Off Topic - Grass

Ol'Salt Joined: Jun 26, 2006 Posts: 965

For your yard. I don't know a thing about it, just that my yard at my house on the mainland near Ocean Isle looks crappy. Patches of centipede, weeds and dead centipede. The centipede near the road looks good, yard gradually slopes so that area collects water.

What kind of grass for you have? What time if year should i plant it? Soil is pretty sandy. I'm about 1/2 a mile from the waterway if it makes a difference. Tired of a crappy looking yard, and if i can't go fishing might as well make it look good.

2nd Mate Joined: May 26, 2010 Posts: 26

St. Augustine. Expensive, but looks good.

Ol'Salt Joined: Jun 26, 2006 Posts: 965

I heard its not very drought resistant and requires a lot of maintenance. i'm only there on weekends so i'd like something a little easier to maintain. researched bahia and Bermua. anyone have a preference?

Ol'Salt Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 384 Location: NC

Centipede will work just fine but you need to keep it fertilized and limed with sandy soil. It also likes water!
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 2:45 pm Post subject:

Do not plant bahia. It is horrible. This should be defined as a weed, not a grass. In the NCDOT world, it is defined as a "ground cover" - not good. It is the tall skinny grass with the little Y at the top full of little black seeds. I have been trying for years to get rid of it, but my neighbors haven't done the same. And those little black seeds keep floating in my yard.

Bermuda, although I would love a yard ful of it, is more high maintenance than St Aug or Centipede. Centipede is probably the best grass for a second home. Low growing, spreads by runners, chokes out other weeds when healthy, etc. But you will have to fertilize and lime any of these grasses at least occassionally (say 2x per year) to keep them at all healthy.

Oh, and definitely get a soil test done. I did that for the first time this year - I had pH's of 4.2 and 4.4. WAY too low (acidic) and it will take me a year to get it to an acceptable range with lime. It just takes that long for the lime to work. I'm praying my first 2 applications of lime (one being the fast-acting variety) have adjusted it enough for St. Aug sprigs to take.

I'm about where you are - rehabbing a devastated yard. I just tilled, regraded and added irrigation. The plan is to plant St. Aug sprigs this Friday. Super cheap but requires lots of water while it is getting established and will require daily observation. But it is going to cost me $65 for the sprigs, sod for the same coverage was $1200 for the sod alone.

They do not have seeds for St. Aug. They do for centipede. And right now would be a good time to plant. But again, you will need to water it in the early stages for proper germination. And without a soil test, I'd be concerned that I was planting in horrible soils and that the efforts were for naught.

Hope this jabbering helps a little. Good luck!
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Ol'Salt Joined: Jun 26, 2006 Posts: 965

Wow that's some great info. Thanks!

Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 5:22 pm Post subject:

I would say if you wanted something that will be easy to maintain, once it comes in, don't really have to water a lot, after the first few months, I would go with centipede sod. Other wise erosion will take care of your seeds. But, if you do want to plant see rather than sod it, buy the matting that lowes sells for erosion control, this is similar to putting down hay in the sense it will not "wash away as quickly" and will give the seed some time to germinate. If you need a seeding schedule PM me, I can provide you with time of year to plant what, and what types of fertilizer you need for area of planting.
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Mate Joined: Dec 26, 2011 Posts: 18

I`ve got Zoysia on OIB, 2nd st. Had it put in as sod, 3 yrs ago, Looks great, once established, don`t take much water , have irrigation system, if you don`t irrigate, not much since in spending much money in this sand.

Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 7:27 pm Post subject:

Supposedly there is a "super zoysia" that covers well has deep roots and little maintainence. Not sure what it is called but I heard it is the bees knees. Many people with "grass envy"(that's what my girlfriend calls it. I'm guilty as well) lust for it.
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Ol'Salt Joined: Jun 26, 2006 Posts: 965

I don't have "grass envy" per se just tired of my yard looking half dead.

Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 9:31 pm Post subject:

I have had the same battle for years. If the soil is sandy, centipede is a bust. Sand just doesnt hold water very well and centipeide clippings dont offer enough moisture to help amend the soil. I have centipeide in my front yard and bermuda in my fenced in back yard and the difference is night amd day. Berumuda may be high maintinance but it recovers from most abuse better than a lot of grasses. Most of the atlethic fields here in the cape fear use bermuda if thats any indication. If knew how to overseed my front yard with it I would do it in a heartbeat.

Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 9:33 pm Post subject:

I put Burmuda grass in my yard from seed (Sonesta) Germinated in 7 days. After 30 days we played badmiton on it. Drought and traffic tolerant, direct sun. Grass is tough and grows thick. Don't fertilize it or you will cut it twice a week for more than a month. Bought it at home depot.
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Ol'Salt Joined: Dec 26, 2007 Posts: 111

If you want to have grass at the coast you are going to have to have irrigation in almost every case. Rarely will grass of any kind make it here without it(other than Bahia) or my neighbor at Sneads Ferry who has the most lush St Aug I have ever seen. Centipede will be your best choice for low maintenance but unless you sod it takes about 3 years to cover a lawn when starting from seed and that would be with proper irrigation and soil prep beforehand. Bermuda can be planted from seed and cover a lawn in about 3 months but loves fertilizer multiple times every year. Lots of good info here on NCSU's site: http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/

Ol'Salt Joined: Dec 26, 2007 Posts: 111

Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 9:50 pm Post subject:

Every seeding schedule I have ever included in my construction drawings calls for late spring/early summer seeding for warm weather grasses - soil temps in the 70's timeframe. Like, right now. If you have any slope to your land at all, I agree a mulch layer of some sort would assist in keeping the seed in place. Whether straw, fabric or drilled seed, something to keep the seed in place is a good idea.

As for bermuda vs any other grass, if you are truly on sugar sand type soils, think sand dune soil here, no matter what you plant, it will be difficult to get a good stand of grass without the addition of topsoil or the use of sod (which comes with this topsoil layer) or the constant application of water - every day type application. I'll caveat that I do not know zoysia grasses very well so perhaps they have some magic to them. However my experience with all grasses is, without a semi-constant source of water (either mother nature or irrigation) and the application of the proper nutrients, you will more than likely not ever have a good stand of grass.
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:21 pm Post subject:

Ol'Salt Joined: Jun 26, 2006 Posts: 965

Thanks for the help guys. i'll take a picture of the yard and post it this weekend. i don't need award winning just decent.

Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:43 pm Post subject:

We own a landscaping business on Oak Island, and we do full maintenance from feeding, mowing, full installs, etc. I would highly recommend bringing in topsoil ( enough to go down about an inch or so) and spreading it out then seeding with Bermuda grass seed. Water is crucial to this application. Very easy to take care of and we have beach front properties we have done this to and they look great. Hope this helps, any questions pm me.
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 10:43 pm Post subject:

We own a landscaping business on Oak Island, and we do full maintenance from feeding, mowing, full installs, etc. I would highly recommend bringing in topsoil ( enough to go down about an inch or so) and spreading it out then seeding with Bermuda grass seed. Water is crucial to this application. Very easy to take care of and we have beach front properties we have done this to and they look great. Hope this helps, any questions pm me.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 9:12 am Post subject:

Bermuda is high maintenance and very susceptible to pests and disease, also requires a reel mower to cut it the right way. I have Zenith Zoysia and have no issues with it at all. Drought and pests tolerant. Oakland Turf Farm is a good place to buy.

Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 9:25 am Post subject:

I have St. Augustine.
Very low maintenance. Never have fertilized it or watered it. Just mow it. I'm very close to the ICW, but there was fill dirt trucked in years ago, so not too sandy.
Good Luck

Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 10:26 am Post subject:

Looking good John

Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 11:59 am Post subject:

The type of turf you choose is personal preference. I planted Bermuda TIF 419, which is used on many local golf courses. It's hearty, low maintenance and drought resistant. You don't need a reel mower to mow. I use a regular lawn mower and it looks good after mowing and looks great 4 days later. This turf spreads pretty aggresively so you need to spray once a month to keep the grass out of your beds.

Super Sod in Shallotte has a variety to choose from. I suggest you visit them and take a look at the various varieties. I bought a pallet of sod and cut each roll into smaller pieces and planted in a checker board fashion. Zoysia and Bermuda spreads pretty fast and will choke out your existing grass/weeds. If your patient, you can spread the pieces of sod further apart and save cost by using less sod.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 2:37 pm Post subject:

I have St. Augustines in my yard in Sanford and In my yard at Caswell Beach. We are ocean front and have grass on that side of the house and it has done great. I run the irrigation 3 days a week for 30 min on the three zones each. I don't know how much shade you have but St. Augustines will grow in the shade. I would recommend putting down some topsoil first. It also grows runners very fast. I had one area about 20x50 next to my house that converted from sand to grass and over the course of 2 weekends I carried 24 1sq ft sections of sod from home and scattered them over that area and within 4 weeks it had pretty much all grown together. I also mow mine at the higest setting on a push mower because if you scalp the grass heat and lack of water will kill it. As far as pests go I had a problem with mole crickets several years ago but I caught it early and was able to put out some garnuals and got rid of them.

2nd Mate Joined: Apr 29, 2010 Posts: 32

Cutting edge. Look it up online. It's expensive but worth every penny. Has a 48 inch root system which Helps with the watering. It will be money well spent

Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 7:54 pm Post subject:

I have a house on the ICW and the salt air can be an issue with what type of grass to use. My yard probably looks a lot like yours. Neighbors and I had a mole problem last year or 2 and I heard the moles are feeding on grubs. This is the one reason the yard looks worse than I've ever seen it. I have centipede and St Augustine, near as I can figure.

They say you need to fertlize twice a year, (April & August). I also had to kill all the grubs with Spectricide. Now I'm hoping that watering will bring it back along with overseeding and topsoil spread out on top of the yard for nutrients.
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Ol'Salt Joined: Feb 12, 2011 Posts: 196

Looks like several good choices for the area.Remember to LET it grow,don't MAKE it grow.Sometimes too much fertilizer is the problem.

Ol'Salt Joined: Jul 09, 2009 Posts: 167 Location: NdaH2O

Seashore paspalum or TifGrand muda would be my first choices if money were not an issue then Emerald Zoysia.
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