New lawn with Buffalo Grass

[rrovnyak]

We want to put in a low maintenance, "no watering" Buffalo Grass lawn with seed in our 1.1 acre lawn in North East Parker County in TX. Front yard is sandy soil and no shade. Back yard is more clay soil with some trees that may cause about 10% shade. Moderate slope in some parts of perhaps 5 degrees.

We layed about 10 #/acre dried mollasses and have planted an annual Rye grass in early winter to provide somewhat of a base and impede errosion during the winter/spring rains. Other than any Rye that comes up, the land is bare. In listening to HG on the weekend, he suggested to a caller to use a mix of "common" Buffalo Grass with some Bermuda for sandy soil. We anticipate seeding the BG in late April if the weather cooperates.

We plan to use a spike aerator to break up the earth prior to seeding while also laying some dried mollasses, spread the seed with a broadcast spreader, go back over it all with the spike aerator to mix the seed and dirt and finally roll with a roller all towed behind a riding lawn mower. Will do some watering around the house but will rely on mother nature for the bulk of the watering in the rest of the lawn.

My questions are:
1) What ratio of BG/Bermuda grass seed?
2) What seed coverage should we use?
3) What other organic material should we use.
4) What other recommendations/changes do you have for our process?

Thanks

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

My questions are:
1) What ratio of BG/Bermuda grass seed?

Buffalo is really easily invaded by weeds. Bermuda is one of the weeds that takes advantage of weak buff. If you get any of it to sprout, the buff won't compete well and you'll end up with a bermuda lawn. Have you considered a 100% clover lawn???

2) What seed coverage should we use?

You'll have to ask the seed provider. There is too much variability. And ask what would happen if you used twice as much as is recommended.

3) What other organic material should we use.

You could use some compost at any rate before the grass comes in. If you use it after the grass comes in, then the max you can use it is 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet. Otherwise you'll smother the grass. Even at the lower rate you should use a push broom to sweep the compost off the grass blades.

4) What other recommendations/changes do you have for our process?

I wouldn't aerate. Sand is as airy as you can get. Flatten your area, scatter the seed, dust with compost, and roll the seed down with the water fillable roller. You need good seed contact with the soil and the roller will give it to you. The aerator will do you no good.

Relying on Mother Nature to water enough for seed sprouting will almost guarantee you a weedy lawn or no lawn at all. At first you need to water twice a day to keep the soil moist enough to sprout the seed. Once the seed sprouts you need to water enough that the soil is damp enough to establish the grass roots. After the roots are a few inches deep (several months to several years) then you can rely on Mother Nature.

Have you considered putting in a few thousand square feet (like 20,000 to 30,000 square feet) of arbors, decks, gazebos, walkways, zen gardens, butterfly or hummingbird beds, trees, tables/chairs, or other points of interest to break up the monotony of grass?

[rrovnyak]

We planted winter rye and it is comming up with the rain we have gotten the past 2 weeks. I was expecting to use the aerator to stir up the rye and open the ground to get a little seed in the voids before rolling. How should I prepare to seed the lawn with the rye grass growing or will it be gone by time to plant the Buffalo?

I need to look into getting compost. Being new to the game how do you spread the compost? I have a 125# broadcast spreader which looks like about 1/4 yard bin but seems like that may be too small a load.

Still a little confused about mixing some Bermuda. Howard Garret said on the radio that it will be driven out by the Buffalo grass. Any more comments on this?

Thanks for the idea of adding other points of interest. Will consider.

Thanks for your time and info.