St Augustine Grass Lawn Care and Maintenance Tips for landscapers and home owners – Lawn Green Lawn Care

ByLawnGreen

lawn careSt Augustine Lawn Care and Maintenance Tips are important to keep in mind if you are a home owner, lawn mowing contractor or landscaper.

St Augustine turf is one of many different turf or grass varieties on the market. St Augustine lawn (otherwise known as Buffalo turf in Australia) is scientifically known as Stenotaphrum secundatum.

There are many varieties marketed in both North America and Australia.

The popular North American brands include Captiva, Floratine, Floratam, Palmetto, Raleigh and so on. There are a few others called ST26, ST85 and ST91 St Augustine. These ST varieties are a declining Buffalo type simply because they exhibit extremely low tolerance to the broadleaf weed herbicides that are registered for use on Buffalo / St Augustine. Also, it is known they have shorter root systems (than the more reliable) grasses so they exhibit lower drought tolerance.

The Australian brands include Sir Walter (this has the largest market share and is the most popular), Sapphire, Matilda, Shademaster, Kings Pride and so on. All the Australian Buffalo grasses can be sprayed (safely) with all the registered herbicides without negative effect. We have tested all of them.

Anyone caring for their Buffalo Lawn needs to keep in mind that even though Buffalo is a Warm Season Grass it does not have the Below Ground Runners that Kikuyu and Couch (also known as Bermuda grass) have. With this in mind, Buffalo grass cannot be mowed too short (that is, scalped) as it can kill it.

Kikuyu and Couch grasses (these are also Warm Season Grasses) – are built with BOTH Stolons (Above Ground Runners) and Rhizomes (Below Ground Runners) – and as such they are commonly used in sports field situations. They are capable of repairing themselves quickly after heavy use and traffic.

Buffalo or St Augustine grasses – on the other hand, are built ONLY with Stolons – and as such do not recover quickly when scalped or worn down from heavy use. Buffalo turf is more a recreational turf grass admired more for its aesthetics then its ability to handle heavy traffic.

If You want more information about Caring for Your Lawn, please register for our Free Report on “The 5 Secrets To A Great Looking Lawn” – or call the Lawn Expert on 1300 55 74 72 now for a FREE QUOTE to be on Your way to a Lush, Beautiful and Greener Weed free lawn.