Lets talk Lawns

My lawn is kaput, past the point of no return and I'm going to re-sod my entire lawn.

my wife likes the look of St. Augustine, I am indifferent about its looks and don't particularly care for its need for water but I do like the price of the sod.


I live in san Antonio, which as you know is hot and rainfall can be infrequent. Did not want to go with a common Bermuda but was open to other suggestions.


Anyone have any tips?

Do you have shade?

Only in the late evenings. It's a pretty sunny lot

Killed my front lawn today with roundup so need to figure out something soon

I would not use St. Augustine with water restriction in SA. Look at Bermuda (Tifway 419) Gulf Grown or one of the other Bermuda grasses since they will take less water. I went with Comanche Brand Bermuda grass seed from Pogue Agri Partners in Kenedy. I also had looked into Zoysia but decide against it.

we had Zoysia when I was in high school and I liked it.

Two things about the St. Augustine that makes sense to me, even though I do not particularly care for it:

the right side of my lawn is in st. Augustine and that side looks great, its green and healthy and I do not want to tear that side out if I don't have to.

My neighbors have st. Augustine and I think I would be constantly fighting new st. Augustine runners if I went with a Bermuda type grass.

I'm going to have to use sod, not seeds so the cost factor is not the fore runner but is a consideration.


El Toro Zoysia is nice but it requires about the same amount of water as St. Augustine

If the rest of your yard and the neighbors yard is St Augustine then I would go with that. Leave it tall, you can make it survive the summer heat without daily watering. I had a very thick and healthy SA lawn and only watered every 4th day for 5minutes. With proper maintenance and fertilizer that's all thats needed.

I'm torn between that and the Bermuda Celebration

I like the celebration....don't really have any issues with it. it isn't as vibrant green as the st. Augustine but seems to do well choking out weeks. From what I've seen it doesent have issues with fungus and bugs.


I'm just not crazy about dumping a ton of water on my st. Augustine lawn but I think that maybe the best choice....still going to look into the Bermuda Celebration.

St. Augustine would be easier to install though.....

Try to google some articles about Las Vegas lawns. Climate is pretty comparable. They have really got on the bandwagon of low maintenance, low water usage yards. Part will depend on the style home, and your neighbors may not appreciate your choice. Go with more western desert and you can eliminate mowing and fertilizing.

I Xeriscape my lawn and i'll get hung up at the HOA meeting.

Maybe plant a few trees with nice mulch beds around them?

Clarify: So you won't have to water so much grass.

How did your truck with the rhinoliner paint job get past HOA regs?

uhhh, its a truck not real estate and not regulated by HOA bylaws

Look at Floratam, I've had good luck with it. Deeper root system, more tolerant to drought & fungus/disease. Thick pretty green...

My recommendation is don't have an hoa and mow what got put there to grow

No way I would plant St. Augustine.

Back to your yard, what about TPC section 202.007 ?? Not certain about the Senate bill 198.

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/turf/publications/buffalo.html

Love mySt Augustine...best barefoot grass there is. We're drier than the Sahara here. I water once a week. It's in good shape.

2 acres of Bermuda at home, 70 acres of Bermuda in Wolfe City. It gets watered only when God decides to water it. Dab of Nitrogen in May and mow it 3 1/2" till June, then as tall as the mower will go through the summer. MSMA and Grayzon keeps it weed free.

I predict all landscape irrigation will become illegal one day. Too many folks have moved to Texas and there's only so much water to go round.

The only thing in my HOA rule book is that I must have a Bermuda type yard, no St Augustine . It says nothing about turf, I'm really leaning to the new artificial turfs and just keeping low maintenance plants in the beds. Yes it's expensive, but I'll never have to mow or water again, maybe just keep my blower for leaves, other then that it's pretty maintenance free.

But I can make a burn pile in my Bermuda yard and in a month it grows back over. What happens on turf when you start a fire?

buffalo grass

see above,,

[quote=skinnerback]Look at Floratam, I've had good luck with it. Deeper root system, more tolerant to drought & fungus/disease. Thick pretty green...[/quote

this is what I'm going with.

pretty drought tolerant from what I'm being told

Yes sir it is. I'll be laying a few more pallets of it too this spring.

I'll post up a pic of mine here in the next few weeks when I get it done.

Green up

Will be watching for it. Once it takes root it gets real perty.

It will be a hard fight to win, but I see a day where it will IF I live long enough

It will be Bermuda in a couple years

Got the lawn put in today

Looks great but was alot of work.

I'm pooped

what did you end up getting?

I ended up going with Raleigh ST. Augustine

Smart move!

I thought that was the kind he wasn't supposed to get or was it a different st aug?

the floratam was a special order and I had to buy it by the pallet.


the Raliegh was by the piece...I ended up using 2 pallets and 30 pieces

LOL, gotcha.

I'm getting a couple of loads of bank sand sped over mine this week. It's 38 years old and some rough spots.