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Sunday, September 25, 2016

Why Can't I Find St. Augustine Grass Here?

St Augustine grass growing in Las Vegas during the 1980s in a residential lawn. Notice how coarse it is in texture.
Q.Why can't I find St. Augustine grass here in Las Vegas? I can find it in Odessa Texas. It grows well in the shade.

A. St. Augustine grass, grown in Arizona, does very well here and was offered for sale during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. It never became popular. People in southern Nevada preferred the all-green, winter lawn that tall fescue provided.
St. Augustine grass in a residential lawn

            Overseeding in the fall for a green winter lawn, as you can with Bermudagrass, is not possible with St Augustine grass. Even if it could be overseeded, the “winter brown” lawn that St. Augustine grass provided was a “hard sell” for Las Vegans.
            Generally, there is a lack of enthusiasm here for the warm season grasses such as Bermudagrass, Zoysiagrass, Buffalograss, St. Augustine and Seashore Paspalum. So these are a few of the reasons southern Nevada is different, horticulturally, from Odessa, Texas. It is a desert here in many ways.

2 comments:

  1. I would also like to find a warm season grass because they are far more hardy than rye, etc. I know that often these types of grasses are seeded "by plugs" - is seed available?

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    Replies
    1. If you are in the Las Vegas area (middle desert) we are in the transition zone so both warm season (bermuda, paspalum, buffalo, zoysia, st agustine) and cool season grasses (tall fescue, hot weather rye and bluegrass) perform equally as poorly. They both have problems and considerations. Right now the most popular warm season grass is paspalum. Some varieties of warm season grasses are available as seed but most are vegetatively propagated from stolons, plugs or sod). Startling a warm season lawn vegetatively guarantees you have what you paid for and, in my opinion, the best results. But if you are not as fincky, then good hybrid seed is available as bermuda or paspalum. I would not use seed to establish buffalo, zoysia or st augustine. Make sure to use hybrid seed of bermuda and not common. https://www.seedranch.com/SeaShore-Paspalum-Grass-Seed-Coated-1-Lb-p/seashore-paspalum-coat-1.htm
      https://blog.westcoastturf.com/seashore-paspalum-tips/

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