Building a home on a 2 acre lot in the Rockwall (north Dallas) area with no established lawn. Home will be done in September. We have to two 60 lb boxers that are indoor dogs but love to play outside. I'm open to all varieties of grass and maintenance requirements.

So what would be my best option for establishing a lawn? What type of grass, sod or seed, when to sod or seed?

I'll take a crack at it.

St Augustine: most shade tolerant, average drought resistance, one of the fastest growing warm season grasses. Depending on what type you get, probably one of your cheaper options. Floratam is a very popular type and was developed partially by A&M. Sprig, sod, or plug.

Bermuda: not as shade tolerant, good drought resistance, quick growing, can take abuse like heavy traffic better than St Aug. tons of varieties from common Bermuda to tifway, tif 419, etc. Seed, sod, plug, etc. price will depend on what type you get.

Zoysia: less shade tolerant than St Aug but more than most Bermudas, good drought tolerance and requires less water than the other two, can take some abuse but is very slow to grow back if damaged, slowest growing of these three. Two main different types, a coarse and a fine leaf. Quite a few different cultivars: Pallisades (coarse), Emerald (fine), Zorro (fine), are just a few examples. Sod is highly recommended as if you plug it, you will still be able to see the plug spots possibly up to a year+ later. Usually more expensive than the other two.


Someone else can help you on the optimal establishment times, I don't have my 302 notes in front of me this evening. Each grass has its own advantages/disadvantages. My advice is no matter what you pick, if you want good & healthy looking grass, you have to put the time in and take care of it. No grass is going to look great if you don't water it during the Texas summer, fertilize it when it needs it, and be proactive in watching for problems or things that stress it.

Hope at least some of that helps.

I've heard good things about the turf varieties of Buffalo grass. Buddy of mine love his yard that he sodded with it year before last

Seashore paspalum and celebration Bermuda

http://www.foreverlawn.com/dfw/

Turfalo?

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http://www.foreverlawn.com/dfw/

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dang, that just looks amazing. :-)

I think he put down the density variety. Lives up in McKinney. It looks great. Not sure about how much effort he has to put in to it though.

Put more thought into what's underneath the grass... .02$

We have almost 3ac in Bermuda/St Augustine in Prosper - But it was established when we bought the home

How will you water the grass? City service or well? We have both but city is just back up for irrigation

City service is expensive but so is a well

I'd buy the most drought tolerant - if you hit water restrictions you could lose a big chunk of your investment establishing a lawn

If I had a blank slat I'd look at drought tolerant native clump grass

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Put more thought into what's underneath the grass... .02$

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+1.

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Put more thought into what's underneath the grass... .02$

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Care to expand on that?

Whatever can survive in your area without irrigation. The fact that people still use St. A in TX is ridiculous.

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Put more thought into what's underneath the grass... .02$

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Care to expand on that?

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Not really.

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Put more thought into what's underneath the grass... .02$

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Care to expand on that?

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The composition of the soil, fertility, amount of organic matter, friability, are more important than whatever grass you end up planting. You cannot grow a good lawn on crap soil.

Thanks. Any simple steps you can do to check and improve? Going to be undertaking a major yard project this fall.

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Whatever can survive in your area without irrigation. The fact that people still use St. A in TX is ridiculous.

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Buffalo grass?

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Thanks. Any simple steps you can do to check and improve? Going to be undertaking a major yard project this fall.

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Get your soil tested first. Your local Texas AgriLife office has all the information on how to do it. The test should include what needs to be done based on the results.

Cool

http://www.turffalo.com/

My parents have Bermuda and St. Augustine and it can be tough to water with the drought and the heat. So when it can to putting down our grass I went with Turffalo.

Get a free soil study from the County Extension Agents office. Also once you choose your grass you will need to insure that you have a good foundation. I would till the soil up and bring in compost. You can mix in other things like lime and fertilizer to a depth of 6 inches.

I'd go with Tif 419 Bermuda (celebration is nice as well) if you have full sun or one of the Zoysia varieties. Buffalo or any of the native varieties currently touted as the answer for Texas lawns come with drawbacks that the majority of homeowners won't tolerate. (Don't handle shade or high traffic well, tend to have a higher % of weeds, need to be Maintained at a higher setting to do well). I'm not against them, btw - they just aren't for everyone in every application. Be sure to invest in a good irrigation system with MP rotators and learn how to water properly. 6" of good composted soil as a lawn base will help your grass tremendously. Aerate and top dress every other year and you'll have the nicest lawn on the block.

Turffalo is a hybrid that can grow in full sun or shade. Drought tolerant and needs minimal watering. Also it does a great job crowding out weeds once its established. Very minimal maintenance and if any weeds do pop up, can be sprayed with 10 or 20% Vinegar and orange oil mix.

thnx for the ideas guys!

2 acres is alot of sod. I would look for something to seed. Also if you have some spots die for any reason, throw out some seed and keep it damp for a while and problem solved.

I beg to differ, if you saw the heavy clay soils our fairways are built on you'd change your mind. It all boils down to airflow and compaction, it's the #1 factor that determines how much water or fert is needed to get the desired results. But hey, if the homeowner wants to spend abunch of money sand capping their lawn it certainly won't hurt.

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Turffalo is a hybrid that can grow in full sun or shade.

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Turffalo is a Buffalograss, and I would love to see Buffalo grow well in shade (4 hours of sun or less), but I haven't in the last 20 years. The one study I have looked at shows Turffalo as a nice improved Buffalo variety on par with Density, but nothing earth-shattering like the Texas Tech marketing team makes it out to be. They are doing the same thing with "Shadow Turf", which is a variety of Zoysia.

Habiturf is another mix of native grasses that's being marketed now - it adds blue grama and curly mesquite grass to buffalo. They have a good stand at the Wildflower Center in Austin; but again it's a little weedy, needs full sun & can't take wear & tear.

Again, there's nothing wrong with Buffalo if used in the right application & the homeowner knows the drawbacks. I planted acres of the stuff back 15-20 years ago when the first big push on it began. I drive by some of those jobs today & about 95% have been converted to some other turf grass.

Can the turf guys tell me what I can use to kill the st Augustine creeping into my hybrid Bermuda? I heard there is a spray golf courses use to kill the SA.

MSMA will kill SA in Bermuda.

Wasn't MSMA banned?

With a name like Enviroag02, you should xeriscape.

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With a name like Enviroag02, you should xeriscape.

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HOA prevents that

Merry Christmas.

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/83R/billtext/pdf/SB00198I.pdf

Effective Sept. 1, 2013