Grass type question
 

I’ve been a New Englander for most of my life so I’m just learning about all this Florida stuff. My question of the day relates to grass type. I have a few places in my new courtyard villa yard where I would like to throw down some grass seed. What type should I buy? I’m not even sure what type of grass I have. I’ve pulled up some grass near the sprinkler heads and whatever I have has real deep roots. Can anyone educate me?
Thanks in advance,
Bruce

Floraltam is the grass most commonly used for residential homes in the Villages. It is a type of St. Augustine grass. It grows at night and goes dormant during cold season. Best to wait until spring to plant unless putting down established sod. You can buy plugs on-line and plant them in the spring.

If you are in a village on the north side of 466 or south side to Poinciana, you have St Augustine grass. The Villages switched to Zoysia grass in 2010 going south starting at Pennecamp.
We're from MA and struggled trying to get a good looking lawn with several companies and then by ourselves with Scotts Southern fertilizer. Tried for 3 years and then found Lesco at Home Depot and we spread every 3 months. It does not include a weed killer so in between we spread Scotts weed and feed. Now the lawn is great, finally.

Thanks for the replies. I’ve been planting grass up north for almost 40 years now. The type of weather we’ve been having here, cool nights and warm (in the 70’s days) would be perfect grass growing weather up north. And the seed I’ve always bought is a mixture of three or four different types. But I guess I’ve got a bit of learning to do in The Villages. Never too old to learn.

Oh, and I’m in the new Phillips Villas off Mulberry Lane. You can’t get any more north than that in The Villages. So I must have St. Augustine.

Back to the subject;

We have Zoysia. It can grow under and through just about anything civilization has to offer and pulling it out of where it isn't supposed to grow makes most good people cuss.

Folks. I meant to say FOLKS.

Sez here that Zoyzia is more expensive than St. Augustine and also as I researched further, Zoyzia required less water;


2017 St Augustine Sod Prices | St Augustine Pallet of Sod Cost

Zoysia Farm Nurseries: Welcome!

For my advice
 

These threads often get to my grass can take your grass.

The best line I ever heard at one of the many plant lectures I've attended is if you are from up north, forget everything you think you know about plant care.

From your post, if you are on the northern section of the Villages you have St Augustine. In the south sections you will have Empire Zoyzia. As to seeding-the zoysia does not produce a viable seed-you have no choice but to buy sod.
The saint augustine seed that you can buy is not the same variety that you have so again yu must buy sod.

CONFESSION-we have empire zoysia-AND MY GRASS CAN TAKE YOUR GRASS-CAN'T HELP IT.

Back to the real world-each type has pluses and minuses. The zoyzia has a far finer texture than the st augustine. The zoysia is,"supposed," to need less water. Except if your read the fine print. If, there is a water shortage, the zoysia will turn brown before the st augustime. However the zoysia has the ability to go dormant and come back.
The st augustine if it goes brown it is not dormant it is dead. As to weed killers. The empire zoysia is more tolerant of common weed killers than the st augustine.

HINT-I've seen many posts that I have a zoysia law and my gardener has dropped st augustine into it. If you read the insurrections on any of the common 24D weed killers it says do not use at temperatures over 80 degrees. You mix it up strong (1 tbs to the qt) and spot treat on a hot day.
It will kill the st augustine but not the zoysia. At that strength is will damage the zoysia but not kill it-do not do it regularly.

I thought that when TV came further south, they had to negotiate with Sumter county to use less water and generally use fewer natural resources. It may be the reason for the Zoysia grass. We were "told"! (But then we were also told buildout would be 2014:D)

bruce-with-the-darling-beagle-rnelson, some people overseed zoysia with rye grass in the winter. You might give that a try. Needs more mowing, and the grass can escape into your neighbor's yard, although that might not be a problem in a CYV. We tried it one year. It was spotty in our yard (designer).

We've given up. Nothing down here will match our up-North grass.

Don’t assume it is St. Augustine because of your location. The north/south rule applies to homes already built for the northern end, everything for the southern. Not sure what they may have planted in the new housing up north. Call the irrigation company shown on your irrigation control box. They’ll have the definitive answer.

I called.

They said;

Pure Columbian.:D

:bowdown::a20::a20::bowdown:

I probably should have said Zoysia since 2010 rather than north/south seeing they are now building north again.

There was a time that zoysia looked like the answer to all the problems with grass here in Florida (and everywhere else as well) but we have all learned that is not the case. ENH979/EP236: Homeowner Best Management Practices for the Home Lawn (care of zoysia)

The Villages is no longer using zoysia in their new builds because of extensive problems south of 466a and other areas in The Villages. They are using St Augustine floratam. This is not to say that St Augustine has no problems. There are 2 problems with St Augustine that are rather large. One being chinch bugs. They like it hot and start chewing the grass usually along the cement driveway, the sidewalk or street. The problem can be successfully treated. Ask at Lowes, Home Depot or Ace Hdwre for something to eradicate cinch bug. (Chinch Bug Identification and Treatment - YouTube) I got very upset when we first moved here and there were so many turf problems. I no longer sweat it. I just pick up the phone and call Massey.

The other problem is large patch (formerly called brown patch). That is a fungus and starts when the nights are cool and the days are warm. It can be exacerbated if the lawn is watered too early in the evening and the grass is wet all night. Once the lawn gets large patch, it will always have it so that it has to be treated proactively with the appropriate fungicide. Use plugs of St Augustine floratam after you clear up active large patch (spring). SS-PLP-5/LH044: Large Patch

The other 'sometimes' problem with both zoysia and St Augustine is mole crickets. It seems that some neighborhoods have more problems with them than others. The mole crickets are attracted to lawns with heavy thatch. Imdacloprid controls mole crickets. Mole Cricket Control – Tips For Mole Cricket Elimination

Grass is grass, and thankfully I am on the right-side (upside of it):D

I pay Massey to keep it green and clean of weeds and bugs and another guy to keep it trimmed.

We had Kentucky Blue up North, Bermuda in Memphis and Saint Augustine here.

My favorite was Bermuda and the more sand you gave it the healthier it got. It would not start growing until the temps hit 80 degrees and mowing it was not the struggle you have with Saint Augustine.

I could not find a lawnmower front wheel or rear wheel drive that would not require an extra effort by me to get it moving. its why I finally hired a guy to mow it.

Two of my neighbors removed Saint Augustine and replaced it with Empire Zoysia . I recall the cost to them was $2,000. My brother also has Zoysia. I do
not like zoysia because it turns a god- awful brown

TV went to Empire Zoysia becuase it is more drought tolerant and requires less water. People are complaining about how s-l-o-w it comes out of the awful yellow-color dormancy, especially in the Spring when people want their lawn to green up soonest. No matter what you do, it will stay yellow into May. It seems like Zoysia will go into dormancy and stay there if you yell "Boo" at it :) TV went back to St. Augustine at Fenney and south of 44.

I use Lesco 16-4-8 fertilizer at the end of May and the lawn greens up nicely in early June.

Got critters eating your lawn? Demand CS and Bifen XTS will stop that. It doesn't take much.

Bermuda and Centipede also turn brown in the winter, usually after a couple of frosts. I have had Zoysia, Bermuda, and Centipede and of those three I preferred Centipede; drought resistant, low fertilizer requirements, slow growing, and any bare spots fill in quickly.

The villages put in Zoyzia sod in our yard. It cannot be removed from bushes, and it grows under things such as deeply embedded walls and it finds your foundation plantings covered with rocks. . You cannot remove it unless you get down on your hands and knees and follow it back to it's roots which are several miles from where you are kneeling on a bed of fire ants.............................................. BUT

It is more expensive than St. Augustine and The Villages are NOT cheap.

We're in Phillips Villas, too, and I'm pretty sure we were told its zoyzia.
Seems to really like water - its at its greenest right alongside the AC drip line. :)

True, bermuda needs 80 degree weather to grow.
In the summer when I traveled back home to New York I intentionally treated the lawn to let it go dormant for that 2 week period so mowing wasn't an issue and then upon my return to Memphis added various fertilizer etc and it greened up quickly

Neighbors would literally buy truckload filled with sand and have it spread across their lawns and they flourished, Admittedly never heard of Centipede

Personal Best Regards:

Centipede will quickly go brown after a few frosts. While we don't have a lot of frost here, it will brown up if we do.

TV started using Zoysia, (and pinestraw instead of mulch) at the same time. Unless you were privy to the deals at the time..who can say why? BUT I can say for sure... it was NEVER a good grass for this area.

Centipede hasn't gone dormant in this area since the early 80s. You can sod it or seed it. Mow it less than 6 times a year. Barely water it, and use only the cheapest low Nitrogen fertilizer once a year...if at all. There is no grass comparable to Centipede foe this area.

St Aug gets fungus some, bugs too, but it recovers easily and quickly while Zoysia is still pouting. And if we have a rainy winter..or any season..What Zoysia isn't dead from fungus will have fungus. St Aug handles our humidity and rainy seasons WAY better. Stop pouring the chemicals on Zoysia, and it would be all but extinct in this area in a year or two.

Escape the hype folks, just because someone claims to know, doesn't mean they do. ASK how long they lived here, what they were doing 10 years ago. Is the knowledge from the local garden club (of people from 'other' states)? Or did they actually go to college for agriculture..horticulture , botany ?
Learning from the guy cutting your grass? Don't. Asked a Landscape 'designer' from...Minnisota? No again... find you a cracker with 20 plus years horticulture experience in the local area or you are likely throwing money at a problem that will re-appear in a few months. The catch 22s caused by the wide spread mis-information in TV ... are expensive for YOU.

Everything I've ever heard about southern grasses says that centipede is the best.

What I'd always heard about Zoysia is that it's best suited to the mid-Atlantic region. My understanding is that it really only does well in Delaware, Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia. Of course, new strains of grass are being developed all the time. It could be that a new strand of Zoysia was developed for sub-tropical climates.