Best grass?
 

We have St. Augustine grass, which we've never really liked, and which now has some kind of bug damaging it. We want to replace the grass with something hardy, low, that looks nice and will spread on its own. Bermuda? Anyone have experience with it or other possible lawn types?

I think all of the newer homes have Zoysia.

what they put down when you buy

Specfically Empire Zoyzia..Suggest you call Allens Sod Service (352-245-8971) and Mathew will come out and give you an estimate. His price is really dependent upon how accessible your lawn is to bringing the heavy Sod in..ie if you need to get it to the back of your house, can he bring a front loader to help remove the sod when its picked up and then bring new sod in to be laid down. Plan on $.80 - $1.10 per Sq Foot.

Its a 3 step process..1) kill existing grass and weeds, 2) lay the sod, 3) heavy roll it.

Another vote for Allen's Sod. They do the job correctly at a fair price.

The title of this thread really got my attention!!! Then I realized you were talking about your lawn. Oh well.:loco::

:agree:

I grew up in the north where I worked at golf courses all my life. I learned that it's best to have a mixture of different grasses on a golf course as well as in your lawn. The reason being that there are different types of diseases and insects that will attack some types of grass and not other. If your lawn is all one strain of grass and you get something that destroys that particular type of grass,, you lose your entire lawn. If you have a mix then you still have a lawn.

Since I've moved down here I was told that it's best to have all one strain of grass and to not mix them. I have St Augustines mostly, (which I think is more of a weed) and some Zoysia mixed in. I have patched some areas with Bermuda. I'm told that the Bermuda will spread and take over everything, but I haven't seen any evidence of that happening yet. Of course it's only been a few months.

I do notice that the Bermuda grows a lot faster. I mow once a week and by the day I mow, the Bermuda is much taler than the rest of the lawn.

I do know that you can cut Bermuda much lower and it will survive. It is what is on the fairways and greens down here. (Unless that's a different type of Bermuda)

I'm no expert, but I have worked with experts in the field of agronomy for 35 years. I'm just throwing this stuff out there. Please feel free to comment on it.

Its true, Bermuda takes over Zoysia!!! Nothing that you really can do about it either, EXCEPT to kill it along with other grass. Theres a product called ornamec, that is suppose to kill bermuda without harming zoysia. I tried it, but never worked for me. Sometimes that raggety look'n bermuda comes in too, which i dont like. I see it on golf courses too, in second cut>

I believe Bermuda needs more water and that is why the developer does not use it.

We had bermuda in North Carolina. Really did well with the sandier soil there. Never had any issues with pest, of course we took care of the yard ourselves as we will here when we move into the new home. Dont like lawn services that spray who knows what on the yard.

One thing though is bermuda can be expensive for additional seeding.

me too! I was going to reply Thai!

Thought I was back in the 60's again.

I love this thread ... maui wowie

Acapulco Gold