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Choosing a grass for central Texas

13 years ago

I'm trying to decide what to do about my front lawn. I currently have st. Augustine with a ton of weeds. I'm thinking about taking that up and seeding with a mixture of buffalo grass and blue garma grass. The lawn gets mostly sun. My neighbor has Bermuda grass. Is their Bermuda going to invade this new mix? Is this a good mix for my lawn? Do you have any better suggestions?

Thanks for all the help!

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Comments (6)

texas_weed
13 years ago
Well first thing is Buffalo grass will not tolerate shade. As for the Bermuda grass invading the Buffalo is a very real possibility.
dchall_san_antonio
13 years ago
If you seed with buffalo and don't do anything else, you will have your neighbor's bermuda for a full lawn. The buffalo will only serve to make it look weedy. However if you plug in some Tech Turf (more expensive than seeding) buffalo, you will probably have a buffalo lawn. And as TW said above, you must have full sun for buffalo and bermuda.

Or in the mean time, while you're thinking about that, let's get that St Augustine going. If your temps are not in the mid 80s yet, spray with weed-b-gone (assuming you're not averse to sprays). That will take a few days to take effect but it will take out all the broad leaf weeds. Then raise your mower to the highest it will go and start mowing at that height. I know you are mowing lower than that now because you have weeds. Once you mow at the tallest height the weeds start to go away. The lawn will look straggly (not weedy) for a few weeks while all the grass grows up to the new height. But then it will look great.

Then start watering but no more than once a week. You might have to water for a couple hours in each zone, but the idea is to water with enough water that the roots get water but the surface dries out completely. Weed seeds need continual moisture at the surface to germinate. If you let the soil dry out, they will not germinate.

Finally FERTILIZE. NOW. If you want to use organic fertilizer, do it now and again in a month. But if you are using chemical fertilizer, then do it now before it gets hotter and then again on Labor Day.

You might also get a Weed Hound tool at HD. With that tool you can remove tap rooted or bunch type weeds as fast as you can step on them. It's GREAT!
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I've re-done my yard at several houses I've lived in over the years. I drank the Kool-Aid and tied zoysia once. For the premium I paid, I was disappointed to say the least. Within a year, I had wild Bermuda popping up. I tried to hand weed for awhile, but finally gave up and just let it do its thing. I was also disappointed in its vigor, or lack thereof. Some spots were thick and full as advertised, but others were thin and spindly. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it as far as light either. While Bermuda can rebound better from drought that St. Augustine, it'll still look crappy and weeds will take over if not irrigated. One of my wife's friends had a new house built and she got the builder issued 419. After hardly watering in our micro drought last summer, the wild Bermuda popped up and has really taken over in some areas. It's easy to spot since it grows much taller and has a wider blade. Based on what I've read about it, if a gun was pointed to my head and I had to pick Bermuda grass, I'd try celebration. I don't have any firsthand knowledge to back that up though. As much as St. Augustine gets vilified, I'm still partial to it overall. Yep, a good watering once a week will get it by. Any other grass needs the same, really. It's not the PC or sexy choice in our neck of the woods, but that's what we're going with in our backyard we're renovating. It helps that our neighborhood's all St. A though. If we were the only one, I'd MAYBE reconsider. My $.02.
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leilaash
Original Author
13 years ago
Wow! Thank you. That is great advice. I will start tomorrow with the Augustine. :). Thanks!
Alph
13 years ago
WeedBGon works wonders, but David, isn't it harmful to St. Augustine and Centipede?
texas_weed
13 years ago
Dave Weed Be Gone on SA? Wouldn't that be SA B Gone if it has MSMA in it?
ltruett
13 years ago
From what I read on the labels for Weed B Gone, it is safe for SA except for Floratam.

Here is a link that might be useful: label

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