turfgrass

Bahai….sod or seed ???

Bahai….sod or seed ???

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

daveworld – posted 25 September 2003 20:38

hi, i live in north fla. [jacksonville] and plan to install new lawn in late spring after round-up & tilling. do you think going with sod or seeding ? i like the sod for quick establishment and weed prevention early on, but have concerns regarding new weed introduction…dollar weeds?? would arginetine bahai seed establish well in this type of soil which is rather sandy?? thanks much, dave.

redbird – posted 26 September 2003 05:15

I live about 20 miles north of you. Sod vs. seed? Sod if you have the money. You won’t regret the reduction in aggravation, time and labor. By the time you fight the weeds, bugs, water the seed, mulch it – you may find your end cost to be closer to sodding than you had imagined.

Speaking of weeds……I hope you are aware that argentine bahia will NOT choke out weeds and that most selective weed killers available on the market (i.e. those that will kill the weeds but leave your grass alive) will also kill bahia. This is not an issue on highway roadsides where grass/weeds mixing together is OK – all the state cares about is something green to plant and leave for erosion control. It is an issue if you want a pretty lawn. Many people consider bahia to be a weed. It has it’s uses, but I think that you should look at a five-year-old bahia lawn before taking the plunge. It thins out tremendously after the first few years. You cannot stop this – you just have to keep re-seeding (it takes 3 – 4 weeks for bahia seeds to sprout). Both varieties have these amazing, long seed-head stalks (12″ high) that pop up in less than a week. So, on a 7 day mowing cycle, your lawn can end up looking like a vacant lot. I look out my office window every day on an established bahia lawn at work – honestly – it just looks like a wild, unkempt, grassy area with sparse bahia and lots of weeds. For the effort you might have to spend to try and keep bahia looking decent, you could maintain a really pretty lawn – or, if you are looking for low maintenance, consider centipede. It won’t make a golf course quality lawn, but it can be nice looking with little work – the sod is also fairly cheap – like bahia – and it can also be propagated by seed – like bahia.

Just thoughts worth considering. P.S. bahia will germinate under just about any conditions, with just about any type of soil preparation – obviously, the better you prep the soil bed, the better the end results.

Mike

Leave a Reply

Skip to toolbar