argentine bahia

hbosely – posted 21 May 2002 22:46

I need to know if Argentine bahia will make a decent looking lawn. I have seen a couple of comments on websites saying it makes a “beautiful low maintenance lawn” and others that say it is ugly because of many unsightly seedheads which appear quickly after mowing. Who’s right? I live in north Louisiana.

Larry.B – posted 14 July 2002 17:18

I Hate Bahia… It make your lawn look like it needs mowing all of the time. I’d rather have dirt…I’m trying to find a way to kill it!

wdrake – posted 14 July 2002 20:43

A good portion of the warm-season turfgrass world agrees with Larry B; Bahia does not produce an outstanding lawn. However, it does have its advantages. Of the various cultivars, Argentine is probably the best for a lawn as it a less prolific seedhead producer than most other varieties. Plus it has reasonable color and cold tolerance. I’m having bad luck with my St Augustine and am converting to Bahia. I can tolerate the disadvantages and prefer Bahia to “dirt”

Take a look at University of Florida description of Bahiagrass at:http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/LH006

CAPEACH – posted 24 March 2005 19:08

I have argentine bahia grass and I love it because it is low maintenace, kids can play on it and not kill it also it is green year round and it automatically reseeds itself. two thumbs up over St. Augustine grass.

carol563 – posted 16 October 2011 16:45

I had all of my st augustine grass die last fall ..I heard it had something to do with moths?? decide to reseed with argentia baha grass..Big mistake..it was fine for a while..now getting all weeds and dying for some reason and looks horrible.I just did the lowes baha weed and feed and will see what happens..truly disappointed..

seed – posted 17 October 2011 16:15

Where bahiagrass can do well as a lawngrass (depending on acceptance of a rough and often yellowish look) is limited to large sunny areas. It has very deep roots and is the most highly drought avoidant (due to tolerance of defoliation) among the humid warm-season grasses. It is highly intolerant of shade, and in small areas it tends to get weedy.

If you insist on irrigating and fertilizing bahiagrass to make it look green, you are in for trouble. In level coastal humid areas bahiagrass does best with no irrigation, and tends to shut down in winter. It becomes quite weedy if you feed or water it much, especially when it wants to shut down in winter. It often does well in highway rights-of-way if the soil is at least seven inches deep (sand is fine), however, on steep embankments bahia dies in two years, probably due to excessive runoff and inability to infiltrate the root zone.

The normal geographic range in the U.S. is the humid coastal plain from North Carolina to Florida and west to Texas. The otherwise preferred Argentine cultivar is not cold tolerant at the northern limits; you might get Pensacola to survive in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, but not Argentine.