# Florida Grass Identification



## ccanad (May 24, 2018)

Any idea what specific grass this is? Can this be a weird strain of Bermuda? Maybe Zoysia? Penennial Rye??? I have no idea, but I like it and it's thriving...

Bradenton, FL


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## deeevo (Jun 18, 2018)

Looks like Bahia

http://www.sandksod.com/argentine-bahia/


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

@ccanad zoysia japonica.


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## ccanad (May 24, 2018)

deeevo said:


> Looks like Bahia
> 
> http://www.sandksod.com/argentine-bahia/


I don't believe that it's Bahia. I have some pockets of Bahia in my backyard and they have large Y-shaped seed stalks. This is different than that.


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## ccanad (May 24, 2018)

Spammage said:


> @ccanad zoysia japonica.


Is there any specific identifier I should be looking for? Runners/Seed Stalks/Etc...?


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## lambert (Sep 12, 2018)

Looks like Empire Zoysia.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

ccanad said:


> Spammage said:
> 
> 
> > @ccanad zoysia japonica.
> ...


It's to late in the season for seed heads, but you might be able to find stolons around the perimeter. They resemble bermuda stolons, but are fatter and the internode length tends to be much shorter


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Look at my user pic for zoysia runners.


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## Gregau33 (Apr 15, 2018)

Looks like Empire or El Toro Zoysia


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## ccanad (May 24, 2018)

Here is a runner I found in the grass. Maybe this could help...


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

@ccanad I change my vote, but i don't know what that is. It definitely isn't zoysia.


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## ccanad (May 24, 2018)

Is there a thinner blade St Aug that I am not used to seeing?


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## TSGarp007 (May 22, 2018)

Any seed heads?


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Looks like St. zoyuda.


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## FlaDave (Jul 10, 2018)

Hmmm. I found something similar in a ditch area at work that leads to a retention pond. I'm not sure what it is either. The blades on this grass can grow to be over a foot tall if not mowed. I'm not familiar with centipede so I was thinking maybe that? The stolons in my mystery grass really resemble zoysia more to me though.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

@FlaDave now I'm wondering about carpetgrass. @Colonel K0rn might be able to help with that guess.


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

You know, I looked at this thread earlier, and based on the pictures, I was thinking it was centipede, because the internodes connect to look like a centipede (easiest way that I can identify it). I clearly remember plucking some out of my yard this Spring, and the stolons had a purple hue to them, unlike the sample that I see here, which is white. That makes me lean more toward centipede.

A sure-fire way to test is to spray one with MSM and another with Celsius. If it dies from MSM it's bahia, dies from Celsius it's carpet grass. If you look at it and it dies, it's St Aug.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Look for hairs on the leaf blade. See chart for places to check.


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

you likely have carpetgrass. Runner up is St. Augustine, which is basically the same thing. it could be centipede grass, but if that's the case then you can't rule out palmetto buffalo grass either.


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## ccanad (May 24, 2018)

Ecks from Tex said:


> you likely have carpetgrass. Runner up is St. Augustine, which is basically the same thing. it could be centipede grass, but if that's the case then you can't rule out palmetto buffalo grass either.


Who has crapetgrass? Me or FlaDave?


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

ccanad said:


> Ecks from Tex said:
> 
> 
> > you likely have carpetgrass. Runner up is St. Augustine, which is basically the same thing. it could be centipede grass, but if that's the case then you can't rule out palmetto buffalo grass either.
> ...


You. Fladave looks more like centipede


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## ccanad (May 24, 2018)

Ecks from Tex said:


> you likely have carpetgrass. Runner up is St. Augustine, which is basically the same thing. it could be centipede grass, but if that's the case then you can't rule out palmetto buffalo grass either.


Quick google search, it doesn't appear to be carpetgrass.

LCN thinks it's a thin blade St Aug variety. Maybe bitter blue or seville...


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

ccanad said:


> Ecks from Tex said:
> 
> 
> > you likely have carpetgrass. Runner up is St. Augustine, which is basically the same thing. it could be centipede grass, but if that's the case then you can't rule out palmetto buffalo grass either.
> ...


There are very few differences between St. Augustine and Carpetgrass (and also centipede). Carpetgrass is basically a thin-blade version of St. Augustine. Just like Charleston Grass is just another name for the same thing. In many parts of Texas they are considered the same type of grass although that is not technically correct. Carpetgrass has some differences, but they are not usually visually distinguishable.

Seville is possible, but it's not that common in sod farms due to cold tolerance.

Frankly I don't think it matters. You treat both of them the same, so call it St. Aug and call it done.

**edit: here's a picture of carpet grass. You notice how the tip is not blunt, but comes to a point. That is the main difference, and the likely reason why your grass is carpetgrass. It could be an uncommon st. aug variety, but I would still call that a runner-up pick.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Definitely not a warm season grass expert, though I know what Zoysia and St. Aug look like in person. Initially I was thinking Zoysia. I do not think that now, though, because if I zoom in, it does not look like Zoysia (there are people with Zoysia in my neighborhood), but looks more similar in structure (not blade width) to St. Aug. So I think LCN and those who said Carpetgrass/St. Aug. nailed it. Just a cool season guy's opinion.

So, is Carpetgrass considered to be in the St. Augustine family? Like how Tall Fescue is in the Ryegrass family...


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

Green said:


> So, is Carpetgrass considered to be in the St. Augustine family? Like how Tall Fescue is in the Ryegrass family...


Exactly - or at least that's my understanding. Where St. Aug became popular in the USA in places like Florida, SC, GA, etc., I am fairly sure turf pros would shun you for life for calling carpetgrass "St. Augustine." But people mistake the two in Texas and Louisiana all the time and most varieties are virtually indistinguishable to even DIY enthusiasts. Some carpetgrass can grow by seed is one difference. Some carpetgrass looks a lot more like centipede and is sold in seed and plug form as a carpetgrass/centipede mix. And as Colonel Corn mentioned earlier, carpetgrass and St. Augustine have different herbicide tolerances (some varieties do not).


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Ecks from Tex said:


> Some carpetgrass looks a lot more like centipede and is sold in seed and plug form as a carpetgrass/centipede mix. And as Colonel Corn mentioned earlier, carpetgrass and St. Augustine have different herbicide tolerances (some varieties do not).


I still don't know for sure what my former gf's family had...it looked like St. Aug. kind of, but not really...I thought maybe it was Centipede. Someone in her family said Bermuda, and he was a landscaper who had never heard of KBG, Fescue, or Rye, but I think he was referring to the other 1/3 of the mix (two grass types plus weeds).

Maybe Carpetgrass.

I know Tenacity can be used on St. Aug., even if not labeled for residential lawns...thought that was pretty cool.

St. Aug is cool, but I'm not going to grow it unless I live on the gulf someday. And Virginia Beach is about the furthest North you can get away with it, I hear. We have cool season wide bladed KY-31 Fescue that looks almost identical and is super tough as an option, but without the self repair from stolons of St. Aug. Hardly anyone into lawns uses it, but a few guys on here have lawns they planted with it, like Powhatan in VA.

I would be interested in learning exactly how St. Aug, Centipede, and Carpetgrass are related.


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## ccanad (May 24, 2018)

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7


#8


#9


#10


#11


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## ccanad (May 24, 2018)

I finally added some more pictures of what has been growing in a remote part of my yard.

Any idea exactly what this is?


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## FlaDave (Jul 10, 2018)

I'm no expert by any means but most of that looks like zoysia to me. #4, 6, &7 look like torpedograss I think.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

What a mix. 1, 5 and the look like centipede, 2 is St Augustine, 4 is bermuda, 6, 7, 8, and 10 look like zoysia, and 9 looks like nimble will.


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## ccanad (May 24, 2018)

Yeah, when uploading the pictures, it looks like it changed the order, so they are all out of sorts.

Let me give a little bit more clarity...

Pictures #1, #4, #7, #9, #11: All came from the same place, in the mulch bed under my maple tree. There is some bermuda growing around there, but this looks a little different, so I was thinking torpedo or something similar...

Pictures #2, #3, #5, #6, #8, #10: These are all the same. Very different than those above. I've been told it may be type of St Aug, but its definitely not Floratam, imo...


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