Buffalograss @ 1-Year vs 4-Months + When To Seed, Spring or Fall

I planted Buffalograss exactly one year ago and only four months ago. As surprising as it may be you can't tell the difference between the two plots in the slightest bit.
Even still I have plenty of thoughts on when the best time is to plant Buffalograss seed based on my experiences here on the parkway strip. I also have some thoughts on maintaining the grass and keeping it adequately irrigated and fertilized.
♦♦ This is the buffalo grass seed used in this grass zone, Texoka Buffalograss ♦♦
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♦ Texoka Buffalograss ~ www.amazon.com...
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[@Stomper67]

I know you're talking warm season buffalo grass, BUT up here in Woodburn, OR I planted my 6' wide "avenue strip" with Ryan Knorr "Elite PRG" last April... it's so dense and dark that you'd never know it's only not even 6-mos old. It looks like a putting green, and I constantly have people stop and compliment how nice it looks. Right now I'm in the process of tilling up and amending the soil with 4 yards of compost to reno my front yard (I'm going out to level and rake as soon as I finish my morning coffee... LOL). I'll be planting the same thing... it's gonna be awesome! One of the coolest (and simplest) things I learned from you was weeding with a dinner fork.... I saw that video and I slapped my forehead and went, "DOH"! I haven't had to use any weed killer on my avenue strip, and using the dinner fork method has worked awesomely for getting the occasional baby weed or upstart crabgrass shoot (stolen and all) without tearing up the existing lawn. I patrol the grass strip once or twice a week for starting weeds, you should see the looks I get from people driving by when they see me out there using a dinner fork in the grass... no people, I'm not out there making a salad to eat! 😂

[@SeniorLady]

Thanks for the update! Your strip of Buffalograss is looking mighty fine! I'm eager to see how the stolon-transplant project goes. I've assumed that the stolons need to stay connected to the 'mother' plant until the 'daughter' plants develop their own roots. I have several areas where I'd like to fill in, and I was thinking I'd have to do plugs. I'll keep an eye out for that episode for sure!

[@TurfMechanic]

Thanks so much! I'm super happy with it right now. It's been exactly the low input grass I had hoped it would be. It isn't going to win any awards for density or color this year but I couldn't be happier with it so far. The stolon video I hope to make, it may just be a small vlogs video though. Not sure yet. I've got to install another run of sprinklers in that next section of my strip. Those heavy labor things are hard to film and turn into a watchable video. The stolons though I have already cut a bunch and am currently testing out a technique I've never tried before. I poured a bit of liquid kelp into a bowl of water and then I placed the cut stolons in the bowl. I stir the bowl a few times a day for a few days and I'm looking to see if the nodes start sending out baby roots. If they do then I can plant them and in theory they should take much more reliably. fingers crossed.

[@DirtygardenCA]

This is looking very good. What height are you mowing the Buffalo?

[@TurfMechanic]

Thanks a bunch! For virtually no fertilizer this year I'm impressed. I almost fertilized it twice but ultimately didn't; I still might though one more time to get it is dense as possible for the off-season. As for height, I mowed everything at about 1.3" from Spring until July, then from July through early Sept I let everything get up to around 2.5-3". Earlier this month though I cut everything back down close to 1.6" (second setting on my mower) so it looks a bit dingy. I just like it shorter. A bit of Fall fert and more of those leaves should come back and I think I'll keep it here for a long time to come. I like this height for this variety of Buffalo.

[@GlennTupper]

Did you grow this seed using the irrigreen system? Can you share the schedule with the irrigreen for newly sown seed with the irrigreen on dirt? Thank you.

[@johnjrkean7008]

Hey ole friend been watching u for a long while me and tje fam just got a new puppy I know most bug sprays for the yard say safe after dried just wondering if u knew of any u recommend hose end of whatever since I know u like myself enjoy staying as natural as possible....thanks in advance and much love from my family to yours ....God bless brother

[@rudy5454]

Would you stay in general? It’s better to overseed in spring rather than the fall or cool season Grass?

[@TurfMechanic]

In general for cool season grasses overfeeding in the Fall is much better. In the Spring you want to put Preemergent down to prevent weeds through the growing season. That PE will stop grass from germinating making fall the clear time of year for an overseer. for warm season grasses like Buffalo featured in this video mid to late Spring is best for grass establishment.

[@toddblankenship7164]

Off topic but it's a lawn question lol. I aerated my lawn, top dressed, overseeded the back lawn and some new bare dirt in my front yard. I started late because the wife didn't let me shut down the yard with kids birthdays etc so I seeded Sept 15th and I live central bc Canada. I seeded a cold grass mix. Weather is still mild and the lawn is sprouting up beauty. Question is, how likely is that new of grass going to survive the winter being so new?

[@TurfMechanic]

well, let me preface this response with I'm not well versed on this area of the world. But, having searched for central BC I see Kamloops, CA. Based on monthly weather trends in that city the average high in the coldest month of the year (January) is 32 and the average low is 22. For some reason that doesn't sound as extreme as I would expect. If it is accurate however then I'd be confident that a cool season blend planted now would make it through the winter just fine. Probably some die off but not a majority. Push rooting as much as possible with kelp or even better straight cytokinins, topdress with heavy amounts of alfalfa meal before it gets too cold. Looks like its usually in the 50/30's by october so you may have missed your opportunity on that one though. If you have irrigation setup then early morning irrigation on the coldest days can help prevent the soil from cooling off too much allowing for as much rooting as possible. Long story short, don't worry too much about top growth this Fall, focus squarely on bottom growth that you can't see to ensure enough makes it until Spring next year.

[@toddblankenship7164]

@@TurfMechanic Sounds good! thank you very much. FYI I've only starting loving lawns as of this year and I've absorbed your channel like a sponge, great info, well presented, great all round! keep up the great work. Kamloops is actually 6 hours south of me :-) I'm in Prince George, BC and we are for sure cooler than there. this Friday is saying -2C over night and high of 15C or 28F 59F respectively but i expect we'll be hovering above freezing by a few degrees for a month more with the odd day hitting frost over night. then it's into the long dark winter till April :-( I did hit it with Scotts Starter new lawn Fertilizer 24-25-4 to push roots. how much is too much if I want to maximize? can I hit it a few more times this year with that?

[@lenmacproperties5577]

Will Buffalo grass grow in Western North Carolina?

[@TurfMechanic]

certain varieties would be great there. The one I placed was Texoka which is a more natural type (less improved for turf). Texoka wouldn't likely do well there. I chose my variety for my low rain climate mostly as well as my desire to see how nice the least improved variety could look. If you ever shop for Buffalograss seed, sod, or plugs take careful note of the variety and research it a bit for your growing zone. Some buffalograss varieties actually will die off if there is too much water over the course of the season.

[@DanBoelsche]

Try SUNDANCER buffalograss cultuvar. Outsidepride (and a could of other seed merchants) sells Sundancer. I'm growing Sundancer in the Virginia Piedmont successfully.

[@johnjrkean7008]

I've oversexed multiple times in my life this year ia struggling some growing in thick some growing thin and stringy I dnt get it

[@knutevids]

Don't you just love autocorrect?

[@johnjrkean7008]

Overseeded*

[@Stomper67]

Some people pay good money to have that problem.... 😂

[@TurfMechanic]

LOL

[@johnjrkean7008]

Auto correct must not realize iam married 😥 lmao jk

[@slimdude2011]

I see you don't like to spend a lot of money on modern lawn equipment and garden tools, do you?

[@TurfMechanic]

I pick and choose where I spend money for sure, basic tools usually work fine for most projects but I do run a super fancy sprinkler system in my main lawn and fertilize almost exclusively with organic products which tend to be more expensive.

[@KamiKomplex504]

I seeded a ton of this stuff and 1.) hard plant if you want good results by the end of a season. 2.) That newest variety really does look lawn worthy. 3.) I seeded it with everything under the sun this summer and it has been doing better than other things (a whole yard experiment, tbh wouldn't recommend, I wish I had patiently seeded 100% buffalo grass) but interested to see what it does over time. I also seeded a nearby common space that isn't maintained with leftovers just to see what happens with 0 input. My coworkers are also asking me about native drought tolerant seeds as quite a few kbg lawns have struggled this past summer. I've come around on kbg though, it has it's purpose and where I live it can have 100% green season if you are maintaining the fudge out of it. Have about 100sqft of it and by God is that little front lawn a ton of work but it does also look nice. I also got away with 2x days a week watering all summer for 30min split waterings 15mins on, soak down 15mins, 15mins on. My neighbors are mostly brown thumbs and their lawns have been doing terribly some even running irrigation 2x a day. Anyways a little rambly but really I think most people would do best with buffalo grass, it will look better at average input than other grasses.

[@JohnDoe-ng7xm]

Why misters? Aren't they the most inefficient type of head?

[@TurfMechanic]

I kind of misspoke on that. They are actually 180 degree 5-foot Toro spray heads that put out roughly 0.15 GPM. In no wind they work perfect but as the breeze amps up they act more like misters. I put them in to eliminate overstay into the road and sidewalk but wind is always the efficiency killer in lawn irrigation