Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help best grass to plant on a new damnl

I have a new pond in cavecity ark. I was wounding what would be the best grass to plant Bermuda or a fescule on the dam. To help with the erosion.

Brian I was told in Aug/Sept '13 by my pond builder to plant rye on the new dam. It was very easy. Just bought a few 50 lb bags at the Tractor Supply store and walked the pond and dam shoreline throwing out rye seed by hand. I was surprised how fast and easy it all happened. The rye came in very quick and heck it resembled a golf course! I threw out the seed in the Fall. I am not sure if you can do that with rye year-around. One of the experts will chime in....

ps: welcome to PondBoss

Brian, I would go with bermuda if the whole dam is in the sun. Fescue doesn't have rhizomes, so it can't spread. But, fescue as a rule is more shade tolerant, so it does better in areas that don't get as much sun.

Maybe some of the OK/AR guys can chime in, but I'd look at what's planted on the road sides by the hwy depts, and bermuda does seem to be more prevalent.

Rye and fescue do germinate at a lower temp than bermuda, so if you need coverage now, rye might be a better choice to get you to the warmer temps later this Spring when you can plant a warm season grass like bermuda. Zep got his rye in last Fall, and that was the perfect decision. I bet he saved ton's of erosion this Winter with his rye. And, it looks great too!

Al...will I need to replant something this spring because the rye will die out?

Probably, but with all the shade you have, the rye will last longer into the growing season.

Here's an old pic of how we handled the erosion on the back of our dam. Checker boarding bermuda sod costs more, but it saved a lot of the daily watering that seeds require and it covered completely within a year.

Bermuda is a good choice for a dam. If you water it in the spring you will have a covered dam in a month or two. Wheat or rye works good for a winter cover crop but you would want to plant those in the fall so they germinate.

Good info here as I'm interested in this subject as well since I just cleared all the brush, bushes, trees, etc., from my dam and looking into what I will/should plant.

Brian, here's a thread from a while back from another member in Arkansas so maybe it can offer some insight or if he's still active, a PM to him for his results:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=301096

I'm also curious if Omaha can chime in since he was a part of that thread to see what he may have done, and what his results have been since we're in the same area.

Thanks alot I need all the help I can get

Thanks thats kinda what I was thinking