reference material to ID grass type

by Legacy post · 2016-05-11

tallahassee lassie – posted 06 May 2005 12:29

I recently moved into a house in Tallahassee, Florida with a pre-existing lawn, or attempt thereof. Ive watered and fertilized to bring it back from the dead, but before I start putting weed killers on it I should know what the grass is shouldnt I? Knowing what type of grass I have is fairly critical to knowing how much I should be fertilizing and how often, how much water, what diseases to watch for etc.

I found the website at http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/turfid/ but didnt find an exact match for my grass, I may have a different variety of St. Augustine, or centipede, or Bermuda than they have pictures of.

Can anyone direct me to a website or book that has up close pictures and descriptions of different types and cultivars of grasses that grow in the Northern Florida area?

Or, perhaps someone can identify it from a verbal description?The grass seems fairly hardy, it survived years of neglect and came right back to life when I blew the leaves off. It has very thick stolons that root every 1 and ¼ inch with two grass blades coming off the stolon at each node. The two blades originate at the exact same point in a V (an acute angle), not staggered and branching off at a right angle like the picture of St Augustine. The blades are wider than El Toro zoysia and narrower than Palmetto St Augustine, those are the only two grasses that I can refer to for sure. It seems to survive partial shade well but not full shade.

Anyone?

Katie

cohiba – posted 06 May 2005 12:50

Katie,

Check out Barnes and Noble or Books a Million. Look in the gardening section. Sneak in a piece of the turf (stolons,leaf and shoots,ect.)and look for a book with color pictures. You will not be able to find out what cultivar a turf is, only DNA testing can do that with accuracy. But you can get the variety. Or ask the previous owner, neighbors or if its in a development ask what contractor put down the sod. Thay may know where it came from or atleast what type it is. Or you could contact your local Cooperative extension office. They should be able to help.

Good Luck……………………….

PS: Don’t ask the kid at Home Depot!

cohiba – posted 06 May 2005 12:52

BTW,

A Round of applause for knowing that turf type and weed killer selection are critical.

CONGRATS!……………………….

cohiba – posted 06 May 2005 12:57

Check this sit out….

http://whizlab.isis.vt.edu/servlet/wid

Hope it helps…………………..

cohiba – posted 06 May 2005 12:59

Scratch That! try this:

http://whizlab.isis.vt.edu/servlet/wid?table=grasses

Sorry……………………………….

ted – posted 06 May 2005 17:32

post some pics

tallahassee lassie – posted 09 May 2005 12:36

Thank you all, I’ve determined with some certainty that the pretty grass with the long stolons is Centipede. Which makes sense, because I highly doubt that anyone who lived in my house had the money to put in sod of any kind.

Since none of the lawn weed killers have warnings for centipede, I will now commence topdressing wiht sand and spraying 2,4,D and atrazine with impunity. Wish me luck, I’m fighting every weed in the book. In areas that are both low spots and infested with weeds, I may kill two birds with one stone and dump topsoil on top of the weeds and reseed later when the weeds are smothered.

Katie

seed – posted 09 May 2005 16:53

Unfortunately, the Virginia Tech photo of “Centipedegrass” is actually St. Augustinegrass:http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/centipedegrass11-16d.jpg

You can tell by the rounded leaf tips. Here is a side-by-side comparison:http://floridaturf.com/centsta.htm

And some black-and-white images:http://www.floridaturf.com/grasses/bigfive.html

Phil

[This message has been edited by seed (edited 09 May 2005).]