It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:20 am

All times are UTC - 6 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 6 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 2:52 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 6:36 am
Posts: 20
Looking for suggestions on the best type of grass to plant (sod, not seed) in the Allen/McKinney area. Moved into home 2 years ago and the grass has never been great. More like weeds mixed in with some Bermuda and fescue. Yep, kindly ugly but not terrible as long as it's kept trimmed. Don't need to do the entire yard just a few big patches in the front, where it's mostly dirt.

Suggestions on grass types? Always thought St. Augustine looked the nicest but it's a water hog. And of course looking to go the natural route.

Thanks


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:13 pm 
Offline
Moderator
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2003 8:09 pm
Posts: 1917
Location: Fort Worth,TEXAS
Personally, you couldn't pay me to plant Bermuda, it is the worst weed in the world if you want to keep it OUT of flower beds and gardens near a Bermuda lawn. Have you looked into Buffalo grass? It has a look like Bermuda but takes a lot less water. It can be planted by seed or sod.

_________________
Northwesterner


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 7:18 am 
Offline

Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 6:36 am
Posts: 20
Thanks Northwesterner. Irregardless of what I decide to put down and in the spirit of keeping it as natural as possible what would you suggest to mix in the soil prior to laying sod and then what would you recommend putting on top of sod now and moving forward. Have read through many posts here and elsewhere just trying to sum it all up.

Thanks


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 1:06 pm 
Offline
Moderator
Moderator
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2003 8:09 pm
Posts: 1917
Location: Fort Worth,TEXAS
Howard usually recommends putting down a thin layer of compost before sod. Wait a little while and David Hall, the moderator of this particular forum, should come along and catch up on posts and give you a more complete answer. You can also look up varieties of grass and planting techniques in the Library of Organic Information.

_________________
Northwesterner


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:53 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 6:36 am
Posts: 20
Thank you


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 12:51 pm 
Offline

Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2016 10:02 am
Posts: 10
Normally I get back to this forum more frequently, but this has been an unusual year of remodeling one house and moving out of another. My free forum time has been limited.

All lawns need an inch of water in the hottest heat of summer to look good. If you don't care about looking good, then you can go longer. When you go longer without watering St Augustine is going to wilt before you water again. Wilted St Aug will come back fine, but it's a lot of stress on the plant. Bermuda, on the other hand, may wilt but it seems to rebound much more quickly than St Aug. So St Aug is not really a water hog as much as it is more sensitive to drying out. If you leave it dry for the month of July, it might die and not come back with water. But I have left it dry for the months of September through December and it came back with water.

If you want to try something different, there is a variety of buffalo grass that has most of the good characteristics of a turf. The normal problem with buffalo grass is as soon as it's mowed down it sends up flowers and seed heads much faster than the grass grows. TechTurf (aka Turffalo) sends up the seeds and flowers but they grow at the same speed as the grass, so it doesn't look "hairy" in a few days. TechTurf also spreads like wildfire while normal buffalo spreads more slowly if at all. TechTurf becomes dense. Other buffalo grasses do not. Having said that the UC Verde buffalo hybrid is also a good alternative to the regular buffaloes. I have never seen UC Verde in person. TechTurf is a dense grass no matter what mowing height you like. The other issue with TechTurf is the color. It's a yellow green at its best.

Here's a picture of TechTurf that needs mowing badly. This shows the color and density. You can also see it escaping over the concrete.
Image

Any other buffalo grass would have flower stems 8 inches high at this point.

_________________
David Hall
Lawn Care Forum Moderator


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 6 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 6 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by eWeblife