NW Florida Zoysia vs Bermuda

Brad – posted 01 May 2002 10:32

I recently moved from Atlanta to NW Florida (Tallahassee) where everyone (including me) seems to have a Centipede yard. In Atlanta I had an Emerald Zoysia backyard and Bermuda frontyard, both of which I cut with a powered reel mower. As my Centipede yard is in very poor condition (from sheer lack of attention I believe) I want to replace it with either Emerald Zoysia or Tifway (a/k/a/ 419) Bermuda and am curious as to which would do best here. The soil is kind of a mix of sand and clay. Also, the yard seems to stay sort of wet at times. Some parts of the yard will get about 4 hours of sun max per day but the bulk of it will get 6-8 hours per day. I don’t know if this is enough sun for the Bermuda. I think the Emerald Zoysia is a little more forgiving on the sun issue but it’s very expensive for 7,000 s.f. but I’m willing to spend the $ if I thnk it will do well. Given these conditions, does anyone have any thoughts, experiences, recommendations, etc. Thanks in advance.

seed – posted 06 May 2002 15:09

Brad, as an anecdotal experience, I have maintained Tifway bermudagrass in a building alcove receiving at the maximum in the summer, 8 hours per day of full direct sun. Because of the sun angle in the winter, and the fact that the north end of the alcove was enclosed by a building, the alcove received in some areas no full direct sun in the winter, only sky exposure (which represents about 12% of the photosynthetic capability of full direct sunlight).

Results were that after 1 year the bermudagrass was abandoned and ignored, and other plants in the alcove became the main feature, until the area was mulched. The bermudagrass became tall, so mowing was destructive, and the density of the stand was low, so more bare ground and thatch was visible than green.

Your experience will differ depending on how you measure “6-8 hours” or “4 hours of sun”. I based my estimate on the actual movement of the shadows on the ground. Those were building shadows so there was no uncertainty. If your shade is due to tree shade, there will not be sharp delineation, and I think that most people tend to overestimate sun exposure, and underestimate the seriousness of shade.

My prediction, based on the information that you have provided, is that bermudagrass will have some problems in not being able to feed itself with enough sunlight to keep pace with mowing. Also, there may be other shade-related problems such as lawn caterpillars that you will need to know how to manage. Zoysiagrass sounds like a better bet, but probably not without some neighbor experience or some example of zoysiagrass growing well enough in the area under whatever kind of shade you have. I would prefer to see plantings that are at least 3 years old.

All other things being the same, it sounds like centipedegrass may be the most logical choice.

Phil