varies quite a bit in leaf size and cutting height. Some like Princess (aka P77) are near golf coarse quality requiring to be kept very short of 1 inch or less, fertilizing every 30 days during growing season, regular irrigation to maintain color. The there are several varieties which are medium quality than can be maintained around 1 to 2 inches which is probable the best fit for you. They still require frequent fertilizing and irrigation to maintain color, but you can have a decent looking stand using a push mower set for 1-1/2 inches.

3. Then there are the hybrids varieties. These are from sod, plug, or sprigs only. No seed available for hybrids. These are the high quality varities and they fall into two classes semi-dwarf, and dwarf. I will not go into dwarf varieties because they are stickily professional care used for golf greens and very wealthy people who have full time pros maintaining it.

What you likely see around town and on all golf coarse fairways and tee boxes is a semi-dwarf hybrid variety. The two most common varieties used and widely grown by sod farms is Tifway-I (aka 419), and TifSport. In most states where Bermuda grass is grown Tifway-I is the default choice of all builders and landscapers. TifSport is gaining popularity as it is a little finer grain, denser, and better cold tolerance than Tifway-I. Either way they are both fairly high input grasses and best maintained at 1-inch or less with a reel type mower. However many and I would say most maintain them with a rotary mower between 1 and 2 inches. However those that do use a rotary mower do so because that came with there home and they just do not know better. It works, but not optimal.

As to watering I split a different way than David recommends. Normally I would agree once a week with a deep soaking is the best method as a rule of thumb. But not for out here. Unless you are blessed and top soil was shipped in to your yard, or in a flood plain where soil is carried in from flooding, you do not have soil. You have rubble and coarse granite/quarts sand eroded from the surrounding mountains of LV. There is nothing in it to hold water and coupled with bone dry 10% or less humidity and searing temps you have to water much more frequently than most folks do. In summer once a day is the normal practice out here. At least in Prescott and Phoenix it is. Maybe Vegas is different, but I doubt it as the soil and climate are very much alike except Vegas is a little cooler than Phoenix. You guys only get up to 110, where Phoenix 115 is long sleeve shirt weather in summer.

Now with that said I can say you are watering too frequently at 3 times a day for a few minutes each time. To be honest I do not know exactly what to recommend, other than when you do water, do so very early in the morning, and only once in a day. I imagine during cooler months once about every 3 or 4 days. During the blistering summer days it will take watering every day in the mornings. A lot is going to depend on which grass type you choose and actual soil conditions.

I suggest you go around to a few nurseries and landscape companies to seek advice, maybe even visit a golf course and talk to a supt. You should be able to get a pretty good idea if you do that. Or if you have a neighbor with an impressive yard, stop by and ask them as most people will be flattered and tell you exactly what they do unless they pay someone to do it for them. I know from visiting Vegas often and now living in AZ, yards are rare even in the upper class neighborhoods. Just takes too much WATER to maintain them. That is why I mention Buffalo grass to be considered.

No doubt your water schedule will depend on your soil. I am in Phoenix and i water my clay soil every 2-3 days in the summer. A friends yard that i maintain is up against a mountain(hill) and the soil there is mostly rocks. It has to be watered daily in the summer and when it gets really hot a noon watering is needed also.

TW, what course on you at up there?

Would you mind performing a quick soil structure test and reporting the results? There is an article written by Andy Hejnas titled Soil management: Part 1. Do a search on "andy hejnas soil management: part 1" (without quotes, of course). Look at the soil structure test and do that one. It involves a glass jar and water, so it is as simple as it gets. I believe the article says to take pictures at 2 minutes, 2 hours, and 2 days or something like that. Sand settles immediately (2 minutes), silt settles soon (2 hours) and clay may never ever settle (2 days). You might hold a ruler up against the jar when you are taking the pictures because the soil will settle in the jar over time. That is important to evaluating what you have. This test will help us tune up your watering schedule.

If you do have a rocky rubble soil, then my suggestion to spray baby shampoo will be a waste of time.

Something you might consider is using selected prairie grasses. Some of them remain green year round, require very little water or fertilizer, and look very nice when kept mowed. Click here for a post written by bpgreen about using prairie grasses in Idaho. I've seen pictures of his lawn and the only thing that makes it look different is the darkness of the green color. He lives in SLC, Utah.

Click here to go to a message I posted below bpgreen's. It has links to photos of the various grasses he recommends. His lawn looks better than those in the photos.