Choosing the Variety of Sod that Works For Your North Florida Landscape
Growing a Great Lawn Isn’t Hard if You Start Off With The Right Grass
“Growing a great lawn isn’t hard if you start off with the right grass.” That’s a quote straight out of Southern Livings ‘Garden Problem Solver’, one of my favorite go to guides for the garden.
It sounds so easy doesn’t it, choose the right grass and you will have a great lawn. Well, maybe it is just that easy. If the selection is made properly your sod will meet the needs of the environment into which it will be placed and will satisfy your specific requirements for functionality, personal preference for color and texture all the while being able to thrive within your maintenance abilities.
How many of us struggle to keep a lawn alive that is not well suited to our environment and maintenance schedules? Why struggle when another variety of sod may thrive with instead of merely survive in the same space?
Choosing Sod for the North-East Florida Landscape
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure
Take a little time to find out what went wrong with the grass that was growing in that area before. Knowing what went wrong can not only help prevent that same problem in the future but can help guide you as you choose the variety of sod that works in the habitat that you have.
Bahia grass sod is a good choice where a low maintenance grass is desired and a slightly less visually appealing grass is acceptable. Excellent choice for roadsides or where soil erosion is problematic.
There are several choices when it comes to the variety of sod available for Bahia Grass .The previous link has a brief description of the differences between varieties. Each variety varies slightly on the above characteristics but still holds the same general tendencies.
Hybrid Bermuda grass is a good sod choice for athletic fields where heavy traffic and vigourous growth for repair of traffic damage will be needed. It is both drought tolerant and highly wear resistant making it the sod of choice for turf grass sports fields and golf courses throughout the area.
Common Bermuda grass is recommended for use as lawn grass where a fine textured medium green color and a full coverage turf is desired. High salt and drought tolerance make Bermuda grass an ideal ocean front lawn. Not shade tolerant.
There are several choices when it comes to the variety of sod available for Bermuda Grass. The previous link has a brief description of the differences between varieties. Each variety varies slightly on the above characteristics but still holds the same general tendencies.
Centipede grass is the most commonly used lawn grass sod in the Florida Panhandle and is well suited to North Florida’s climate and soil conditions. It is a beautiful crab apple green color with medium textured blades with low maintenance requirements when compared to other warm season grasses.
St. Augustine grass sod is the most commonly used lawn grass throughout Florida. It is well adapted to warmth and humidity making it and ideal sod candidate for our warm climate with heavy rainfall. It can be successfully grown in a wide range of soils but will require irrigation and a moderate soil fertility in order to develop a high quality turf.
Poperly maintained Zoysia grass will make beautiful lawns for the North Florida area. ‘Emerald’ Zoysia is available as sod in the North Florida area and are highly recommended as a top quality sod where time and money allow for a properly executed maintenance program.
Well maintained Zoysia is possibly the most beautiful warm season lawn grass. Maybe Zoysia grass is where we get the saying “ the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” there’s no doubt that it makes a beautiful lawn. But there’s two sides to ever coin… and at least in this case “the other side of the fence” gets a lot of maintenance to look that green.
