sashore paspalum “sea spray”

bwebre – posted 23 September 2007 15:47

i live in the panhandle of florida between destin and panama city. i am planning on seeding my 900sft front lawn with seashore paspalum “sea spray” this coming spring. i am going for a fairway type look and i have seen two examples of seashore papalum(ecotype unknown) in use in two resorts here in the panhandle, and i love the look and feel of this grass. bermuda is an option but 1/4 of my yard is shaded by a small tree with 4-5 hours max of full sun, and i know that bermunda will not perform well here,especialy when cut below 1.5″ i have been working in the landscape industry for 6 years now but have yet to work with this species. if any one has any hands on experiance with growing this grass from seed, or with paspalum v. in general, any input is greatly appriciated. bwebre

brevard – posted 23 September 2007 19:02

I am also interested in hearing whatever anyone has to say about Seashore Paspalum.

I have St. Aug in my backyard here in Melbourne Beach, FL. I also have alot of trees and tropicals in the beds that flow through the yard.

This year the St. Aug is just looking horrible. It keeps petering out in areas- not so much a “going brown” kind of thing, but more like it just disappears, gets thing and it just goes to dirt.

I have good deal of shade in one area under a Royal Poinciana tree, and there’s pretty much just dirt under it now, with weak little sprigs of st.Aug here and there.

I can trim that tree a bit to let some more light in, but I do like having some shade there.

The other areas get enough sun that I don’t see why they are thinning as well, so I must have something goin on with the grass.

Anyway, its bad enough that I just want to nuke all the St. Aug and go with something softer and finer.

I’ve heard that Paspalum has a decent shade tolerance (my other choice was Empire Zoysia)

But I’m not sure how shadey is too much.

Seashore P sounds good to me because we are about 1000 feet from the beach and there’s plenty of salt to go around here. The lawn is irrigated with salty well water.

Also, I like that is can be grown from seed, so I could throw down some more if I have a problem area rather than having to order plugs like I probably would with Zoysia.

Will Seashore P stay green through the winter in Florida?

How long do the seeds take to germinate?

Any other info is appreciated, as I can’t find this stuff anywhere in my area, and will probably end up ordering seed from the web.

bwebre – posted 24 September 2007 18:58

brevard, if you haven’t already just google this grass and skim through the mass of websites for info. as stated above i have seen this species in use, established from sod, in the Watercolor and Watersound resorts in south Walton county. it is a beautiful turf but be warned this is not a low maintenance grass for home lawns. it must be cut low and often as to not thatch or leg up from the soil. Watercolor’s paspalum is cut twice weekly at 3/4 of an inch with reel mowers. a good friend of mine works for valley crest who has the maintenence contact for this resort. i’m not sure what your minimum winter temps are there but this grass does go dormant here in the winter, and they overseed theirs with rye. for germination and coverage rates check out outsidepride.com. they have the best value for most grass seeds that i have found so far. as far as shade goes, i wouldn’t expect it to be very shade tolerant, it may live but won’t thrive. there are two areas under sand live oaks, less that 4 hours direct light, in watercolor that have been resodded several times in the past few years due to thinning growth. thats about all i know first hand with this species so i will post any new info in the future. good luck with your lawn. b. webre

brevard – posted 24 September 2007 20:58

Very interetsing. Thanks alot for the info- that helps alot.

I have a friend who bought some from OutsidePride and has it just sprouting now in his front yard in Satellite Beach. I’ll keep an eye on it, especially over the winter.

Good to know about the live oak area you mentioned. That is my main problem.. I want to keep the “jungle look” going, but would ideally like a nice soft grass to walk on under some of the canopied areas.

Perhaps I should be looking more closely at Empire Zoysia..

turfgrrl – posted 03 April 2008 14:35

A good place to get more information on seashore paspalum is Paspalum Resource Center at www.paspalumresourcecenter.com

or try Environmental Turf at www.environmentalturf.com.

Both have lots of good information.

UGAturf87 – posted 30 May 2008 21:40

First off its a pain in the ass to keep bermudagrass out of paspalum or any type of turf for that matter but it looks especially horrible in a stand of paspalum, some varieties get nailed by dollar spot, seaspray isnt as susceptible as seaisle supreme, but all have similar tolerance, ours… (seaisle1 seaisle2000 seaisle supreme, and seaspray…plus thousands of others[worlds largest collection]) is mowed at 3/4 inch 3 times a week and are all maintained as a fairway. this is late spring in middle georgia and this stuff can shoot seed heads in 2 days. we irrigate very heavily, we also fertilize and top dress monthly. Seashore paspalum is a very high maintenance grass.

spiva55 – posted 17 June 2008 18:01

Any update on how the sea spray has turned out? Interested in starting some of this in the back and wondering about any kind of results as a lawn.