# Any bermuda lawns with partial shade?



## ladycage (Aug 12, 2019)

My neighbor has a tall sycamore tree in her front yard that is thin and filling with weeds. I am trying to get her to apply pre M and weed stop but she says the bermuda is very thin. Is there a bermuda variety that she can reseed with or even plug sod that will be able to handle about 4 hours of shade? We are in the ATL area where summer temps are in the 90s and about 6-8 hours of sun. I am trying to help her yard so that I don't get weeds from her yard growing into my yard.

Thanks for your help.


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## Iruse (Jul 2, 2019)

I think I remember reading an article from an OSU Co-op extension a couple of years ago that said I think Celebration and TifGrand were two of the best ones for shade tolerance, Ill see if I can find it and link it here. But bermuda grass just doesn't deal well with shade, really if the grass gets less than around 4 hours of sun it just doesn't produce chlorophyll efficiently. About the best way to help this is to remove whatever is shading the grass.

http://factsheets.okstate.edu/documents/hla-6608-managing-turfgrass-in-the-shade-in-oklahoma/ Now this is over two years old and something else may have come out that is new and more shade-tolerant but this should give you a place to start narrowing down what you're looking for.


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## ladycage (Aug 12, 2019)

Thanks, thats a good article. She can't cut down the trees because she is renting, I want her to trim the tree though because the tree leaves always fly onto my lawn causing me to have to mow the leaves up.


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Thinning out the canopy will help. Filtered sun is not the best but it's better than full shade. Oaks usually do pretty well with thinning anyway. She's still going to be dealing with the oak stealing all the moisture and nutrients from the grass.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Redtwin said:


> Thinning out the canopy will help. Filtered sun is not the best but it's better than full shade. Oaks usually do pretty well with thinning anyway. She's still going to be dealing with the oak stealing all the moisture and nutrients from the grass.


From the street view the left side of my house has shade for a good part of the day. Bermuda is holding up fine 😳


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Tifgrand @pikes nursery


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## DuncanMcDonuts (May 5, 2019)

Tifgrand has the best shade tolerance. Tiftuf is just a hair below it, according to Super Sod's spec sheets. My backyard gets 5 hours of sunlight due to shade from trees and the house, so it's very thinned out. If I can't get my tifway 419 to thicken up back there by the end of the season, I might glyphosate it down and resod with tiftuf. Tiftuf blends better with tifway 419 than tifgrand from what I've read.


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## ladycage (Aug 12, 2019)

thanks and I welcome anyone who has had experience with shade tolerant varieties to chime in on how well they hold up. There is a pikes nursery here in ATL I think so I will check it out for her. I don't have a problem with shade but I want a grass that is dense and is more cold tolerant so that it will stay green longer in the winter time.


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## Jacob_S (May 22, 2018)

I have Celebration on the side of my house and gets roughly 4 hours of direct sun a day throughout the summer and is not only holding its own but spreading to the neighbors yard.


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## Iruse (Jul 2, 2019)

Oh and Tahoma 31 has better shade tolerance than either of those two.......but that would probably be out of the price range they would want to spend and probably pretty hard to get you had on seed or sod so.......but hey if you find any feel free to send me like two pallets of samples. :lol:


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## ladycage (Aug 12, 2019)

I doubt if she will pay for sod but I have been seriously thinking about doing my yard and hoping that maybe it will spread into hers. My yard is thin also because of the weeds I have killed. I am considering scalping down to the dirt in April and buying some sod to make plugs to put out in May. It will depend on which variety I can find here in ATL and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Im leaning towards Celebration or TifGrand.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Iruse said:


> Oh and Tahoma 31 has better shade tolerance than either of those two.......but that would probably be out of the price range they would want to spend and probably pretty hard to get you had on seed or sod so.......but hey if you find any feel free to send me like two pallets of samples. :lol:


Any written info on Tahoma 31 being shade tolerant? I see it mentioned on here but never anything in writing from the school that released it.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

@ladycage tiftuf, celebration, tifgrand.


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## ladycage (Aug 12, 2019)

@Movingshrub thanks, I will look into them. How do you like the tiftuf, is it a dense grass with a nice color?


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## Wfrobinette (Feb 3, 2019)

DuncanMcDonuts said:


> Tifgrand has the best shade tolerance. Tiftuf is just a hair below it, according to Super Sod's spec sheets. My backyard gets 5 hours of sunlight due to shade from trees and the house, so it's very thinned out. If I can't get my tifway 419 to thicken up back there by the end of the season, I might glyphosate it down and resod with tiftuf. Tiftuf blends better with tifway 419 than tifgrand from what I've read.


I have tiftuf that is struggling with 5 hours of sun.


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## DuncanMcDonuts (May 5, 2019)

Wfrobinette said:


> DuncanMcDonuts said:
> 
> 
> > Tifgrand has the best shade tolerance. Tiftuf is just a hair below it, according to Super Sod's spec sheets. My backyard gets 5 hours of sunlight due to shade from trees and the house, so it's very thinned out. If I can't get my tifway 419 to thicken up back there by the end of the season, I might glyphosate it down and resod with tiftuf. Tiftuf blends better with tifway 419 than tifgrand from what I've read.
> ...


Well, that's not encouraging to hear! Anyone else with Tiftuf care to share their experience with shaded areas? I know it won't be as thick as full sun, but I'm hoping it'd be decent.


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## Thor865 (Mar 26, 2018)

Tifgrand side yards get minimal sun. Maybe 4-5hrs
Lower you cut it the more shade tolerant it is.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Instead of measuring hours - go get a non-POS DLI light meter and measure the actual sunlight.

The key is the right plant in the right place. Once armed with DLI information, you will know what plants/turf are viable in that area.

By the way, are you saying the area gets complete sun the rest of the day, with four hours of partial light/shade, or that the only light it gets throughout the entire day is four hours of partial shade with the rest of the day being heavy shade?


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## DuncanMcDonuts (May 5, 2019)

The area I'm looking to add tiftuf gets full sunlight for about 4-5 hours a day as the house shadow rotates with the sun. It's not blocked by a tree making it get partial sun/shade. It's either full sun or full shade.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

DuncanMcDonuts said:


> The area I'm looking to add tiftuf gets full sunlight for about 4-5 hours a day as the house shadow rotates with the sun. It's not blocked by a tree making it get partial sun/shade. It's either full sun or full shade.


Does anything grow there now?


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## DuncanMcDonuts (May 5, 2019)

@Movingshrub Yeah, my tifway 419 is growing but it's not very thick, maybe half as dense as what my full sun areas look like. I have areas that are 100% shade right next to the house and under a huge live oak. I don't expect grass to grow there at all. I want to place a deck under the live oak, but I need a landscaping idea for right next to the house.


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## Wfrobinette (Feb 3, 2019)

DuncanMcDonuts said:


> Wfrobinette said:
> 
> 
> > DuncanMcDonuts said:
> ...


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## 1FASTSS (Jul 11, 2018)

Mine gets shaded at points throughout the day from either house, palms or a laurel oak in neighbors yard. I put in celebration in hopes to combat the shade. After it recovers from my army worm infestation and we hit spring time with longer days I expect it to be fine but right now it a struggling.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Tiftuf areas in the shade at https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=421&start=120#p53773


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## DuncanMcDonuts (May 5, 2019)

Thanks, @Wfrobinette, for the picture, and @Movingshrub for your journal. I may need to get that DLI meter. I can only find it from the manufacturer or Horizen Hydroponics. Is that where you ordered yours?


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

I bought mine directly from https://www.specmeters.com/lightmeters/dli100/ however the https://www.horizenhydroponics.com/lightscout-dli-100-light-meter seems to be priced better. There is both a turf and greenhouse version so confirm which one you're getting. Also, DLI changes throughout the time of year so keep that in mind, both in terms of length of days and path of the sun.


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## Gibby (Apr 3, 2018)

@Iruse where did you see the Tahoma 31 was more shade tolerant? I researched it quite a bit before I got it and never ran across it. Also, it was the cheapest hybrid Bermuda I was able to get. Something like $300 for a few hundred bushels of sprigs.


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## ladycage (Aug 12, 2019)

Do the shade tolerant varieties take a longer time to green up in the spring? Anyone with any experience?


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## ladycage (Aug 12, 2019)

@Gibby How do you like the performance of the T31, would you recommend it?


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

ladycage said:


> Do the shade tolerant varieties take a longer time to green up in the spring? Anyone with any experience?


Tiftuf and Tahoma 31 green up sooner and stay green longer.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Also, can anyone show up with any actual written proof about Tahoma 31 being shade tolerant?

Their twitter page https://twitter.com/Tahoma31Bermuda notes "Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass is a winter-hardy, wear-tolerant and low water use grass."

I facebook messaged the sodproductionservices facebook page and inquired about shade tolerance and got a response of, it's doing well in an unpublished study; contact the Professor running the study at OK State. I tried to contact him, e-mail address is kicked back as non existent and his faculty page doesn't exist.


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## probasestealer (Apr 19, 2018)

I've tried Celebration and Tifgrand at my prior house, 4 hours of direct sun and filtered thereafter, it sucked and never made it back the next year.

Natural areas under trees...


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## Gibby (Apr 3, 2018)

@Movingshrub I hope it wasn't Dr. Yanqi Wu


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## Gibby (Apr 3, 2018)

@ladycage I am loving it so far! And yes I would highly recommend it.


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## ladycage (Aug 12, 2019)

I may consider the T31 or tiftuf for my front yard. I want something that is dark green, dense and has good winter survival. I get about 5-6 hours full sun, my neighbors tree shades some of the area for maybe 4 hours in the evening.


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## RDZed (Jul 13, 2018)

Just throwing this out there but I'm having really good luck with Meyer Zoysia mixed in with my Patriot Bermuda, under a massive oak...

I completely gave up on growing Bermuda under this oak about 4 years ago. I just kept throwing kbg under it because it mixed in well during the summer. Looked like crap during the winter when the Bermuda was dormant.

A neighbor had a few bits of Zoysia sod leftover and I plugged a 250sf area last year. So far so good. Only spots that haven't completely grown in is about 20sf. That's because of shallow tree roots sucking the water away from the Zoysia. I plan a heavy topdress in that area next spring.

Just a thought.


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## Iruse (Jul 2, 2019)

@Gibby I honestly don't think that there is any research about it being any more shade tolerant, especially with how new it is, the only knowledge I have is based on second-hand knowledge from a college buddy that still works in Stillwater. Sorry I wasn't trying to be misinformative. I am actually surprised it is fairly cheap considering how new it is but that is awesome.

How do you like it so far?


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## ladycage (Aug 12, 2019)

RDZed said:


> Just throwing this out there but I'm having really good luck with Meyer Zoysia mixed in with my Patriot Bermuda, under a massive oak...
> 
> I completely gave up on growing Bermuda under this oak about 4 years ago. I just kept throwing kbg under it because it mixed in well during the summer. Looked like crap during the winter when the Bermuda was dormant.
> 
> ...


 I thought zoysia was hard to establish, at first I wanted zoysia over bermuda but I heard that bermuda would over take the zoysia. I will have to rethink mixing zoysia with the bermuda. I wonder which one goes dormant first.


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## Gibby (Apr 3, 2018)

@Iruse loving it, check out my lawn journal and YouTube channel on it, there is a playlist for the Tahoma 31.


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## RDZed (Jul 13, 2018)

ladycage said:


> RDZed said:
> 
> 
> > Just throwing this out there but I'm having really good luck with Meyer Zoysia mixed in with my Patriot Bermuda, under a massive oak...
> ...


Zoysia from seed is tough. I plugged it which is pretty straight forward. I wouldnt advise trying to sew zoysia from seed in a densely shaded area. Its tough enough to grow from seed in direct sun. Shade would probably end poorly 99.99% of the time.

In my case, the bermuda wont go into the deeply shaded area. The zoysia will, however. If the zoysia starts to head to deeply into the bermuda's sunny territory, the bermuda chokes it out. So there's kind of a 2 foot "Combat Zone" where both grasses duke it out for space and light. They keep each other at bay. See pic.



That "Bermuda" area faces due south so it get absolutely blasted with sun during the summer. From sun up to sun down.

The pic aspect is facing SSW at around 530 pm a few days ago so the sun is super low in the sky. It looks like its getting a lot of sun but its not. So its kind of deceiving. During summer, most of that is medium to deep shade. Thhe zoysia does get a little leggy in the deep shade zone but it still sends out stolons and rhizomes. It just slower to fill in.

In my area, once we hit 36 degrees at night, both the bermuda and zoysia shut down completely. The bermuda browns (tiger stripes)first and the zoysia browns out about a week later. The zoysia seems to be a slighty more cold tolerant but not by much.

I also fertilize the zoysia the same as I do the bermuda. No changes between the two. I spoon feed so burning the zoysia isnt an issue.

HtH

EDIT: Mind you, I keep my bermuda HOC pretty high, 1-1.25". I wouldnt advise zoysia if your HOC is below that. It doesnt particularly like <1" cuts in deep shade. In fact, it will more likely kill it.


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## ladycage (Aug 12, 2019)

I like the look of that zoysia it has a nice green color and seems to be doing well in that area. How long did it take for the zoysia plugs to fill in that area? I have common bermuda now but I want to renovate to a better grass which is greener and more disease tolerant. Brown patch is a problem in my area soI want a grass that will be less susceptible.

@Gibby was T31 easy to find in your area?


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## Gibby (Apr 3, 2018)

@ladycage find yes... Purchase no. New Life Turf in SC is growing it, but it was hard to get them to call me back, nor tell me when it be ready and wouldn't give an exact cost for sprigs.

I ended up driving 6 hours 1 way to Riverside Turf in VA.


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## RDZed (Jul 13, 2018)

ladycage said:


> I like the look of that zoysia it has a nice green color and seems to be doing well in that area. How long did it take for the zoysia plugs to fill in that area? I have common bermuda now but I want to renovate to a better grass which is greener and more disease tolerant. Brown patch is a problem in my area soI want a grass that will be less susceptible.
> 
> @Gibby was T31 easy to find in your area?


Take a look a look at page 2 of my Journal. I put the plugs in in late july last year. They didnt do much until this spring...and then they blew up over summer.


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## DuncanMcDonuts (May 5, 2019)

Movingshrub said:


> I bought mine directly from https://www.specmeters.com/lightmeters/dli100/ however the https://www.horizenhydroponics.com/lightscout-dli-100-light-meter seems to be priced better. There is both a turf and greenhouse version so confirm which one you're getting. Also, DLI changes throughout the time of year so keep that in mind, both in terms of length of days and path of the sun.


I ordered the Lightscout 100 from Horizen and unfortunately, it turned out to be the Greenhouse version. Their website didn't really specify, but I should've e-mailed them before ordering.

I contacted the manufacturer and their response was the Greenhouse is designed for indoors and the Turf is for outdoors. Using them for opposite things could lead to inaccurate measurements.

When looking at the differences, the Intensity scale is identical, but the DLI scale goes higher on the Turf version. The Greenhouse version uses the same scale as the original Lightscout before they sold different versions, which is pictured on Horizen's website. I think it should still work. While the scales may be lower on the Greenhouse version, I'll still be able to get a relative difference in DLI between areas of my yard.


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