What grass is good for shade in GA??
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Poncho
Gold Member
I live in N FL and had good success with a St. Augustine type grass called "palmetto". we bought plugs at a local Lowe's and put fertilizer in the hole before the plug went in. Also "Bitter Blue" is supposed wto be another shade tolerant grass. This is a carpet grass, that is very hearty. We had to go this route after sod web worms destroyed our entire lawn over a 3 day weekend when we were out of town.
RalphVa
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2003
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- 7,885
- Location
- Charlottesville, VA, USA
- Tractor
- JD 2025R, previously Gravely 5650 & JD 4010 & JD 1025R
We had a guy come into the helpdesk last week who wanted to grow grass in shade. The only thing listed for Va was fescue. It grows wild down below in shade and sun.
Ralph
Ralph
have_blue
Veteran Member
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I just bought some Zoiysa from an add in a magazine. I figured it was cheap enough that I could live with getting ripped off and give it a try. )</font>
Eddie,
I've tried zoysia. The slow growth and low maintenance claims were attractive to me. Well, the slow growth part is correct. It only needed mowing about once per month in June and July. Beats twice a week for St Augustine!
I ran into 4 problems. First, it doesn't tolerate shade at all. It needs lots of fertilizer to grow and look half decent. Other grasses easily dominate it, so I would have had to use special chemicals to keep it free of other grasses. It does not like dew, which causes rust that will decimate it.
When I sewed centipede grass, I did not even bother to remove the zoysia. No need. The centipede ran over it like a Ford over a rooster.
Bottom line, zoysia is not a robust grass at this latitude. With enough chemicals and care, I suppose it can be done, but my yard is just too big. Too bad. It IS pretty, and it DOES grow slow. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Eddie,
I've tried zoysia. The slow growth and low maintenance claims were attractive to me. Well, the slow growth part is correct. It only needed mowing about once per month in June and July. Beats twice a week for St Augustine!
I ran into 4 problems. First, it doesn't tolerate shade at all. It needs lots of fertilizer to grow and look half decent. Other grasses easily dominate it, so I would have had to use special chemicals to keep it free of other grasses. It does not like dew, which causes rust that will decimate it.
When I sewed centipede grass, I did not even bother to remove the zoysia. No need. The centipede ran over it like a Ford over a rooster.
Bottom line, zoysia is not a robust grass at this latitude. With enough chemicals and care, I suppose it can be done, but my yard is just too big. Too bad. It IS pretty, and it DOES grow slow. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Thanks for the info on the Zoiysa grass.
I have it in both shade and sun areas now and it's doing better in the shade. Too early to decide, but I'm open to try anything.
Centepede will probably be my next try for shad areas.
Eddie
I have it in both shade and sun areas now and it's doing better in the shade. Too early to decide, but I'm open to try anything.
Centepede will probably be my next try for shad areas.
Eddie
