St. Augustine, Centipede Grass - Atlanta

16 years ago

Hi!

1) Can St. Augustine grass be grown in Atlanta?

2) Do both St. Augustine and Centipede grasses need full sun? I have sun in fall/winter/spring, full shade in summer.

3) Do St. Augustine/Centipede grasses only do well if laid as sod - can seed be put down in order to grow a thick cover?

Thanks!

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Comments (8)

skoot_cat
16 years ago
Im not very familiar with Centipede, but S.A. can be grown in GA. I would go with either Raleigh or Bitterblue variety of S.A. Raleigh has better cold tolerance and Bitterblue has better shade tolerance. I would not mix the two as they have very different maintenance requirements.

S.A. does best in sun/partial shade. Do you receive any sun in the summer, or filter sun. If so you should be fine. If its trees that are causing the shade, you could have them trimmed to let more light through.

I don't think you can buy S.A. seed. If you want to put in a St. Augustine lawn, you're going to have to use a vegetative start like sprigs, plugs, or sod.

Centipede on the other hand Im sure you could find. If you decide on Centipede try to purchase seed that has a purity of 90% or higher and a germination of 85% or higher. Read the tag thoroughly
auteck
16 years ago
Your site and climate is very conducive to cool season grasses - particulary Tall Fescue.

There's a variaty of Tall Fescue called Dwarf Fescue, it resembles the look and color of Kentucky Bluegrass, but with much better shade and drought tolerance.

Atlanta is too cold during the winter for St. Augustine grass, Centepede grass gets winter damage north of Macon. They are both Tropical grasses that do NOT handle cold weather very well.

Stay away from warm season grasses in Atlanta, unless you have a year-round full sun location and don't mind a brown lawn for 6 months.
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Frequently, people mistake Centipede for St Augustine.... The main thing people notice is that Centipede is very low growing while St Augustine is high growing... Culturally, they are very different.... Centipede likes very ACID and a very low fertilizer input... St Augustine is the opposite.... It likes a much higher fertilizer input and a more neutral soil.... Centipede needs infrequent, low mowing... St Augustine needs frequent, high mowing.... One frequent problem people have with the St Augustine is that it is quite Thirsty... It likes lots of water -- especially in the sun... In the end, it probably won't be too bad... You will end up with a mixture of whatever likes that area best for the culture you provide... They look fairly similar, so it won't stand out as bad as if they mixed Bermuda with your St. Augustine.... Thanks John
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JTC
16 years ago
I laid Mercedes SA almost a year ago. I chose SA because I was tired of the fescue dying every summer, and I don't have enough sun for bermuda or zoysia. So far the results have been mixed. In the backyard (south) it has done well. There are a couple of thin spots in the very shady area, but in general, it is thick and has no weeds. The front yard (north) is fair. I have about 50-70% still there but it is not as thick and seems slower to green up than the back. This area is more shaded with mature oaks than the back, so I am not sure if the shade or the winter cold is to blame. I will say that in our current drought, my SA looks better than the fescue yards in the neighborhood.

GAmud
quirkyquercus
16 years ago
Are you in Atlanta (zone 8)
Or suburbia zone 7b-7a?

If the latter you probably won't have the easiest time finding St. Frankenstein but I've seen it before.

the problem with warm season grasses here is that they are brown for more of the year then they are green due to being dormant. People get frustrated when they have problems during the 3 or 4 months of dry hot summer with cool season grass yet for some reason they don't complain about having brown dormant warm season grass for 7+.

I just came back from columbia, SC which is only 4 hours drive from here and what a difference in climate.
It has rained here twice in the last 2 months yet yesterday in SC I got thunderstormed on 8 times in one day. It was like a rain forest. That is the kind of humid coastal plain weather that puts that tropical swamp grasses into high gear and we haven't had that here and we don't normally even get that kind of weather until August.

Suffice it to say no matter what you choose, life in the transition zone means lawn challenges.
texas_weed
16 years ago
Stay away from Centipede. Try looking into Zoysia or Bermuda for your area for the warm season varieties.
auteck
16 years ago
Ditto.

Zoysia has better cold tolerance than Bermuda, either way, stay away from Centipede and St. Augustine - those are Florida grasses.
quirkyquercus
16 years ago
Ever wonder why not too many regulars on this forum in florida?
auteck
16 years ago
LOL...

St. Augustine, Centipede Grass - Atlanta

Comments (8)

skoot_cat

auteck

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