# Lowest Maintenance Grass Least cutting



## Cman (May 4, 2018)

I have several small multifamily properties I own and currently maintain the lawns. They are basically all crabgrass and grow at incredible rates requiring me to mow frequently. I was exploring the idea of sodding a property as an experiment to reduce mowing cycles. I am certain this will reduce cut intervals but I have been reading about different hybrids designed specifically to meet this need and have slow rates of vertical growth. It needs to be affordable and drought tolerant as well.

This Discovery Bermuda is about $150/pallet delivered and it claims 4 week intervals between mowing. This would save me a significant amount of time or money if I decide to contract the lawn care over a 5 yr period and make the property much more appealing.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of sod? 
What are your thoughts? 
Do you have other suggestions? 
What would happen if I paired this with PGR?

Any input would be valued.


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

artificial turf :lol:

I would guess something like centipede and/or zoysia grow pretty slow.

There are other cultivars of bermuda that claim long intervals between mowing. Discovery is up there, but there are others.


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## Cman (May 4, 2018)

I knew the artificial turf comment was heading my way.  .

Centipede is also a good consideration.

I really like Zoysia but I have found it difficult to find under $220 a pallet in my area and if you let it go to long it can get so thick that it is really tough to cut with a rotary.

I also like the thought of Bermuda because it repairs itself so well. If you can think of any of the other cultivars of Bermuda I would be interested in knowing them. This is the only one I found with this characteristics.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Discover plus PGR probably means mowing once a month. I think other wise you're looking at once a week with discovery. With that being said, what type of wear and tear are you expecting on the area and how much sunlight is there? If there's a shade issue, go with the zoysia so you don't have it thin out and invite more weeds and it can be cut a bit higher (which lawn services are prone to do) without looking leggy and puffy like bermuda grass does when it gets too tall, plus lower N requirement with zoysia. Both would handle the heat of central AL.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

If your pH is in the right area (sub 6.0), then I would definitely say Centipede. It prefers low inputs of all kinds and tolerates shade, higher cut heights, and rotary mowing better than bermuda.


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## Cman (May 4, 2018)

@Movingshrub The sunlight is almost full sun so I think Bermuda would do pretty good here. Very little wear on it. Most people just follow the side walk to the front door and never leave the apartment. Only a couple of kids in the properties.
I see your yard is TifTuf and it seems to be a great cultivar in general toughness, color, shade (at least for bermuda)If I was to just purchase Tif Tuf and cut it with a rotary at 1.5" would also need mowing just once a week or more?

@Spammage it will definitely be worth doing a soil test to see what the PH is. There is already some centipede doing pretty well there so likely it is a good option.


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## Gopwh2020 (Apr 6, 2017)

Zoysia is pretty low maintenance. I mow it about every two weeks during the height of growing season. Less often on either end of the season. Pre-emergent in spring, fertilize in summer, pre-emergent in fall, and you're pretty much done. I just put down TifTuf in my front yard and really like it. It needs less water, and you could probably use a PGR once things are established to cut down on your mowing even more.


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## Owens_Geo (Jun 24, 2018)

I started with centipede and moved to Zoysia. As long as the ph is low, Centipide is probably your best low cost, low maintance option. No sense in spending the extra money on Zoysia if you don't really get to enjoy it. IMO.

Not sure about retailers/farms in your area, but if a tenant does something stupid there are a handful of places I could run to locally and buy a few squares of centipide to repair it, vs zoysia where it would be difficult......Just a thought..... Best of luck!


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I'm still waiting to see the first TLF member with Buffalo Grass listed in their profile. 

ETA: I'm not sure if it's a thing in Alabama though.

ETA2: Yep, too much rain in Alabama. http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0092/index2.tmpl


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## raldridge2315 (Jul 1, 2017)

Ware said:


> I'm still waiting to see the first TLF member with Buffalo Grass listed in their profile.
> 
> ETA: I'm not sure if it's a thing in Alabama though.
> 
> ETA2: Yep, too much rain in Alabama. http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0092/index2.tmpl


I've never even seen Buffalo Grass. Apparently it doesn't get along with the warm moist air coming off the Gulf.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

raldridge2315 said:


> I've never even seen Buffalo Grass. Apparently it doesn't get along with the warm moist air coming off the Gulf.


It is my understanding some varieties will grow to like 4-6" and then just stop.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Ware said:


> raldridge2315 said:
> 
> 
> > I've never even seen Buffalo Grass. Apparently it doesn't get along with the warm moist air coming off the Gulf.
> ...


I've got some that was put down with bermuda as a hydromulch when I bought the house. It tolerates cutting at 7/16" and requires very little water to be happy. It will grow very quickly to 4-6" and slow down, but will get taller if not cut. It is VERY soft, keeps weeds at Bay, etc. The color is light in most cultivars though and you only think bermuda is intolerant of shade though...


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## Cman (May 4, 2018)

Buffalo grass sounds pretty ideal but maybe a little tricky for my area.

Thanks,


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## TulsaFan (May 1, 2017)

Do you allow pets? If so, dog urine stains zoysia pretty badly. I love my zoysia, but wouldn't have it at a rent house. Too much maintenance.


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## TC2 (Sep 15, 2017)

The flip side of a low maintenance grass like centipede is if it gets damaged, it takes a looooong time to repair.


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## jonthepain (May 5, 2018)

TC2 said:


> The flip side of a low maintenance grass like centipede is if it gets damaged, it takes a looooong time to repair.


This


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## Guest (Jul 9, 2018)

TC2 said:


> The flip side of a low maintenance grass like centipede is if it gets damaged, it takes a looooong time to repair.


Yep. It doesn't take a lot to mess centipede up either. It can be pretty sensitive to herbicides and cold temps.


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## Hambone79 (Jul 23, 2017)

TifBlair Centipede is your best bet! It is much better than the common centipede and can be purchased as seed. I am in West TN and have done a couple of lawns with it. Don't worry about the low ph... centipede will tolerate a wide range of soil ph unlike other grasses. Most think it will only grow in low ph soils, but in fact does tolerate a wide range of ph levels. Most think it requires low ph because it is one of the only turf grasses that will grow in low ph. TifBlair Centipede does really well in the healthy soils we have here. It keeps most all weeds at bay when it is actively growing and doesn't require hardly any inputs other than mowing! I planted it for my neighbor who hates to take care of his lawn and without spraying or fertilizing he consistently has one of the best looking lawns around! TifBlair is amazing!!!


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## Delmarva Keith (May 12, 2018)

Any dwarf variety of liriope. It should do well in your climate and full sun to part shade. You will never need to mow.

Some of the municipal buildings around here use it as a "lawn" type plant next to sidewalks and it doesn't look half bad. It will also always look better than neglected turf.


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## Cman (May 4, 2018)

I have been away for a while but I really appreciate all the feedback in this thread. 
@Hambone79 TifBlair sounds like something I want to check out. My dad has common centipede on 3 acres and it does great and he has never done anything to it in 30 yrs. Maybe this is an improved cultivar will do even better with zero inputs as well.

@Delmarva Keith I looked into this a little bit a while back and i think it is going to be costly and labor intensive to plant these although I do like the idea of never mowing at all. I can buy and individual sprig for about $1.5 each. Need 4-6 in spacing I think it would end up costing around $4.5 per SF. I can get bermuda or Centipede for about $130 for 400-450sf which is about $.28 per ft.

I think I am leaning towards centipede but the only downsides I see are that if it gets injured it maybe slow to grow back and that the use of PGR does not seem to be affective.

I was just reading one of the new forum posts about using a low rate of round-up on your Bermuda to do a "chemical mow" and it acts as a cheap version of a PGR. I found this pretty interesting too.


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