Question #1: Which grass species is the best for shady areas in Oklahoma?
Answer: The best grass species that we recommend for shady conditions is the turf-type tall fescue. There are several cultivars available, all do very well under normal conditions and cultural practices. However, even tall fescue may be difficult to establish in "heavy" shade. The more bright shade or filtered sunlight you can provide the better. Selective pruning of existing trees and shrubs may be necessary. This means removing selected limbs or removing whole plants if necessary to allow more light into the area. In addition to lack of light, competition for water and nutrients is often high under large mature trees. This is often more difficult to correct without disturbing tree roots. If this is a real problem then I would again suggest groundcovers or perennials. There are several that will tolerate the shade and compete with tree roots. English ivy and Vinca are just a couple.
If you choose to install a tall fescue lawn, fall is the best time in Oklahoma to establish a cool season lawn by seed. Tall fescue is a cool season grass, and if planted in he spring it could suffer a great deal during the heat of the summer resulting in significant failure and disappointment. Plant in fall so that it has a chance to build a strong root system and become better established before summer. Management of turfgrass in shady areas is also a little different than in sunny areas. Close attention to irrigation and drainage is a must and mowing height should be a 3 to 3 1/2". Proper bed preparation should also be considered and is very important for long term health and survivability of the grass. For more information on managing turf and establishing a turf grass see fact sheets F-6420 "Lawn Management in Oklahoma" and F-6419 "Establishing a Lawn in Oklahoma" by contacting your County Extension office or visit the link at the top of the page to the Fact Sheets.
************************************************************************************************************************************ Question #2: My lawn is mostly bermudagrass with a smattering of various weeds. My question is that I have seen neighbors with the same type of grass in my neighborhood recently mow the grass almost all the way down to the earth. I have no experience with maintaining a bermudagrass lawn so can you tell me what they are doing? Is this something I should be doing? Also, are there any absolute "must do" things to make sure the lawn stays healthy?
Answer: What your neighbors are doing is sometimes referred to as "scalping," though I prefer to just call it a close mowing. Typically bermudagrass is cut higher in the fall to provide insulation from low temperatures during the winter. So a close mowing in the spring basically involves removing the old dormant or dead leaf blades from he previous fall. This opens up the canopy and allows the sun to penetrate the ground and warm it up a little quicker, thus encouraging the bermudagrass to begin greening up. However, you should be careful not to mow too close. You want to set your mower as low as you can and still avoid hitting the ground with the mower blades as you mow. Hitting the ground will damage the stems and crowns of the grass, weakening and thinning the turf. If you have a rough, uneven turf area then you may not want to set the mower on its lowest setting. The Fact Sheets listed above are available on-line and should answer most of your other questions. If you still have questions after reviewing the fact sheets, feel free to contact your county Extension office. They have trained staff on hand to help you.
************************************************************************************************************************************* Question #3: When is it best to water the lawn, shrubs etc. I've heard if you water during very hot days (90F+) it will "steam" your grass and flowers. Is this true?
Answer: No, it does not harm the plants. This is an old misnomer. However, if you turn the water on and begin watering plants without letting the hot water in the hose pass through first, this could be stressful to the plants.
The best time to water is in the early morning. This allows plenty of time for the moisture on the plant to evaporate, which reduces disease incidence. Watering late in the evening will result in wet leaves for longer periods, which is ideal for disease development. Watering during the middle of the day when temperatures are high and the wind is blowing is a waste of water. A large percent of the water is in a fine mist or vapor form and is lost in the atmosphere or blown to your neighbors yard.
*********************************************************************************************************************************** Question #4: I have a yard full of english ivy and want to replace it with grass. I have been told that I can just put a couple of inches of top soil and then sod it. This just doesn't sound right to me. I hope that you can help me. I have a lot of pine trees so I would also like to know the name of the grass I should use. Thank you for your help.
Answer: My recommendation, without seeing the actual situation, would be to leave it with English ivy or to remove only some of the ivy and work in some new perennials or groundcovers. The reasoning is two-fold. First, pines don't care too much for site disturbance, especially changing the grade by raising the soil level, which may lead to decline and eventually death of the pines. Second, unless the pines are somewhat sparse or have a high canopy allowing light to reach the ground or at least provide a brightly shaded area, grass will more than likely suffer anyway. Though we have turfgrasses that tolerate shade, the more light they receive the better they perform. In addition to light competition, competition for water and nutrients can also be high under large mature trees.
If you choose to remove all or portions of the ivy, it would best be done using a product containing glyphosate such as Roundup to kill the ivy first. More than one application will probably be necessary, be sure to follow label directions. Then dig and remove the dead plant material, work the soil, and plant. Be careful not to disturb tree roots as much as possible.
If you choose to plant grass, turf-type tall fescue varieties are best. The best time to establish tall fescue is in the fall beginning in September. It can be done in the spring, however the summers come quickly and often take their toll on a newly planted cool season grass. Proper bed preparation is critical for success. For detailed information on establishing a turfgrass in Oklahoma visit the following web site to access our fact sheet publications or go to your County Extension Office and request a free copy. See fact sheet F-6419 - See link at the top of the page.
*********************************************************************************************************************************** Question #5: I was just wondering if I could get your advise on a gardening problem? I have mostly sandy soil and have a big problem with sandburs. I have almost an acre of yard front and back so I need something cheap to kill these weeds permanently. Thank you for any advise you can give.
Answer: I am responding to your request concerning a grass that is adapted to growing on sand and resisting weed and sandbur invasion in turfgrass.
The best adapted turfgrasses for use on a very sandy soil in full sun in Oklahoma is common bermudagrass. Sandy soils typically are very low in fertility and have poor water holding capacity. Under these conditions you can expect severe weed invasion, especially from the grassy weed sandbur. Improvement in the quality of the turf can be achieved by managing the situation to better favor bermudagrass. It is unrealistic to expect any grass to thrive and provide near 100% cover on high sand content soils without an intensive management program. The suggested management practices for improving the stand quality, assuming some bermudagrass is already present, are the following:
Soil test, and amend the soil to get the soil phosphorus level to a P test of 65 or above. The K test index should be about 250 or above. It will be challenging to keep these levels in a very sandy soil. You'll need to add P and K with each N fertilization. This strategy is slightly different than our normal turf management strategy.
You'll need a nitrogen fertility program. I suggest 3-5 lbs N/1,000 square feet, per year, applied in 4 to 5 applications. See OSU Fact Sheet 6420: "Lawn Management in Oklahoma".
You'll need a pre-emergent herbicide program to suppress sandbur populations. I suggest Surflan, Barricade or Pendulum, all sprayable materials may be available from your local Co-op. Use the upper end rates and a split application program with 2 applications during the season. You'll have some breakthrough of sandbur. See OSU Fact Sheet 6421: "Weed Control in Lawns".
A post-emergent program using MSMA (preferred over DSMA) will be helpful in May-July for control of breakthrough of sandbur. Use your best judgement on the number of applications base this on the severity of breakthrough. Familiarize yourself with how the leaves of sandburs look before they flower. You must be able to recognize them next year before they begin to flower and set seed.
Patience and Reasonable Expectations. The more favorable you can make the growing conditions for bermudagrass, the less sandburs that will be present. It will likely be 3-4 years before you have excellent control. You should see improvement in the condition this year, but the most improvement next year. Why? Because the bermudagrass is thin now and even with a pre-emergent program in the spring of this year, bermuda density won't be maximized until fall of this year.
The best turf management programs are those that begin with the best adapted grasses for an individual site, however, modern turf quality expectations usually exceed the quality that the grass is able to deliver on its own, so intensive intervention to modify the growing conditions is required. The program listed above will help in reducing general weed invasion during the summer months. It will have little to no effect on winter weeds, which will require an additional herbicide intervention.
************************************************************************************************************************************* Question #6: I have not found any performance information on Baby bermudagrass and whether is is adapted for use in my area (Cleveland County, OK)?
Answer: Baby was tested as TDS-BM-1 in the 1992-1996 National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) bermudagrass trial.
Baby was the best performing turfgrass overall in this trial if you use quality as an index of adaptation to the specific practices that were used in the trial.
If one is planning to use Baby, they should be looking at a management regime that provides N fertility between 3 - 5 lbs per M per year, irrigation as needed, and mowing at 0.5 to 1.25 inches. One might squeeze it to 1.5 inches, but I certainly would not raise the cut above that or this grass will get puffy and stemmy. Baby is an interspecific sterile hybrid intended for moderate to intense management. It is not intended to be as dynamic as are the common bermudagrasses sold as U-3. Think of Baby as being similar to Tifway (Tifton 419) but offering higher quality. Baby is slightly darker greener and slightly higher in density than Tifway. Its resistance to spring dead spot is unknown. Although tissues cold hardiness tests in chambers have suggested Baby to have cold hardiness similar to Tifway, we had greater winter survival during a cold test winter with Baby (2% winter kill) than with Tifway (37% winter kill) with both grasses mowed at 0.5 inches. Having cut sod of both, I find that Baby has even more rhizomes than Tifway, which is a good place to invest biomass. Baby should be adequately winter hardy and adapted for moderate to intense management in your area. It should not be chosen for low maintenance conditions. It is available as sod or sprigs from Tulsa Turf at Bixby. Hope this helps.