tifgrand, celebration, shadow turf or sa palmetto? help please!

12 years ago

I live in Dallas, TX and have a back yard that has a big oak tree. One part of my yard gets a good amount of direct sunlight (several hours), while others get just a little because of the shade. I am planning to have someone come out and trim the tree a bit to help with the shade issue, but it's I'm still going to have half the yard in shade more than 50% of the time. I have done some research and think I have ruled out Eco-lawn, as I don't think it will tolerate the Texas heat this summer, so now I am looking at TifGrand, Celebration Turf, Shadow Turf or trying SA Palmetto. I know there are so many knowledgable people on here and I was hoping you all could help point me in the right direction. On a side note, I have 16 month old twins and a dog that would be using the backyard, so it would be getting a good amount of traffic. Thank you so much in advacnce for your help!

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Comments (9)

texas_weed
12 years ago
I can help you out. First forget Shadow Turf. I do not have any personal experience with it, but I do know a few who do and are sorry they ever installed it and has been replaced. Unless things have changed in the last two years since I last checked, Shadow turf is only available as plugs, and a 72 plug flat cost about $90 plus shipping and will only cover roughly 60/ft2 on 6-inch centers which take a season or two to fill in. You can buy a 500/ft2 pallet of Bermuda sod for $90.

As for Celebration or TifGrand, not sure you can even find any in DFW area as I think the farms for it are in Houston area. However If the shade is as deep as you say, I doubt they would work. I know the promoters say they will grow in 50% shade, independent research only confirms it doe moderately well in 30% shade, and fails @ 50%. That is only slightly better than standard hybrid cultivars.

For you I think Saint Augustine is your only real option. Of the types available in the DFW area with highest shade tolerance and reasonable cold tolerance are:

Palmetto
Del Mar
Bitter Blue
Seville
Saphire
candicem81
Original Author
12 years ago
texas-weed - thanks for your help! SDo you think a shade mix fescue would be successful?? It's really appealing as it seems to be so easy to maintain. Just curious. It seems the more I research this the more confused I get! I wish I could just put synthetic grass back there!
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Auteck, I have nothing but respect for all of your opinions and advice, but... When I moved to Texas from Michigan and saw this "St. Augststein" in my yard, I thought, "this isn't grass." I promptly went out and bought some KBG to fill in the bare spots. HA! KBG does NOT work in Texas unless you want to water 20 minutes a day, every day. Seriously. It will burn up in a matter of days. It took some gettting used to of the coarser blades, but I have really grown to love St. A. - especially compared to Bermuda. It requires less nitrogen, less frequent mowing, can stand the shade of my two Bradford Pears, and is greener for a longer portion of the year. I greened up mid-February this year, and expect to remain green through mid-November. I don't know where you get this "couple months" thing. Even Bermuda is green a good seven months here. Through better cultural practices of mowing high, mulch mowing, and watering deeply and infrequently, my St. Augustine will outperform any fescue or perennial rye in the DFW area. Guaranteed. As a matter of fact, we've been in the mid-90's for three weeks now, and I've yet to water. No way could anything but St. A., Bermuda, or some varieties of Zoysia claim that. BTW... all grasses are "cultured weeds." And don't try to compare the "heat" of Raleigh to that of Dallas. I don't feel like looking for hard stats, but I did find something that mentions Raleigh's whopping "3 consecutive 100-degree days" in 2007. Funny...
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FWIW - I've got a few very shady areas in my lawn. Under a wonderful cedar elm which blocked out all sun I put down Shawdow Turf - 1 flat. It was an experiment. My mistake was placing the plugs too far apart. This was in April 2008. By Sept it hardly moved, and I needed to trim the tree anyway. So now it probably gets 1-2 hours of sun and it's rather filtered at that. It's finally spreading NOW, despite the drought. I do water it, but not more than 1x/week. My initial plan had been to plug the planted shadow turf in another shaded area, but after a year of barely moving, I decided to put in zoysia sod (March 09) - it gets a bit more sun in some areas,but there's another couple of stretches that basically get no direct sun all day. I'd heard zoysia wasn't as shade tolerant as the claims made it seem, but guess where it's growing best? In the shade. In the sun it's surviving, but it's nowhere near as green as in the shade. I water it 1x/week with a sprinkler, and the sunny spots an extra day with a hand held. It's been in the 100s here for the past month and hasn't rained in forever. Not sure that helps you any, just wanted to share my experience with some of these types. We also have bermuda, but that's in direct sun 6-10 hours per day. A patch of St. A that the city put in along the street is long since dead.
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texas_weed
12 years ago
Do you think a shade mix fescue would be successful??

In DFW area? Not a Snowball's Chance in He11. If you plant Fescue now, it will come up and look great. Then come by the end of May or first of June you will have a bare yard of dirt with dead burnt remains of the Fescue. You are in warm season grass territory. Trust this ole Texas Sod Farmer from that area, stick with Bermuda, Zoysia, and Saint Augustine varieties.

In Dallas default is Bermuda for full sun, and Saint Augustine for mixed full sun and moderate shade. Zoysia can be used in full sun to light shade.
rager_w
12 years ago
I can offer my experience and am in total agreement with TW. I tried one flat of shadow turf last year. It never really spread...waste of money. I also installed a couple of pallets of TifGrand as I have a couple of areas with moderate shade. As TW said, it is only slightly better than 419. Quite honestly, 419 looks much better in full sun. Maybe this year I will feel differently.
lou_spicewood_tx
12 years ago
Texas Weed, they do sell Celebration up here in Dallas area.

http://www.a1grass.com/
lou_spicewood_tx
12 years ago
Candice,

What kind of dog do you have? Does he/she stay indoor or outside? I've seen dogs ruin backyard so that's something to keep in mind.
texas_weed
12 years ago
Texas Weed, they do sell Celebration up here in Dallas area.

OK thanks My Bad. I know the family but did not know they had Celebration. Oh well I am retired and do not stay on top of the market like I use too.
lou_spicewood_tx
12 years ago
That's okay TW. Just wanted to let you know in case other people ask you about it. I drive by that place all the time so it's stuck in my mind.

Enjoy your retirement! :)
candicem81
Original Author
12 years ago
I have a boxer, she's about 40lbs and won't get any bigger (she's kind of a runt). She is an inside dog and doesn't dig or anything, just runs around and goes potty out there. I plan on spraying down the area that she uses to potty daily to avoid yellow spots in the yard - hopefully that will work. I need to do some more research on that though.

tifgrand, celebration, shadow turf or sa palmetto? help please!

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tifgrand, celebration, shadow turf or sa palmetto? help please!

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