I've kind of reached my boiling point with the Palmetto SA grass. I keep seeing over and over how there is more acres of this sod sold than any other cultivar, and I'm convinced it's because it's so disease prone that the same yards get resodded over and over. I have so much of it with brown patch -- after spending all spring nursing it along to recover from last fall's brown patch -- that I'm done with this cultivar.
I have too much Palmetto grass to rip out and resod. It would be cheaper and more fun for me to buy a new corvette. However, I feel I might be staring an opportunity in the face to deal with it at its weakest, except that we are going into winter dormancy and I put down PreM in September.
So, my questions are mainly about competition:
* I have observed that the Tifblair areas of my yard do quite well with the widest variety and range of inputs, including the least amount of inputs done. The best looking areas of my salad of a yard are Tifblair. Will Tifblair outcompete the Palmetto, and all I need to do is wait it out or maybe slice-seed the yard with Tifblair in the spring (after PreM has worn off)? After two years of seeing what does what, I think that I would most prefer to see the Tifblair win out.
* In the spring, I did a bunch of zoysia test plugs around the yard in areas that would not fill in. The zoysia thrived and spread to fill in those areas, and then got overrun by both Centipede and Palmetto. I imagine this is cut height and fertilization related. The yard is not level enough to cut much lower than I am at 2.75" without scalping in places. I've already consumed 20 tons of dirt and sand on that endeavor
* I have been intrigued with the Citrablue cultivar, as it appears to address much of the issues I have with Palmetto, but again, will it outcompete Palmetto, or would I end up with a palmetto yard again? Even if it would outcompete, am I too far north in central SC for Citrablue to flourish? I would have to buy squares of sod and break it into sprigs if I went this route. Would it make sense to sprig Citrablue right into the brown patch affected areas?
* While I recognize I could easily roundup-nuke the yard and then plant tifblair seed, my issue is irrigation. Takes three days to water the yard. Not good for new grass seed. So, if I have to attack in sections, I need to know that the new areas won't get re-overrun with palmetto.
* Am I over-reacting, and I would do better to just buy stock in the makers of propaconizol, azoxystrobin, and myclobutanil, since I'd be subsidizing them forever?
Feel free to flame away. And don't worry about hurting my feelings if your thoughts lean toward my practices. I don't get offended by good facts and data.
I have too much Palmetto grass to rip out and resod. It would be cheaper and more fun for me to buy a new corvette. However, I feel I might be staring an opportunity in the face to deal with it at its weakest, except that we are going into winter dormancy and I put down PreM in September.
So, my questions are mainly about competition:
* I have observed that the Tifblair areas of my yard do quite well with the widest variety and range of inputs, including the least amount of inputs done. The best looking areas of my salad of a yard are Tifblair. Will Tifblair outcompete the Palmetto, and all I need to do is wait it out or maybe slice-seed the yard with Tifblair in the spring (after PreM has worn off)? After two years of seeing what does what, I think that I would most prefer to see the Tifblair win out.
* In the spring, I did a bunch of zoysia test plugs around the yard in areas that would not fill in. The zoysia thrived and spread to fill in those areas, and then got overrun by both Centipede and Palmetto. I imagine this is cut height and fertilization related. The yard is not level enough to cut much lower than I am at 2.75" without scalping in places. I've already consumed 20 tons of dirt and sand on that endeavor
* I have been intrigued with the Citrablue cultivar, as it appears to address much of the issues I have with Palmetto, but again, will it outcompete Palmetto, or would I end up with a palmetto yard again? Even if it would outcompete, am I too far north in central SC for Citrablue to flourish? I would have to buy squares of sod and break it into sprigs if I went this route. Would it make sense to sprig Citrablue right into the brown patch affected areas?
* While I recognize I could easily roundup-nuke the yard and then plant tifblair seed, my issue is irrigation. Takes three days to water the yard. Not good for new grass seed. So, if I have to attack in sections, I need to know that the new areas won't get re-overrun with palmetto.
* Am I over-reacting, and I would do better to just buy stock in the makers of propaconizol, azoxystrobin, and myclobutanil, since I'd be subsidizing them forever?
Feel free to flame away. And don't worry about hurting my feelings if your thoughts lean toward my practices. I don't get offended by good facts and data.
