Maintaining an Established Fescue Lawn

Tall fescue is a "cool-season" grass that prefers the mild temperatures of spring and fall in the south. It accomplishes the majority of it's growth when soil temperatures are between 55' and 75' and air temperatures are in the 60s and 70s. Summer is a different story. As soil temperatures reach 80' and air temperatures soar into the 90', fescue suffers tremendously.
To add insult to injury, this is also about the time when fescue plants produce their seed and are naturally weakened. The key to understanding fescue is to encourage it with timely fertilizer applications during the spring and fall, and to nurse it with consistent mowing and irrigation during the summer. Even then, the ravages of drought, heat, and weeds will take toll and you may have to reseeding thinning areas every couple of years.