GrassMan – posted 03 August 2005 00:09
I live in Houston and am looking for a grass that is tolerable to shade and low water. Our backyard gets maybe a couple hours of sun a day and then the light is extremely filtered to complete shade. We are looking at Palmetto St. Augustine. Also, we saw this new grass called Totality Shade Grass. Any input on what would work well is appreciated.
Grassman – posted 04 August 2005 23:34
anyone??
Tungsten33333 – posted 05 August 2005 22:19
Hmm… Noone has Totality shade because it’s not out yet. I have Palmetto that I recently sodded backyard but it’s full sun so that’s a load of watering for 2 weeks before tapering off. It won’t be till 2nd or 3rd year depending on the condition of the soil and development of root system that determine the amount of water I can put out.
marymary – posted 16 August 2005 21:23
I live in Houston. Last Sept we put out Palmetto St. Augustine to replace the dollarweed yard. This Sept we will be replacing part of it due to damage from June/July dry spells plus some sort of white mildew or fungus. The back lawn only gets 3 hrs of sun. It looks OK, but not great. It is pretty thin, but at least it didn’t get the weird fungus that hit the sunnier front lawn. I haven’t decided whether to go with another St Augustine again in the front.
QWERTY – posted 17 August 2005 06:57
Maryann,
You didn’t do such a good job. You should have put out 10-20lbs of cornmeal per 1000sqft to combat fungus problems caused by frequent watering (to keep the sod moisture for the first 2 weeks). That’s what I did. I haven’t lost anything. Also, you didn’t water right during dry spell either. During dry spell- For established turf, it’s one hour per week. That’s it. For new grasses, probably 30 minutes every 3-4 days because the roots arent deep enough to reap the benefit from deep infrequent watering. Using chemical stuff isn’t a good idea either. I did all that and mine is looking a lot better than it did 3 weeks ago when I sodded it. (wow only 3 weeks? Maybe i expected too much but i guess I should be happy with the result after 3 weeks). I practice organic yard care by the way. It’s working out great for me.
QWERTY – posted 17 August 2005 07:00
I meant MaryMary.
Also the cutting height should be 3 inches minimum, maybe 3.5 inches in the shade. They should thrive in the front yard with more sun. Im planning on doing it for the front yard next spring.