replacing Bahia with St. Augustine

jgb23 – posted 18 July 2007 18:54

I have a question regarding a long term plan to get rid of Bahia.

Last year, I had to replace a 10X10 spot of grass that died due to the water softener overflow (high salinity content). Ireplaced the bahia with St. Augustine. I looked at the spot today and noticed that the St. Augustine has sent runners into the Bahia ad the 10*10 is approximately 15*15 or so.

So I got to thinking about ways to getting rid of my Bahia without having to rip it all up or spray it with Round Up.

My thought was to rent a sod cutter and remove long sections of my bahia (length of yard X 2 rows sod width) every 8 feet and let it take over the Bahia.

Now I know that my yard would look kind of crazy with 2 kinds of grasses, but living in Florida, I would really prefer the lushness and feel of St. Augustine. I figure this plan would take 2 years or so for the St. Augstine to fully take over, but it would save me from buying 20 pallets of St. Augustine to replace my lawn.

Any thoughts or better ways?

Thanks

KenH – posted 24 July 2007 15:11

I recently had my entire yard of Bahia replaced with Floratam. When obtaining estimates, at least one of the companies offered the “striping” option. They would use a sod-cutter to remove alternating sod-width strips then install the Floratam sod. [One thought that comes to mind is that you will not be able to use a herbicide to prepare the area for the sod.] The cost was not much less than what I paid to rip out the entire yard.

I also considered plugging at half the cost, but I think the end result is better with sodding (fewer weeds). I applied Roundup twice (2-weeks apart) and it was liking walking on Rice-Krispies!

I’m wondering if the striping approach qualifies for the 60-day water restriction exemption here in FL?

swflawn – posted 25 July 2007 06:19

New sod can be watered as often as needed for the 60 day period. Plugs, sod, or strips. If large amounts of wild bermuda, carpet, and crabgrass arent present then plugging will be very succesful. Make sure 2-3 round-up applications are done 7-10 days apart.