Need help posting pictures?

I looked at the page source. Looks like you forgot to include the link.

I'm guessing you intended to link to your blog.

The picture is a little small, so I can't tell for sure, but it looks like you might be mowing too short. Bermuda needs to be mowed very short, but buffalo grass generally does better if it's left to grow fairly high (at least 3-4 inches).

Yeah ... goofed the link.

I clipped it short for the first mowing to get the dead tufts off - it's recommended to do that if you don't have buffalo around to graze it down.

I need to finish replacing the sprinkler heads with 6" pop-ups so I can let it grow tall.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to Buffalo Grass Blog Posts

I don't have the patience to read blogs. I started reading and got half way through before I realized I was going backward in time. Can you summarize for us here?

Executive Summary: The "UC Verde" cultivar of buffalo grass apparently really likes Phoenix!

Starting from plugs on 18" spacing in late March 2009, I had close to 100% coverage in less than 4 months. If the budget had been able to handle closer spacing, it would have been sooner.

The Mistakes: http://lazygardens.blogspot.com/2009/08/watching-grass-grow-week-20-confessing.html

The Water Use: After the initial high water establishment stage, it took about 60% of the water recommended for Bermuda. This year will be less, and I'm going to deliberately push it to the limit.
http://lazygardens.blogspot.com/2009/07/watching-grass-grow-week-16-water.html

If it takes 60% of the water (and less as it matures), you should see significant savings over time. You'll save on fertilizer, too, since Bermuda is a heavy feeder and buffalo grass can get by with no fertilizer or maybe 1/2 lb of N per 1000 sq ft per year (compared with 1 lb per month for bermuda). And you'll probably mow less often, too.

That really is good. When it grows do you get seed heads sticking up or do they stay about the same height as the grass blades? One of the issues with buff is the fast growing seed head stalks. Another issue is density. You don't have any density issues. Yours looks good in the close ups. Thank you for the update. Where did you get your plugs?

I wonder what it'd look like if you had mixed buffalo and blue grama. I really like blue grama and bermuda can't seem to invade it despite heavy fertilizing. It's extremely soft to walk on and looks neat at 4 inches tall.

Lou if you have pix of blue grama, could you post them in a new topic?

Dchall, I think BPgreen has pictures of Bluegrama, or maybe I'm mistaken with Western Wheatgrass...?

I don't think I've got pictures of blue grama. It doesn't green up early enough here, so I only have a small amount of it in the hellstrip. If I can find some this summer, I'll try to get a picture.

I think it's a very attractive grass and it mixes with buffalo grass very well. They have similar growing seasons (although I think blue grama turns green a little sooner in spring and stays green a little longer in the fall) and water needs. Blue grama is a bunch grass and will grow taller than buffalo grass. However, if you mow a couple of times a year, the blue grama will spread a little and the fact that it can grow taller than buffalo grass won't be an issue.

I did a google image search and found some pictures, but most of them included the seed heads (when you see them, you'll know why one name for blue grama is eyelash grass). I don't think that's representative of how it looks in a lawn setting though.

Dchall - I have not seen any seed heads. UC Verde is planted from plugs, not seed, so it may be a sterile, seedless mutant grass that is going to eat my pets and children.

Lou -
We considered blue grama, but it's not as heat tolerant as buffalo. I think a mixed meadow of the two could look good in a slightly cooler climate.

UC Verde is a hybrid, so no seeds. The seeded cultivars will have seeds.

Here's a pic of grama at the park that they grew on their own...

{{gwi:81880}}

It's definitely very heat tolerant and drought tolerant compared to bermuda. I much prefer grama over bermuda. It's so soft to walk on it, I could sleep on it. HOA did hire TruGreen to maintain the park so that means weed killer, fertilizer, etc. I noticed that before they hired Trugreen, no weeds could invade that patch of Grama while bermuda was full of weeds. I thought that was very interesting...

{{gwi:81881}}

Where can one find Blue Grama seeds or plugs?

Here is one place.

Here is another.

I've got other links somewhere that I'll try to find.

Thanks for the pix, Lou. That's what I was hoping to see. Is that park up by you or down by your brother? I'm wondering if it is a cooler weather grass or more heat tolerant? Also it looks like it provides plenty of dense shade to kill out bermuda. Very nice.

DAvid--Blue grama is a warm season grass, but it greens up sooner in the spring (and goes dormant later in the fall) than buffalo grass. It's probably as drought tolerant as buffalo grass (I've seen it growing and green here near the end of the summer in an area with no irrigation).

It's by my park. I can't tell if bermuda is invading grama or not. 2 years ago, I was watering the park once a month and Grama grass definitely did best with monthly deep watering.

Thanks bpgreen. I'm suggesting it to another poster in this forum.

We planted 609 buffalo grass sod on our large new yard in Dallas area 5 years ago. Tried being organic - used corn gluten meal for weed control. Have had tons of weeds every year; spent hours/days hand pulling. Last year went to chemical pre-emergent and Roundup, but are still having loads of weeds. There are undeveloped lots near us. Grass was very lush for about 3 years, in both sun and moderate shade, but has thin spots now esp. in shade. Bermuda has invaded some sections. We seldom water; never fertilize. We only mowed once/yr for 3 years; now are mowing at about 6 week intervals. Don't have any seed heads. Do get runners. I still love the low maintenance but am very disheartened about the weed problem.

609 variety is likely the problem. The 609 yards I've seen are the same as you describe. It is not a very dense turf. Do you have any shade at all?

Tech Turf, by the Turffalo people in Lubbock, is the dense buffalo variety you see in these two pictures. The first is mowed at 3/4 inch and the second one was due to be mowed down to 3 inches.

{{gwi:80801}}

{{gwi:78817}}