I used to spend a lot of time in Middle Tennessee visiting around Tullahoma. Wish I had paid attention to the lawns when I was there. I think I remember a lot of common bermuda out in the sunlight. Back in the trees I'm not sure what I saw. I am sure it wasn't zoysia, though.

Who is recommending Emerald? Is it someone selling it or someone who has had it in their lawn for 20 years? In my limited experience with zoysia...if you fail to water it before you think you need to water it, it will go dormant on you. Once it goes dormant from drought, no matter how much you water it, it can be weeks (and WEEKS) before you see any sign of green. Mine is not the Emerald variety.

If you are willing to water once a week, then St Augustine should work. If you are unwilling to water, then buffalo grass will work but only in full sun. Bermuda will survive the conditions you say but if you want it to look nice you would have to water it every week or so, fertilize it heavily every month, and mow twice weekly. You don't sound that ambitious. The seeded varieties of buffalo will not grow in dense. They quickly become weedy and look like pasture. One variety called Tech Turf grows very dense. St Aug and Tech Turf both thrive when mowed at your mower's highest setting. Both would spread once established and fill in without having to cover the entire half acre. Unlike the fescue, though, all the southern grasses will go dormant (brown) in the winter. Suck it up and get used to that feature.

Another alternative would be native prairie grasses. Some of those, when mowed like a lawn, look excellent. They never need water (in Tennessee) and never need fertilizer. They do require full sun, like buffalo grass and bermuda do.

Zoysia is known for being v-e-r-y slow to spread and slow to recover from damage. Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably trying to sell it to you.

Hello,
I actually cut the fescue twice a week or else it gets out of control.....when it is springtime. In the last few years, we have had less and less rainfall in the summer so about May - October it is too hot and dry for the cool season fescue. I have put a lot of time and effort into trying to establish a thick lawn over the last 5 years, but the summer gets me every time (I've tried watering, but at a point in time you have to stop that because of cost). I have decided that if I am going to have to look at dormant brown grass, I would prefer to do that in the winter, not the summer like I have to do now.

I guess I am looking for something that is close to fescue in density and texture, but a warm season grass. Emerald sounded the closest (not prickly) as did Princess (and both were supposedly taller than 1-2"), but the last few winters have seen temperatures down to the single digits. So, I don't want a grass that will die on me under those conditions. This is a transition zone so they say either will work, but I'd rather see it green in the summer and enjoy that. I have never seen Emerald on the ground. i can go to a sod farm an hour or two away and look at it, which I plan on doing, but other than sellers, I have no information on it. Same for Bermuda grasses.

Thanks for the information. I am familiar with Tullahoma. I doubt it has changed much.

John,

I'm in Tullahoma in the midst of making a warm season turf decision and have been hitting a few of the farms in the area. Just wondering where you found Emerald?

Most farms here grow Meyer. One in Eagleville does Empire.

I went to a farm in Manchester yesterday and talked with them as they have a bermuda I have been reading a lot about called T10 or Tifton 10 which is a common with a wider blade that touts you can use a rotary mower, slow vertical growth, less fertilizer, yaty, yaty, yaty.....

Anyway, always cool to find people in your area looking to do the same.

dchall - Any opinion on the T10?

I would avoid the zoyzia. I live in Spring Hill and some of the new businesses sodded zoyzia a couple of years ago and it looks bad. It's very thatchy and spongy. I wouldn't recommend Princess 77 for this area. It gets too cold and you'll have winter kill at some point. Seeding is a tough way to go, but if you must, I can recommend Yukon. I got my neighbor up the street to plant it when he decided to follow my lead and make the switch to bermuda. It came in good and looks nice. He cuts with a rotary mower. It's very fine bladed for a common bermuda. I have Tifway 419. I'm in my 3rd season and, as you know, this last winter was brutal. Yet, I had zero winter kill. The problem with 419 is it can't reach it's potential unless you invest in a reel mower. I can also recommend Celebration. I have some of it in my back yard and it stays green longer in the fall than 419, greens up earlier in the spring than 419, and is more drought tolerant as well as more shade tolerant. In fact, if I had it to do all over again, I would've gone with Celebration. But, I'm very happy with the 419, especially after I got the reel mower! Hope this helps

I mentioned Tech Turf in my previous message. I have pictures of Tech Turf mowed low and high. First the low. This was mowed at 3/4 inch with a reel mower.

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Now for the high. This was mowed at 3 inches - actually it was overgrown and needed to be mowed, but still it does not look that bad even with the seed heads. I've seen it mowed at 4 inches an it looks the same. It is a very dense grass and spreads alarmingly quick as you can see it growing over the sidewalk. I have never seen a buffalo grass become this dense. The seeded varieties will look like a pasture. This is plugged.

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If you search this forum for my handle and also bpgreen, you will find some comments on growing grass in the high desert. Forget about the high desert part. That is a special case. Your case is more normal. Check out bpgreen's list of grass types and continue on to see where I have linked to photos of the various grasses. These will give you a lawn that may or may not go brown in the winter but will be VERY low maintenance in the summer. Low watering and low fertilizing. They do need to be mowed or they look like a pasture, but when mowed, they look very nice.

TNJDM,
Southeasternturf sells Empire but until now, I was thinking it was Emerald. I am glad that I recheked after your post. They have it at their Lynnville nursery but not Eagleville.

I was rethinking why I cut the fescue so high and then it dawned on me that it was to retain moisture in the soil and fight weeds. If a warm seaason were thick enough to choke out the weeds and was drought tolerant then I would not have to mow it 4" tall. I've just had fescue since day one so it is a new world for me with warm season grasses.

I am familiar with both the Yukon and Celebration names having been reading up on warm season grasses, Tif also. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I will look closer at Celebration and Yukon and maybe even your Tif 419.

As for the tech turf, those photos are beautiful. I will look into that also.

Thanks to everyone for their input and advice.

C.J.

JohnMhenderson,
Where did you get the celebration ? Was is sod or seed ?

Thanks.

Got it in Huntsville at the home depot. Just bought about 10 squares to cover some places by the house. I got my Tif from Mid Tn Turf in Murfressboro.
Jon

I forgot to mention that another advantage of Celebration is that it looks good mowed with a rotary mower, where 419 really doesn't. Trust me, if you're not going to get a reel mower, don't bother with a hybrid bermuda other than Celebration. I would also strongly suggest that that, should you choose a hybrid bermuda, see if you can get it SPRIGGED as opposed to sodded. The sod is so rough. I spent DAYS filling in the cracks and levelling it to get it smooth enough to mow with my reel mower. it was VERY HARD WORK. Feel free to ask any other questions!
Jon

DC Hall San Antonio,
Are you referring to the Turffalo Tech Turf ? I have been looking for information online and found that. It looks pretty amazing. What has been your experience with it? If I ordered the flats and planted the plugs, based on what you have seen, do you beleive it will overtake my existing lawn ? That is what I would want it to do.

Thanks!