the grasshopper's gazette april 2021

The very first step in knowing how to properly care for your Florida lawn is to figure out what type of grass you have. The most common turfs here in The Villages are: St. Augustine, Zoysia, Bahia and Bermuda. Knowing what grass you have is the first step to any proper lawn care/maintenance program because each turf comes with its own challenges and benefits that can be a major factor in proper care.

ST. AUGUSTINE

St. Augustine grass is one of the most popular grass types in Florida. It has been used in landscapes all over the state of Florida dating back to the 1890’s. This turf has a broad, flat blade and spreads via aboveground stolons, also called “runners.” There are several cultivators of St. Augustine, the most popular being: Floratam, Palmetto, Captiva, Seville and now the newest addition, ProVista. Each variety has been created with special characteristics. Floratam was created to resist a viral infection called St. Augustine Decline (SAD). Seville is like Floratam, but has a smaller, finer blade. Captiva was developed to resist chinch bugs and has the dwarf feature to reduce mowing. Palmetto is a lighter green and also dwarf. ProVista is the latest creation of Scotts®, University of Florida and Bethel Farms. It is a dwarf grass that requires less mowing and it is also RoundUp® resistant. You can spray the entire ProVista lawn with RoundUp® and kill every weed and wild grass without damaging the turf. 

ZOYSIA

The next popular grass here in The Villages is Zoysia. Zoysia is a fine blade creeping grass that is marketed as “drought tolerant.” The biggest downfall to Zoysia in our area is that it will turn brown and become dormant as soon as the first cold snap hits. This turf type has many different varieties as well. The two most popular ones are Empire and Icon. The leaf structure is the same on both, but Icon has a naturally darker shade of green. There is a variety of Zoysia that has a seed available. It is called Zenith Zoysia, it has a little bit different leaf structure than the Empire and Icon. Its germination can be tricky and the stems have less blades making it look patchy. We don’t recommend this product as you are much better off making the investment in a good quality lawn care program or sod if needed to cover large areas.

BAHIA

Bahia is a thin blade grass that is often used to cover large areas fast. This is the most common pasture and roadside grass here in Florida. It will “self-seed” naturally as soon as the rainy season hits. The heat and excessive water triggers the turf to send its forked inflorescence out that will have little black seeds wrapped around them. Once the seeds are mature and ready, the grass can then be mowed with a non-bagging mower and the seeds will fall to the ground and begin to germinate. This is how a thick, beautiful Bahia lawn is achieved. There are two main types of Bahia here: Argentine and Pensacola. There is Bahia seed available and can be used to thicken your lawn. However, the germination percentage of the commercial seeds is low in comparison to allowing your turf to seed itself. During spring self-seeding, the grass will get tall. This is normal for this process allowing the seeds to mature before dispersing them.

BERMUDA

Bermudagrass is most commonly known as “the golf course grass.” This fine-textured warm season grass is used on athletic fields and in some commercial areas because of it’s resilience to foot traffic. Bermudagrass is extremely drought tolerant and spreads quickly. It can be a very tricky grass to manage as it requires constant cutting to maintain it’s medium to dark green color. It also has very poor tolerance to most turf damaging insects, disease and nematodes. It does grow very aggressively via stolons and can quickly invade flower and landscaped beds. Most homeowners are more interested in removing Bermudagrass from their lawn rather than adding it. Most often its sprigs or seeds are introduced via golfer’s shoes, animals, or even “divot fix.” Yes, that’s right! Those canisters of sand that you get from the pro shop to correct the turf after a heavy drive also contains seed. That seed can germinate and then you end up with pesky Bermudagrass in the middle of your St. Augustine lawn. Once well established the best way to rid your lawn of Bermudagrass is to spray the entire area with RoundUp® and once dead, remove all the debris then re-sod with the desirable grass. This can get rather costly.