I have a cluster of old growth pine trees where I cleared out a dense 3 to 6 inch thick mat of pine needles last year. I planted winter rye which did fine over the winter. Then I seeded with fescue this spring but "nothing" happened. This summer I read that rye can remove a lot of nitrogen from the soil, so I put down some bio-form, but still don't see any difference. I am wondering if the soil under the pines needs special handling due to the pine needle mat that was prevalent for so long.

Time for me to punt on this one.

Let's see...You started planting fescue seed about six months late or early. Fescue seed usually goes down in September. That's probably the biggest thing I can see.

Pine needles might be acidic making the growth medium right at the surface acidic. Don't know and don't know if that's a problem.

Or it could be that pines suck a lot of water from the soil, but again, I'm punting.

I'm going to sit back and see if anyone really knows with confidence what to do. Otherwise, I would send a soil sample to the Texas Plant and Soil Labs at

http://www.txplant-soillab.com/

and see what K Chandler has to say about it. Tell him what you're trying to do along with your sample.