Sod College presents our second subject of Turf Wars: St. Augustine vs. bermuda grass, following our first subject evaluating zoysia with St. Augustine. Relating to selecting a sort of grass on your house garden, choices can develop into overwhelming. Owners continuously take into consideration variations in bodily enchantment, pricing, common upkeep, the local weather she or he is situated in and different issues. The underside line is that this: there’s quite a bit to contemplate when making a big funding on a residing product.
Studying about the various kinds of turfgrass varieties obtainable is a superb concept earlier than making a dedication to a sort of grass. It arms consumers with the data they should make an informed determination for his or her house. It’s additionally necessary to notice that there are a number of large key variations between heat season and funky season varieties.
This specific Sod College weblog focuses on the generic variations between St. Augustine and bermuda grasses. Though this text compares sure traits between St. Augustine and bermuda grass instantly, the winners for every class beneath are decided solely off of generic comparisons. There are various varieties of St. Augustine and bermuda grass obtainable to the home-owner, so a whole lot of these traits could differ relying on the cultivar of St. Augustine and bermuda grass chosen for sod set up.
St. Augustine vs. Bermuda Grass Coloration
Completely different cultivars of St. Augustine and bermuda grass are bred with targets of getting totally different and interesting colours. In different phrases, no two bermuda grass cultivars have the very same shade. For instance, Celebration® Bermudagrass has a deep blue-green shade whereas Latitude® 36 Bermudagrass has extra of a darkish inexperienced shade. Then again with St. Augustine grass, CitraBlue® St. Augustine is partly named by its deep blue-green shade whereas Floratam has a medium inexperienced shade with crimson stolons. Relating to the battle of which grass has a greater shade, the outcomes are clearly a tie as a result of all of it is determined by what you’re searching for. The pictures beneath present a visible illustration of what among the standard bermuda grass and St. Augustines appear like.
Winner: Tie
St. Augustine Colours:
- Palmetto St. Augustine: Emerald Inexperienced
- CitraBlue St. Augustine: Deep Blue-Inexperienced
- Floratam St. Augustine: Medium Inexperienced
- Raleigh St. Augustine: Medium Inexperienced
Bermuda Grass Colours:
- Celebration Bermudagrass: Deep Blue-Inexperienced
- Latitude 36 Bermudagrass: Darkish Inexperienced
- NorthBridge Bermudagrass: Vibrant Inexperienced
- Tifway 419 Bermudagrass: Blue-Inexperienced
- Discovery Bermudagrass: Darkish Blue-Inexperienced
St. Augustine vs. Bermuda Grass Blade Width and Texture
St. Augustines and bermuda grasses have fully totally different blade widths from each other. In actual fact, that is normally the best approach to determine a bermuda grass and St. Augustine. St. Augustines are continuously wanted by householders who benefit from the look of thick, tropical grass blades. St. Augustine might be noticed within the majority of Florida house lawns. St. Augustine grass has a really coarse texture. Compared, bermuda grasses are on the full reverse finish of the spectrum with actually high quality, hair-like grass blades which are comfortable to the contact.
St. Augustine grass blades sometimes vary from 8–9 mm in size. Bermuda grass blade widths can vary from about 1.67–1.7 mm—at the very least 1/6 of the width of a St. Augustine grass blade. The home-owner who favors bermuda grass over different grass seems is normally after the look that resembles a golf course or sports activities area look. Once more, the winner for blade width and texture is a tie as a result of it’s left as much as private desire.
Winner: Tie
St. Augustine vs. Bermuda Grass Shade Tolerance
St. Augustine is, for essentially the most half, unbeatable within the battle for shade tolerance. Most St. Augustines, except a number of varieties like Floratam, are extremely shade tolerant. Nevertheless, CitraBlue and Palmetto® St. Augustine are the most effective grasses for shade. Bermuda grass isn’t a really shade tolerant grass compared to St. Augustine and even zoysia. A few of the finer-bladed zoysias are in reality extra shade tolerant than some St. Augustine varieties. Nevertheless, essentially the most shade tolerant bermuda grass obtainable is Celebration. To study extra, learn Rising Grass in Shaded Landscapes.
Winner: St. Augustine
St. Augustine vs. Bermuda Grass Mowing Heights and Progress Habits
Much like shade variations amongst bermuda grass and St. Augustine cultivars, every number of grass requires totally different mowing heights to carry out and appears its greatest. These heights will even differ all through the totally different seasons of the yr. Check out our Bermudagrass and St. Augustine House owner Upkeep Guides for extra info. Bermuda grass, basically is saved at a top of 0.5–1.5 inches and St. Augustines are saved at a top between 2–4 inches. Mowing heights matter as a result of they normally dictate how continuously householders might want to mow. Completely different varieties develop at totally different speeds, so this isn’t at all times the case.
All bermuda grasses develop and unfold with the usage of rhizomes and stolons. A rhizome runs underground horizontally—usually simply beneath the floor of the soil. Rhizomes strike new roots downward into the soil and likewise shoot stems upwards. A stolon is an above-the-ground stem that creeps alongside the floor of the soil and subsequently grows a clone of the unique plant on the tip of it. St. Augustines solely unfold by means of the above-the-ground runners, additionally known as stolons. They’re normally higher than bermuda grasses at choking out weeds because of this.
Since bermuda grasses develop with each strategies, they normally rank increased in put on tolerance, damage restoration and drought tolerance. Bermuda grasses even have a extra aggressive rising sample and fee. They require extra upkeep when it comes to mowing or edging as a result of they may encroach your driveways, aspect walks, roads or backyard curbing. As a result of bermuda grasses require a bit of extra upkeep with mowing, St. Augustine wins the battle for mowing heights and progress habits. To study extra, take a look at our Garden Mowing Information.
Winner: St. Augustine
St. Augustine vs. Bermuda Grass Put on Tolerance
Bermuda grasses sometimes rank increased in put on tolerance and damage restoration than St. Augustines. St. Augustines are thought of “good” with put on tolerance and damage restoration, though the superior selection, CitraBlue, has a greater put on tolerance than most different St. Augustine varieties. Nevertheless, there’s a cause why bermuda grasses might be present in golf programs and sports activities fields as a substitute of St. Augustines—bermudas are usually extra sturdy and might face up to a whole lot of heavy foot site visitors with excessive restoration charges.
Winner: Bermuda Grass
St. Augustine vs. Bermuda Grass Drought Tolerance vs. Drought Resistance
Drought tolerance and drought resistance are two various things. Drought tolerance is the flexibility to outlive a drought. Compared to drought tolerance, drought resistance is the flexibility to look good throughout drought up till a sure level the place the grass can not survive with out water. Each bermuda grass and St. Augustine require about one inch of water per week together with rainfall as part of regular upkeep, however basically, St. Augustines have a reasonable drought tolerance and a excessive drought resistance.
Bermuda grass tends to carry out a bit of bit higher in each drought tolerance and drought resistance, which is why it could actually carry out so nicely in sizzling, dry climates. Celebration Bermudagrass, for instance, was bred and developed in Australia, so it’s extra accustomed to drought tolerance and resistance.
Winner: Bermuda Grass
St. Augustine vs. Bermuda Grass Soil Preferences and Salt Tolerance
Every grass performs greatest in sure varieties of soils. In our Soil Administration for Lawns and Gardens weblog, we focus on a wide range of soil varieties corresponding to sandy soils, clay soils, loamy soils, their pH ranges and the way this performs into your grass’s efficiency and well being.
Each St. Augustine and bermuda grass have the flexibility to develop in a variety of soil varieties, nevertheless, St. Augustine actually thrives in sandy or loamy soils. St. Augustine can be extremely salt tolerant and might be discovered close to a whole lot of coastal areas because of this.
Bermuda grass, as compared, tolerates each acidic and alkaline soil situations and is extremely tolerant to saline soils (soils excessive in salt content material). Soil testing will reveal in case your soil wants extra vitamins to regulate pH ranges. Resulting from its large flexibility of soil varieties and saline situations, bermuda grass wins the struggle for soil preferences and salt tolerance.
Winner: Bermuda Grass
St. Augustine vs. Bermuda Grass Fertility and pH
First, you will need to point out that every one grasses require some type of diet. As residing merchandise, grass requires nourishment simply as a lot as we as individuals do. That is extra than simply water and daylight. Each St. Augustine and bermuda grass require a specific amount of macro and micronutrients together with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium (NPK), iron, manganese and sulfur.
St. Augustines desire soils with a large pH vary of 5.0–8.5. Bermuda grass, like St. Augustine, can carry out nicely in a variety of soil varieties, however thrives when the pH vary falls between 6.5–8.0. St. Augustines, nevertheless, want soils with good drainage to be able to develop appropriately.
Sod College recommends the Lawnifi fertilizer program—the proper fertilizer program for each St. Augustine and bermuda grass. Whereas the dietary wants for each grasses barely differ, Lawnifi meets their primary necessities. Make certain to try a number of associated Sod College blogs on Amassing and Submitting a Soil Evaluation and Why Use Lawnifi Fertilizer?.
Winner: Bermuda Grass
St. Augustine vs. Bermuda Grass Important Pests
Each St. Augustine and bermuda grass have all kinds of bugs and pests that may plague them. Sure styles of St. Augustine are particularly susceptible to chinch bugs. Though Floratam St. Augustine initially claimed to be chinch bug resistant, the chinch bugs advanced and that is not the case. Different bugs that may injury St. Augustine embrace grub worms, sod webworms and fall armyworms. Bermuda grass is normally invaded by bermuda grass mites, billbugs, and just like St. Augustine, sod webworms and fall armyworms. A number of insect management merchandise for these number of pests are listed beneath. Be taught extra about these bugs in our Insect Identification article.
Winner: Tie
St. Augustine vs. Bermuda Grass Important Ailments
The identical can go along with turfgrass illness—St. Augustine and bermuda grass are susceptible to totally different illnesses. St. Augustine grass is vulnerable to numerous turfgrass illnesses corresponding to brown patch, SAD, gray leaf spot, pythium and others. Nevertheless, Palmetto St. Augustine is proof against deadly viral necrosis (LVN) and the sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), that are each viral illnesses that can not be handled with fungicides. Gray leaf spot and brown patch are the 2 most critical of those illnesses although. Bermuda grass is extra susceptible to greenback spot, spring useless spot, leaf spot, brown patch and pythium. You may study extra in Figuring out Widespread Garden Ailments.
Winner: Tie
Though St. Augustine could also be stronger than bermuda grass in some areas, bermuda grass additionally has stronger traits than St. Augustine in sure areas. As beforehand said, this weblog discusses comparitive traits between St. Augustine and bermuda grass from a generic perspective. Every cultivar of St. Augustine and bermuda grass performs otherwise as they have been bred at totally different occasions with various targets in thoughts. On this version of Turf Wars, St. Augustine scores an general 6/10 together with the ties, bermuda finishes with a rating of 8/10 together with ties and bermuda grass wins the battle between turfs.
You may study extra about among the hottest of those in Well-liked St. Augustine Grass Varieties and Well-liked Bermuda Grass Varieties. For extra normal info on the seasonal upkeep required, take a look at our St. Augustine House owner Upkeep Information and Bermudagrass House owner Upkeep Information.