Hey all. What would be the best turf grass for this area? I've got a total of 5 acres, and want to get some sort of carpet grass covering the front part where the house and everything is. I was thinking of St. Augustine, palmetto variety. Thoughts?
If you're in the Houston area, definitely go for St. Augustine. There was some landscaping done recently where I work, and for some stupid reason, they did half the grass in St. Augustine and half in Bermuda. The Bermuda grass instantly turned brown and looks dead, while the St. Augustine is still green, even in the middle of winter...
I don't have much to add, other than if it gets any direct sunlight at all and it is in Texas it will die unless it is some variety of St. Augustine.
where are you at? St augustine will need lots of water. Houston area st augustine is good but for other parts think about how much rain you get and how much your water bill is.
I'm in Alvin, South of Houston. I've got a water well that supplies my home, so the expense will be the electricity for the pump. I think there is plenty of rain out here though, so water shouldn't be much of an issue. I think the Palmetto variety is fairly drought tolerant.
won't you be cutting 5 acres of grass all year long if you go with St. Augustine? the best thing about bermuda is it browns and doesn't grow when it gets cold. then it turns green again when it warms up. therefore, you don't cut grass nearly as much. i guess it depends on if you want green grass all year long or not and how much you like cutting grass...which i assume would translate into a riding mower for 5 acres.
I do want green grass, but the whole 5 acres doesn't have to be. Even if it is, it can stay taller in the back, I won't cut it as much.
5 acres of all st augustine sounds like a nightmare. do a yard area with st augustine and then the rest with something else (seeds).
Yeah, but even St. Augustine doesn't grow as fast in the winter than in the summer, so you won't even have to mow half as much in the winter than in the summer. St. Augustine, while not necesswarily the "prettiest" grass out there is the most care-free in Houston.
I had a full acre and I sodded 1/2 of it with St. Augustine. Cost a pretty penny for just that much. Looking back, I wish I had used palmetto since it is pretty shade tolerant (I have a ton of trees on my land). I also suggest getting a sprinkler system. My new lawn would not have survived without religious watering every day for about 2-3 weeks. Just to mow 1/2 acre of St. Augustine every week took 3 hours with a riding mower. Its a pain in the arse.
Uh.... I don't think St Augustine is the best grass for 'Texas'. It is a water hog and will not survive 1 summer in most of the state w/o irrigation. And when under stress, can respond with chinch bugs.
Actually, some versions of St. Augustine are specifically engineered for Texas climate. Once established, St. Augustine is pretty resiliant.
http://www.sodsolutions.com/palmetto/index.shtml There's some info on the palmetto. If anybody has a different preference, speak up. I didn't know it, but "carpet grass" is actually a real grass name.
In East Texas. In other areas of the state it can get stressed from the drought, even the hybrids (there's only so much they can do with hybridization). Notice they qualify the description 'Palmetto St. Augustine has endured drought conditions as well as or better than any other variety of St. Augustine'. Unless heavily irrigated here in Central Texas, you're likely to end up with a patchy lawn in most years and we're a lot wetter than much of Texas. A couple of folks who decided to let their St Augustine weather the drought here in Austin last year lost their entire lawns. Zoysia is a better grass but expensive, and if you have any shade there is no reasonable choice but St Augustine, and Palmetto is an attractive grass for Houston.
I have El Toro zoysia in the front lawn and Emerald in the back. Emerald is like a golf course (and is used for them in parts of Asia). Emerald is like a very very dense lawn of a good hybrid bermuda. El Toro is softer than Emerald ... a finer blade than St Augustine and w/o the massive runners. Under the right conditions, they both make stunning lawns.
