# TifGrand or TifTuff??



## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

I'm close to closing out a quote to get my entire lawn front and back ripped out and updated.

New soil, grading, drainage, tree removal, etc.

The landscaper is a huge fan of emerald zoysia, and quoted to put that grass in. While I think it's a decent idea considered some of the shade my yard gets from the house and trees it's not full on shade in spots for the whole day. I've also not investigated emerald in person to see if I like it.

I currently have 419 Bermuda and both neighbors do as well. The contractor isn't going to do much more than scrape up the grass and any rock and grade it out flat. I'd be worried Bermuda will end back in the zoysia in no time.

So I'm looking at grand and tuf as my replacements. I have a small dog and 3 small kids and we use our backyard. It does get some filtered sun in areas on the edges but get pretty good full sun from 11-sunset with perhaps a solid 6-7 hours of full on sun.

I reel mow, and plan to upgrade to a GM1000 and cut it roughly 1/2 in to 5/8s or so.

I have no irrigation, and no plans to put it in at this home. Can water the yard pretty easy though, so not an issue and cost of watering isn't an issue.

More interested in a few qualities:

Shade. It's my main issue so wondering which is best in some partial filtered pine sun, and a few hours of shade each day as the sun makes it trek.

Toughness. Kids may ride bikes on it, they run around like crazy and occasional tear up grass. Which one will recover better and quicker to fill in spots?

Maintenance/appearance. Which one looks nicer, or looks more luxurious when cared for properly. I want it to stand out really well against the 419 around me, as im looking for curb appeal to aide in selling house in 2 years.

Any pictures or even suggestions outside of these two cultivars is welcome.


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## dtillman5 (Jul 20, 2017)

TifGrand is darker green than common. Both Grand and Tuff are shade tolerant to a degree. Tuff is definitely more drought tolerant and seeing as you said you don't have irrigation this may be a better option if you missed some irrigation during the season. I have 419, I don't have irrigation either, and I had about 5 days with no rain and pretty hot temps last year. I was going on vacation for 4 days and the forecast showed 4 days of rain for my area so I skipped irrigation (my mistake). I got zero rain, so the lawn was pretty crisp when I returned. I immediately jumped on irrigation and it bounced back, this is an example where Tuff would been a better choice. Obviously it needs irrigation too but is much more forgiving. As an example: if you plugged Tuff in a 419 lawn (not recommending this), it would look pretty close to 419, until you hit a dry spell, then the 419 would start going dormant and the Tuff would stand out. Hope this makes sense. Grand may be the prettier variety but without irrigation I think I would choose Tuff. Just my opinion. There are many other here much more knowledgeable.


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

Thanks for the Input. We get a fair bit of rain, and watering the yard isn't a chore. It's rather small for what I have turf wise, 5500sq Ft or so.

Outside of the lesser maintenance with watering I'm wondering how TifTuf is cut short with a reel, and is it "as" shade tolerant as TifGrand.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

I would go with Tiftuf. If the shade proves to be to much, you can either put in flower beds, hardscaping, or try Emerald zoysia there later. Tiftuf is about the right color to match the zoysia, Tifgrand is not.


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

Spammage said:


> I would go with Tiftuf. If the shade proves to be to much, you can either put in flower beds, hardscaping, or try Emerald zoysia there later. Tiftuf is about the right color to match the zoysia, Tifgrand is not.


I don't think shade is the issue. It's had 419 that's survived for 15 years in place. I'm getting trees trimmed or removed to assist too. It does get shade but nothing I'd need to hardscape it expand beds.

TifTuf is pretty much a more robust 419, correct? Same type of color and growth? Grand is more green and more dwarf, right?


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

FATC1TY said:


> Spammage said:
> 
> 
> > I would go with Tiftuf. If the shade proves to be to much, you can either put in flower beds, hardscaping, or try Emerald zoysia there later. Tiftuf is about the right color to match the zoysia, Tifgrand is not.
> ...


It has a slightly wider blade than 419, and is a little lighter color. Based on drought tolerance and damage recovery, that is what I would choose over Tifgrand.


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## Gopwh2020 (Apr 6, 2017)

I renovated my front yard last summer and installed TifTuff, and it's been great. The pictures below are one month after installation. The color is dark green. Needs very little water (except at initial installation). Growth is quick with regular fertilization and maintenance so I would imagine recovery would be pretty quick. I'm going to level in another month which will be the true test of growth and recovery, but I think it will come back just fine. It started green up in March and was almost 100% green by mid-April. I'd recommend Tuff. I also have Emerald Zoysia in my backyard. I keep it a little higher, and my kids play on it quite a bit. It's beautiful grass. Recovery is a little slower but not bad. It's very low maintenance. I spend more time on the Tuff, but it looks great.


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## Lawnboy_03 (May 6, 2019)

Interested in this topic mainly due to shade in my yard. My wife and I bought our house last Aril. Did a complete renovation from outside/inside. Yard was in pretty good shape but once the contractors started in on the job, I had to cut the water off in mid June. Obviously, Texas heat had it's way with the entire yard.It was mainly St. Augustine but I've never been a big fan of that type of grass. I have a landscaping company at my house as I type. They have installed new irrigation ( 84 heads I might add ), new landscape, dirt work and I have ordered 15 pallets of TifTuff. I will attach a few pictures of my yard with the current tree/shade ratio. i have had around 30 Post Oaks already cut down and plan on doing more.


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## Lawnboy_03 (May 6, 2019)




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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

Interested to see!

I'm just looking for something I can keep short, stripe well, and maintain like I do my 419.

I get shade from the house and occasional tree thru the day so something that won't decline as that passes is a plus.

My instinct is to do the TifGrand because I like the finer texture but I'm pretty torn on a decision.


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

Lawnboy_03 said:


>


Way way way more shade than I'm working with. If TifTuf grows well in there then I'm impressed.


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