Warm Season Shade Grass

[detrotirocker99]

Hello -

I am in North Texas and have common Bermuda. I mow every 5 days and maintain the grass at 1 1/2". The quality of the grass is very good, though I am having trouble with a shaded area in between my house and a live oak tree. The area has always been shaded, but it has become more thin as the years have passed. Now it's mostly dirt.

Can I seed this area with a grass that will grow well? If so, what type of grass will pair well with Bermuda and what time of year can it be seeded?

Thanks in advance!

[whoda_h]

detrotirocker99,
I feel your pain and many others that have/had a bermuda lawn with trees have experienced the same problem. I am not aware of a great solution. Cool season grass such as fescue are more shade tolerate but don't really match the look or feel of bermuda but would work. The most common shade tolerate warm season grass is St. Augustine but again it doesn't match (much thicker and coarser). There are hybrid species of bermuda that are more shade tolerate than others but the bottom line is bermuda hates shade and from prior research I do not think these would be a solution for your situation. At a prior location I even tried applying a growth inhibitor to make the bermuda grass denser in the shade (it makes the grass grow slower but the leaves are closer together so it's not as whispy) and although it made a slight difference the results were unsatisfactory.

A couple options (again none are great):
1. Thin out the canopy of the tree allowing more sun and keep the bermuda. This will be an on-going battle as long as the tree is there.
2. Plant fescue (seed) or St. Augustine (sod) in the shade. It will look different and the fescue will likely not go dormant in the winter.
3. Extend your flower bed or plant ground cover in that area.

Perhaps someone else has had more success than I did and can share their secret.

[Begotten]

You don't have common Bermuda assuming that's a fairly new pre-planned community and it looks like it is.


You have 3 options; Get rid of the tree, make the area a flower bed, or plug/sod with a more shade tolerant Bermuda (Celebration and TifGrand are your best options)

[mrmeaner]

I have celebration and while they say is shade tolerate it still gets thin if it does not get much sun. Can you trim the tree up an higher to let sun get to that area??

[detrotirocker99]

Thanks for your feedback guys! The community is 13 years old, the house is 11. I had been told it was common, but perhaps not?

I just had the tree thinned to 20% light exposure last April, but the advice is unanimous that I need to go further. I will try that first, and then add a more shade tolerant Bermuda if needed. It looks like TifGrand is limited in north Texas, so Celebration may be a better bet for me.

[mrmeaner]

Looks like Tifway 419 to me from that first picture - Just be aware tiffway 419 and celebration bermuda have a little different characteristics such as color and texture

[detrotirocker99]

Got it - that is good to know for the future. Much appreciated.

[Begotten]

Looks like Tifway 419 to me from that first picture - Just be aware tiffway 419 and celebration bermuda have a little different characteristics such as color and texture

Probably won't be that noticeable unless someone knows and is looking for the difference. Definitely won't be as noticeable as thinning grass or a dirt patch

[luderiffic]

Isn't Zoysia a possibility? There are different varieties so its important to get the right one but they are a little bit more shade tolerant.

[Abyss]

That looks like a perfect spot for some sort of stone stepped walking path with a couple of lounging chairs to relax under the tree with some lemonade.

[Abyss]

Had another thought for you, you might be able to do a shade tolerant perennial rye. It should handle the heat decently being in the shade, and it will share some of te characteristics of the Bermuda. There's an area in my backyard that doesn't get a ton of sun, there's Bermuda there but it's thin. When I got my sod last year it was overseeded with rye. Most of it burnt off through this summer, but in that thinner area the rye mixed in well for the year. I wish I had some pictures, but right now it just looks like a scalped mess.

[gtnike]

Isn't Zoysia a possibility? There are different varieties so its important to get the right one but they are a little bit more shade tolerant.

Zoysia might be "more" shade tolerant, but it isn't really shade tolerant and will compete with the bermuda. I have TTTF in my shady spots and plan to leave it that way.

[luderiffic]

Isn't Zoysia a possibility? There are different varieties so its important to get the right one but they are a little bit more shade tolerant.

Zoysia might be "more" shade tolerant, but it isn't really shade tolerant and will compete with the bermuda. I have TTTF in my shady spots and plan to leave it that way.

I believe the OP is in Texas. Not sure his climate can handle TTTF? If so, then that is an excellent shade turf. I have it in my shaded areas in Tennessee but we are about as far south as they recommend.

[msstatecoletrain]

I don't know how well it would pair, but St. augustine is the best shade-type grass. You will want to make sure you aren't too far north.

[hambone79]

Considering the size of your front lawn is pretty small I would look into converting it to either Zeon zoysia or Jamur zoysia. Both of these are improved zoysia varieties that offer quite a bit of shade tolerance and would make for an awesome lawn! Zeon claims to be the most shade tolerant of all zoysia varieties and JaMur is right there with it. The guys above have all made great suggestions, but as they have mentioned each of those options will be met with some sort of compromise. By choosing one of the zoysias it would offer the opportunity to improve the quality of your lawn and make it visually more appealing.

[killerv]

Pinestraw!

If it stays shaded all day like whats in the pics, gonna be out of luck with grass. I'd throw some fescue seed down and hope for the best. Doesn't look like enough sun gets in there for even St. Aug.