# Tifway 419 vs. Celebration



## Chuckatuck89 (Mar 28, 2019)

I know there has been a couple similar threads before on this and other forums but wanted to hopefully get some input on my specific situation.

I am planning a reno on my 3000sqft front yard this year, which at the moment is about 60% VERY slow growing unknown zoysia, 30% unknown St. Augustine, and another 10% dirt that probably needs to be converted to flower bed. I want to convert to Bermuda for its drought tolerance (no irrigation) and wear resistance (two dogs and a small child).

My plan is to roundup everything the next couple weeks, then I have a contractor waiting on the call to come by with a bucket and harley rake to remove high spots and flatten everything out.

I have called multiple sod farms in the area and the availability for Bermuda is Celebration or Tifway419. Most of them ended up close to the same price of about $3.50-$4.50/sqyd with another $300-$400 for delivery. I just called one farm that is significantly cheaper at $2/yd and $240 for delivery for the Tifway.

The only issue is after searching online for quite a while I had really settled on Celebration for the following reasons:

- I do have _some_ shade, I checked every hour a couple days ago and my yard gets about 6 hours of full sun with another 4 or so of "dappled" shade as it passes above trees on the east and below trees on the west. I have read Celebration is supposed to be shade tolerant although Im never really sure to what extent that means and what difference I would see over time.

-The color and density of Celebration seems to be much more of what I am looking for. Some posts or websites selling Tifway say it is "dark green" or "emerald green" however most candid photos I see show it as a lime green and "fluffy". Photos like the link below have me particularly concerned that the overall appearance of Celebration is what I am looking for.https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1...2377220&biw=1920&bih=937#imgrc=rX2cmnd75LujJM

A third note, I only have a rotary mower and would be shooting for a HOC of probably 1.5". Not sure if that makes a difference between the two.

So really, price is the issue. Based on the $1.20 price of the Tifway I could sod the entire yard, I don't think I could pull that off with the price of the Celebration via the spouse at close to twice the price.

I have also thought of buying one pallet of Celebration and trying to stolonize. This seems to be a relatively new method to the residential lawn community and I'm having visions of running into major issues with trying to cut the sod, get good ground contact, lightly and evenly cover it and keep it moist and fed for several weeks with basic equipment. Another option would be to get about 1500sqft worth and do a checkered pattern and wait for it to fill in.

Sorry for the novel, anyone have any thoughts?


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Based on your wants and plan, I would stick with Celebration. It's more shade tolerant, drought tolerant, and less prone to scalping. It's also the most aggressive spreading grass I've ever seen, so it repairs very quickly if damaged and is less prone to invasion by other grasses/weeds.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

Spammage said:


> Based on your wants and plan, I would stick with Celebration. It's more shade tolerant, drought tolerant, and less prone to scalping. It's also the most aggressive spreading grass I've ever seen, so it repairs very quickly if damaged and is less prone to invasion by other grasses/weeds.


Interesting about the aggressiveness of Celebration.

I know all Bermuda is aggressive but does anyone know what cultivar is the most aggressive as far as repair / spreading.

@viva_oldtrafford and his experience with golf courses and turf repair may have real world experience?


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

ENC_Lawn said:


> Spammage said:
> 
> 
> > Based on your wants and plan, I would stick with Celebration. It's more shade tolerant, drought tolerant, and less prone to scalping. It's also the most aggressive spreading grass I've ever seen, so it repairs very quickly if damaged and is less prone to invasion by other grasses/weeds.
> ...


I don't have much experience with Celebration vs. 419, but I can tell you that Tifgreen (328) is probably the most aggressive hybrid bermudagrass out there. It can be maintained at heights as low as 5/32 all the way to 2 inches. Above 2 inches it gets pretty leggy. Well maintained 328 fairways are second to none.


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## Chuckatuck89 (Mar 28, 2019)

Spammage said:


> Based on your wants and plan, I would stick with Celebration. It's more shade tolerant, drought tolerant, and less prone to scalping. It's also the most aggressive spreading grass I've ever seen, so it repairs very quickly if damaged and is less prone to invasion by other grasses/weeds.


Thanks Spammage,

do you mean bite the bullet and do a full sod or one of the other two methods I mentioned? Unfortunately the quote I got for Celebration was at the higher end of the range I am seeing.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Chuckatuck89 said:


> Spammage said:
> 
> 
> > Based on your wants and plan, I would stick with Celebration. It's more shade tolerant, drought tolerant, and less prone to scalping. It's also the most aggressive spreading grass I've ever seen, so it repairs very quickly if damaged and is less prone to invasion by other grasses/weeds.
> ...


You could get out for less with sprigging/stolonizing as long as you can deal with the wait and deal with added weed pressure. @Movingshrub can offer more insight into this procedure. He's becoming a master of it.


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## 1FASTSS (Jul 11, 2018)

I sodded my entire front yard with Celebration at the end of last summer. Since we are planning on a pool sometime soon I had planned on seeding the back with Arden 15 for the time being but I had enough left over to run a 2 pieces of sod in a side by side walkway front from backyard gate to my patio door. After getting about 2.5 month of grow time before it went dormant it has almost completely filled in my back yard. I'd say its pretty aggressive grower and any spots I get recover within 2 week during peak season.



Its not as shade tolerant as you think...its very good but not perfect...My neighbor has a large oak about 15 feet off my property line and that area gets about 6 hrs of sun and most of its doing fine...there are some bare spots right now but I overeseeded PRG this winter and killed some out. I'm waiting to see how much it recovers this season and will readjust my front beds as needed...hopefully without move any big palms...

But buy a reel mower....its begs to be cut low...the lower the better. :lol:


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## viva_oldtrafford (Apr 4, 2018)

About 8 years ago we renovated our entire driving range (10 acres, 2 of that being teebox), along with 3 of our Par 3 tees with Celebration - in all I have about 11 acres of C on property. I actually just spoke with my GM yesterday about re-doing all the teeboxes with Celebration. It has better color, it's more drought tolerant than 419, it requires less N, it is more shade tolerant (relative to other B types), it repairs quickly (reason for doing driving range and par 3s really), I feel that it's pretty cold hardy. doesn't seem to get hit with dollar spot (anecdotal), your primo rates can be cut in half vs 419, and I think it holds an advantage of 419 when comparing traffic impact. As for the downside, if you over fertilize it, you can't stay on top of it! About mid summer I starting doing weekly verticutting + circle cutting of the range tees because the C in those areas tends to get real leggy. That price sounds awfully high for C. Perhaps if you waited till mid summer, when all the farms have their fields full / growing back, you'd get a better price.

I vote C over 419.


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## daganh62 (May 4, 2018)

I have both. Most of it is 419 but acquired about 1000 sq. ft. of celebration. So far I like the celebration better. It greened up quicker, has a better color and texture. My vote is celebration.


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## lucas287 (Jun 3, 2018)

What would y'all say ideal HOC is for celebration? Does it look better at a higher cut like 1" than 419 does?


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Given what your describing, 419 really isn't a viable option.

Any chance sunlight is less in fall, when sun isn't as high?


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Disclaimer. Siri voice to text here.

celebration, latitude 36, tiff tough, and tiff grand, are pretty much the best for me to cultivars out there at the moment. Tahoma 31 is really good from the cold weather angle but the others all are much better in low light scenarios to my knowledge.

According to the university of Georgia turf grass breeder tiff tough and tiff grander very similar from the shade tolerance angle, tiff grand better below 1 inch with the real mower, with tiff tough better at residential rotary mower HOC. With that said, tifgrand doesn't seem to have the drought tolerance benefit of
Tiftuf. Tiftuf is weird about coloration with some chemicals/herbicides but establishes quickly.

If you're interested in talking broadcast solemnization, feel free to message me.

There is no reason to do Tifway 419 other that's it being cheap and widely available. if you want to know for sure regarding the amount of sunlight, get a daily light integral meter.


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## lucas287 (Jun 3, 2018)

Haha solemnization instead of stolonization! Darn siri!


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

lucas287 said:


> Haha solemnization instead of stolonization! Darn siri!


Considering how much I seem to enjoy stolonizing, Siri could have been more accurate than anyone realized. Ha!


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## Chuckatuck89 (Mar 28, 2019)

1FASTSS said:


> I sodded my entire front yard with Celebration at the end of last summer. Since we are planning on a pool sometime soon I had planned on seeding the back with Arden 15 for the time being but I had enough left over to run a 2 pieces of sod in a side by side walkway front from backyard gate to my patio door. After getting about 2.5 month of grow time before it went dormant it has almost completely filled in my back yard. I'd say its pretty aggressive grower and any spots I get recover within 2 week during peak season.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wait, that picture is the result from laying two pieces of sod and letting it grow in for 2.5 months?! Really like the look of it regardless


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## Chuckatuck89 (Mar 28, 2019)

daganh62 said:


> I have both. Most of it is 419 but acquired about 1000 sq. ft. of celebration. So far I like the celebration better. It greened up quicker, has a better color and texture. My vote is celebration.


Thanks that is definitely helpful. Have any pics to share or are they on here somewhere?


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## Chuckatuck89 (Mar 28, 2019)

jayhawk said:


> Given what your describing, 419 really isn't a viable option.
> 
> Any chance sunlight is less in fall, when sun isn't as high?


Well those sun times are samples from this week so I would expect them to increase slightly during the summer and be back to similar amounts of time during the fall.


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## Chuckatuck89 (Mar 28, 2019)

viva_oldtrafford said:


> That price sounds awfully high for C. Perhaps if you waited till mid summer, when all the farms have their fields full / growing back, you'd get a better price.


I hadn't thought of that, but I also have no experience buying sod. Based on your experience would you say it would fill in fast enough if I purchased less and left bare gaps?


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Given that, just be sure to know their min delivery


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## Pamboys09 (Apr 16, 2019)

I've asked the vendor near my place and told me he prefer Celebration. he would consider only tifway if its going to be high traffic area. but if its for aesthetic and just for show he would prefer Celebration. :nod:


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

Chuckatuck89 said:


> 1FASTSS said:
> 
> 
> > I sodded my entire front yard with Celebration at the end of last summer. Since we are planning on a pool sometime soon I had planned on seeding the back with Arden 15 for the time being but I had enough left over to run a 2 pieces of sod in a side by side walkway front from backyard gate to my patio door. After getting about 2.5 month of grow time before it went dormant it has almost completely filled in my back yard. I'd say its pretty aggressive grower and any spots I get recover within 2 week during peak season.
> ...


Appears he laid two squares wide the length from his gate to his patio. So much more than two pieces of sod. The spread looks great none the less.

Probably achieved it by cutting low with a reel and fertilizing it properly. If you are going to rotary cut it and have it above an inch, chances are it will not spread laterally as well as his.


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## 1FASTSS (Jul 11, 2018)

Chuckatuck89 said:


> 1FASTSS said:
> 
> 
> > I sodded my entire front yard with Celebration at the end of last summer. Since we are planning on a pool sometime soon I had planned on seeding the back with Arden 15 for the time being but I had enough left over to run a 2 pieces of sod in a side by side walkway front from backyard gate to my patio door. After getting about 2.5 month of grow time before it went dormant it has almost completely filled in my back yard. I'd say its pretty aggressive grower and any spots I get recover within 2 week during peak season.
> ...


Yes, I laid 2 pieces of sods all along the left side of this picture and it has almost filled in my back yard. The yellow spotting is weed treatments. I didnt spray out the back yard with Glyco becuase I was in sod mode at the time. Wish I would have thought about that this winter but got caught up in other projects outside.

The dirt area is where I took out a 30ft Queen Palm. Hoping it will cover now in 2 weeks since we are just now getting summer temps here.


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## Chuckatuck89 (Mar 28, 2019)

If anyone is wondering, I found another sod farm with Celebration at a much more reasonable $2.95/yd with $250 delivery so I will be going the route of sodding completely with Celebration. I was originally just searching Google Maps for "sod farm" or "turf farm" and not getting complete results. I found this additional producer from the "where to buy" section of www.celebrationbermudagrass.com.

Thank you everyone for the input!


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## 1FASTSS (Jul 11, 2018)

Yeah Fatcity is correct...I laid 2 pcs side by side the whole lenght down. It was cut with a Reel at .75" hoc....its now at 1/2"


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