Lawn Care Forum banner

Bermuda & Zoysia Seed That Blend Well?

8.4K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  DFW245  
#1 ·
I am looking for seed recommendations for my upcoming lawn renovation.

Context/Background:
I recently relocated to my house, and the backyard was a disaster. After a year of tree, stump and bush clearing, I am finally ready to seed the yard. My soil has come a long way since my first soil report, but my latest shows it is to the point where Bermuda and Zoysia should be fine with a regular fertilization program. My CEC is low, but I am, and will continue to, add Lesco Carbon Pro-G, Humic DG and several N-Ext products on a regular basis this year to keep moving that in the right direction.

Lawn Renovation:
Sodding is out of the question. Cost is part of it, but also, I'm the type of person that wants to do it from seed for the challenge. I'm only a year into the lawn game, and my local extension office rep already knows me by name. I am WAY down the rabbit hole and follow all the social media players as well.

The clearing I've done over the last year has opened up huge sections of my yard and brought in a lot of sunlight. I've watched the exposure over the last 6 months and think around 70-80% of my yard will get sufficient sunlight for Bermuda, but the rest only gets around 6-7 hours of sunlight. I will likely have to go with Zoysia in those areas. I am shooting for a mid-May seeding based on soil temps for my area. I want to see how the Bermuda takes and assess the Zoysia seeding in mid to late July. Given Zenith Zoysia is the most widely available Zoysia seed right now, I'll assume that's what I will have to use.

I want a Bermuda seed that will blend nicely with Zenith Zoysia seed. I'm not looking for a "pristine" social media lawn, that's what my established front yard is for. I will be using a rotary mower and am fine with cutting it around 1.5-2". The yard is way too uneven for a reel mower anyway, and I'm not willing to do the work to get it reel mower ready. This is for ground coverage that is fast growing, self-healing and something for my dog so play fetch on. I just don't want something that is obviously two different types of grass when you stand on the back deck. I'm also fine with this taking a full growing season, or two, to thicken up and establish. I will be pushing the entire backyard this year since I am starting from scratch.

Question/Advice:
My definition of success here is: "Does the Bermuda grass generally blend with the Zenith Zoysia with respect to color and blade shape?" If so, I'll be happy.

Given everything, what Bermuda seed will create the "best" blend with Zenith Zoysia in the areas that receive less sun?

2023 USDA Zone 8A
 
#4 ·
It's much cheaper to seed. Blackjack cost $100 to seed 5K (10 lbs of seed). If you seed it in early summer it germinates in under a week and you have a full yard in less than a month. Sprigging only makes sense for people who have irrigation and/or can afford professional delivery/installation. Not everyone has the tools to sprig. Lastly sod is the most expensive. $100 vs. $4,000+

Before (mostly goosegrass which I killed):
Image


After (1 month later):

Image


Before (After I killed and raked the yard, yard was salad before):

Image


After (1 month later, still some weed pressure)

Image
 
#5 · (Edited)
Your grass will do fine without all of the humic and carbon products. There's some evidence of rooting benefits with those products but the results are not consistent and they haven't demonstrated much improvement in turf quality when you read the studies. Just get the cheapest form of nitrogen you can find (urea or AMS), both will last at least 6 weeks in turf (ignore the marketing about fast and slow release fertilizers). If you want to learn more, check out Dr. Travis Shaddox on Youtube (Channel: Turf Epistemology).

I don't recommend mixing Bermuda and Zoysia though. Zoysia needs way less nitrogen and is a bit more finicky (slow to recover from damage, susceptible to fungus). It does better in low light situations (partial shade [4 hrs] to partial sun [6 hrs]) and has less weed pressure when established but it'll never thrive in shaded regions either. If you're getting 6-7 hours, that's enough to grow Bermuda or Zoysia to acceptable levels. Any less than 6 hours and I'd recommend Zoysia or opening up the canopy a little more. Once your grass is established, you can put the grass on PGR starting next spring or at least 3-6 months after seeding (helps with turf quality in shaded areas, and rooting) and it should do ok with at least 6 hours of sunlight and a higher height of cut (no less than 1", up to 2"). You may want to buy a $30 light meter on Amazon and measure the amount of light your back gets in the most shaded parts to make sure it's at least in the partial sun range (4-6 hours of sun). Any less than 6 hours and Bermuda will germinate, thrive for a few months then quickly die. Any less than 4 hours and zoysia will never be happy nor your yard full.

There's always mondo grass or other shade happy ground covers if you simply cannot get enough light.
You don't have to sod or sprig. Yes, they will produce a higher quality lawn than a seeded lawn, but it's still not as cheap as $100-$200 of seed and a bit of elbow grease (weeding and dealing with problems). If Ron Henry can do it, so can you :)...just don't buy any of the products he's trying to sell you.

My backyard seeded with blackjack ( 1 month after seeding) which only gets 4-6 hours of sunlight except in the center hence why it died in the first place>

We really need to cut down some trees but there's others on the neighboring properties as well so it's pointless. I could always try KBG or a shade mix and overseed each year but I hate cool season grasses and they'll die back each summer in this Texas heat.

Image
 
#6 · (Edited)
#7 ·
. My CEC is low, but I am, and will continue to, add Lesco Carbon Pro-G, Humic DG and several N-Ext products on a regular basis this year to keep moving that in the right direction.
If money is a factor, you could save a lot of money by not applying these products.

My CEC is pretty low at under 4 and my lawn looks pretty good. Those products mentioned above are good, but are not cheap. You can get fantastic results by using cheaper N sources such as Urea or AMS.

I only mention this because you said cost is a factor.