Pros and Cons

TampaBeachBum – posted 15 March 2002 07:33

I live in Pinellas Co. FL directly across the street from the Gulf of Mexico. I am debating on the type of grass to re-do my lawn with. The grass needs to be drought and salt tolerant and I have very sandy soil. I am considering Zoysia (have actually put down 200 plugs to test) and Floritam. Any suggestions? Also with the Zoysia plugs, how long should it take to cover completely (in months)with 16 inch spacing?

wdrake – posted 15 March 2002 14:55

A couple of good questions. I’ll give you an answer to the last one first: Forever!Zoysia grows/spreads slooowly. The Florida Lawn Handbook suggests 6 inch spacing and guesses that it will take 12 months or so for full coverage. With regard to using St Augustine or Zoysia; each has reasonably good salt tolerance. and each is consider fairly drought tolerant. However, both require watering to look good during dry periods. However, why not try a new grass that you can actually (at least in theory) irrigate with salt water. Seashore Paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum). It also has to be water to look good and in extreme cases, to survive. Check it out at: http://aggie horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/turf/publications/seashore.html