Warm season grass on a budget with mix of sun/shade

Discuss how to and whether you should renovate your lawn
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escondidogardener2
Posts: 29
Joined: July 30th, 2019, 4:23 pm
Location: Escondido California
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Some Experience

Warm season grass on a budget with mix of sun/shade

Post by escondidogardener2 » August 14th, 2019, 4:58 pm

I am looking for advice on how best to renovate my front yard. It is currently a mix of fescue and some warm season grass that has blown over from my neighbor's yard.

I should mention that thanks to Andy and a soil test from Logan Labs, I now have a long term plan to improve my soil condition (it's low in OM and nutrients, salty and compacted).

I have about 1500 sqft of lawn and I have a budget of no more than $500. I'm looking for advice on how best to renovate this yard. I don't care what type of grass is used. I am just looking for something that can withstand the hot summers here in San Diego and is green. My lawn faces due west and most of the lawn get's 6-8 hours of really hot sunshine. A portion of the lawn is under a tree and get little to no direct sunlight (the fescue is green and healthy in this area.

Here is a picture of my lawn at 2pm today:

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Here is a picture of the unidentified warm season grass that has taken over about 15% of my lawn

Image

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My plan is to follow my long term plan improving the soil conditions and in the spring to either till or spray roundup to kill the existing lawn. Once the current lawn is dead, either seed/plug or partially sod with Bermuda or St. Augustine. Sod is approximately $.60 a square foot so I can't sod the entire lawn.

Any advice is greatly appreciated (I'd also love to over-seed in November with some annual rye to get through the winter but not sure if that would make the springtime renovation more difficult).

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andy10917
Posts: 29739
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 10:48 pm
Location: NY (Lower Hudson Valley)
Grass Type: Emblem KBG (Front); Blueberry KBG Monostand (Back)
Lawn Size: 1 acre-2 acre
Level: Advanced

Re: Warm season grass on a budget with mix of sun/shade

Post by andy10917 » August 14th, 2019, 7:51 pm

A few questions:

(1) Is the whole area irrigated, and do you use the irrigation?
(2) How much are you willing to mow?
(3) How long are you willing to wait for it to become a nice lawn, to minimize costs?
(4) Not considering Zoysia? Any neighbors have it?

To all: we need a couple of warm-season folks to ID the grasses in the pictures. I have my guess, but I'm no expert on those warm-season ID's...

escondidogardener2
Posts: 29
Joined: July 30th, 2019, 4:23 pm
Location: Escondido California
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Some Experience

Re: Warm season grass on a budget with mix of sun/shade

Post by escondidogardener2 » August 15th, 2019, 4:34 pm

Hi Andy -

1) The whole area is irrigated (although it could use a sprinkler head in the middle of the lawn to irriagte towards the driveway) with MP rotors.
2) I love to landscape and currently mow the back yard (Bermuda) twice a week. Your previous soil care advice and lower cut height (1.75 inches) has already helped.
3) I have planted 35 x 15 gallon Indian laurel along the perimeter of the lawn. My hope would be to have the turf mature when the hedges do in 2-4 years.
4) I am very open to Zoysia or any other warm season grass. My only conercens are cost and the how to battle the cross contamination that I already have with the Fescue/Unidentified warm season grass....

User avatar
andy10917
Posts: 29739
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 10:48 pm
Location: NY (Lower Hudson Valley)
Grass Type: Emblem KBG (Front); Blueberry KBG Monostand (Back)
Lawn Size: 1 acre-2 acre
Level: Advanced

Re: Warm season grass on a budget with mix of sun/shade

Post by andy10917 » August 15th, 2019, 5:51 pm

OK.

Here's why I asked what I asked: Bermuda is beautiful, but if you're going to kill it and renovate, you need to either spend $$$ on the good stuff, or sort of break up and shred Bermuda sod to make sprigs (on the cheap). I see your concern about budget. Sprigs will likely work, but obviously it takes FAR longer than sod to establish. In essence, Bermuda is the beautiful but high-maintenance woman of warm-season grasses.

Find out what grasses your next-door neighbors have - if either of them have Zoysia, I'd go Zoysia - there's a reason behind that. High-quality Zoysia is soft, pretty and requires less water - and it's indestructible. That's the good news.

The bad news is that it's indestructible.

Do your homework, and get back to us...

escondidogardener2
Posts: 29
Joined: July 30th, 2019, 4:23 pm
Location: Escondido California
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Some Experience

Re: Warm season grass on a budget with mix of sun/shade

Post by escondidogardener2 » August 20th, 2019, 6:12 pm

I'm back ...talked with both neighbors and neither have ever cultivated front or back lawns. Neighbor to my right has a patch of similar native grass that he calls common burmuda. No one on my street has ever heard of Zoysia.

Here are 2 more photo's of the unidentified warm season grass that has taken over about 30% of my fescue front lawn.


Image

Image


I checked pricing at my local sod supply store and prices for Bermuda are around $.53 and Zoysia $.87 and St Augustin is $.98 and a google maps measurement of my front lawn is 1650 sqft.

Sod is just to darn expensive for my budget...So it's either plugs or seeds. I know the Vigoro Bermuda seed does not get a lot of love here, but I'm not sure why when price is a driving factor? I seeded some bare spots in my existing bermuda back lawn and they look pretty similar to the existing turf (although smaller bladed).

I am really thinking about either a Bermuda seed (leaving the fescue as is under the tree) or the Zoysia seed I see online for nearly $100 https://www.amazon.com/Zenith-Zoysia-Gr ... B006RSDM3Q

I know the seed will take a lot longer and I'm ok with that, my only concern is how bad weeds will be until the grass fills in.

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