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6-7 hrs direct sunlight/day plenty for tifgrand/tiftuf?

8.5K views 26 replies 10 participants last post by  Bermuda_Triangle  
#1 ·
So I'm going back and forth deciding which Bermuda (tifgrand/tiftuf) I want in my front yard. Had a 30+ yr old oak tree taken down and stump grinded couple week ago due to roots making me nervous and to allow more sunlight in. There is other oak tree in the front yard on the side limiting half of the yard to receive sunlight from roughly 7:30am-1:30-2ish. Curious from anyone that has either tifgrand or tiftuf, will it do well with roughly 6-7 hours sunlight? Like the fact that tiftuf is aggressive with rooting, recovering and drought tolerance but love the dark shade of green tifgrand has and the "shade tolerance" that's being advertised. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
#4 ·
Kberg84 said:
@anthonybilotta The area of your lawn that only gets 4 hours....did it take longer to root when you laid the sod? How long have you had tiftuf?
My lawn is 3 years old. Took the sunnier portions about 10 days to root. Took the shady area almost 4 weeks. Overall, it's thriving and to someone who knows nothing about grass, they can't tell the difference. Pictures below

4 hours of sun


7+ hours



Overall:



 
#9 ·
Tellycoleman said:
You must also take into consideration that Large Oak trees are defiantly alleopahic in nature making growing any kind of grass extremely difficult even with a lot of sun
I've got oaks in the back and the grass grows just fine.
 
#10 ·
Wfrobinette said:
Tellycoleman said:
You must also take into consideration that Large Oak trees are defiantly alleopahic in nature making growing any kind of grass extremely difficult even with a lot of sun
I've got oaks in the back and the grass grows just fine.
Did your area area in the back yard that only gets 4-5 hours of sun ever fill back in?
 
#11 ·
Kberg84 said:
Wfrobinette said:
Tellycoleman said:
You must also take into consideration that Large Oak trees are defiantly alleopahic in nature making growing any kind of grass extremely difficult even with a lot of sun
I've got oaks in the back and the grass grows just fine.
Did your area area in the back yard that only gets 4-5 hours of sun ever fill back in?
No. it has not. It's been frustrating. I've got about 20 sqft total in 2 spots that just won't grow laterally. its not receding either. I'm going to try some plugs
 
#15 ·
Kberg84 said:
@Wfrobinette how long did you have it growing in the 4-5 hours of shade before scalping? and top dressing? and it thinning out? Do you think it would have still been doing fine had you not done that to the area?
I leveled too soon. Should have waited a full year.

I suspect that it probably would be looking good had I waited until this year. .

I see people here wanting to do a second or third level within months of each other. I'm not even doing my second level this year. It will be next year before I attempt it. I'm not sure these folks really understand what settling is.
 
#16 ·
Tellycoleman said:
You must also take into consideration that Large Oak trees are defiantly alleopahic in nature making growing any kind of grass extremely difficult even with a lot of sun
I agree, while its not impossible its not ideal!

I have a 50ft oak about 10ft off property line in the neighbors from yard. Canopy blocks most my sun til about 1:30pm...Grass gets around 4hrs of sun in the winter and anywhere from 6-7 in the summer...its finally filling back in now but the roots from the oak are shallow and compete with the grass and just thin it out...my thins area seems to be from oak tree roots vs the amount of sun it gets but other factors hurt it. Like Telly said, oaks by nature kill everything under them. If you like grass then you typically don't like trees anywhere around. I'll try and get a pic later.

"shade" labels in Bermuda don't mean much IMO....I got Celebration because it was the best/cheapest choice I had at the time that wasn't SA grass...
 
#17 ·
I just got some tiftuf in the backyard and it is doing great, even the area directly under a tree. The area under the tree isn't as green and vibrant as the other areas though. I wanted tifgrand but I couldn't find any, so I just add iron to the tiftuf and it looks great. Making sure it great enough water in the beginning is key I think.
 
#24 ·
NewHomeOwner said:
Kberg84 said:
So I'm going back and forth deciding which Bermuda (tifgrand/tiftuf) I want in my front yard. Had a 30+ yr old oak tree taken down and stump grinded couple week ago due to roots making me nervous and to allow more sunlight in. There is other oak tree in the front yard on the side limiting half of the yard to receive sunlight from roughly 7:30am-1:30-2ish. Curious from anyone that has either tifgrand or tiftuf, will it do well with roughly 6-7 hours sunlight? Like the fact that tiftuf is aggressive with rooting, recovering and drought tolerance but love the dark shade of green tifgrand has and the "shade tolerance" that's being advertised. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
My tiftuf is roughly a month old. I have a spot below a cypress tree that gets a lot of shade. It's maybe 100sqft. But... It's done far better than I was thinking it would do.
Any chance you have pictures? How much sun would you say the TT under the cypress tree gets? Take it longer to root than sunny areas?