Buffalograss From Seed - REAL World Observations
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2022
- Here are my observations and "things learned" growing Buffalo grass from seed in a few different plots on my hill yard this summer. Most everything learned I learned the hard way, through experimentation and "doing".
Along the way I've learned that keeping seed well shaded helps a lot in high summer heat and that means using thick layers of peat moss and multiple layers of straw blankets. This ends of requiring loner watering sessions to get the seed damp but when done well the watering sessions per day aren't as often even in temperatures bordering on 100-degrees.
The straw mats I used to shade the seed were provided to me by the Ike's company for testing and although I didn't use them as well as I wish I had I recommend them or something similar for anyone seeding in the high heat of summer and/or on a hill.
► You can see if Ike's sells their straw seeding blankets in your area here: ikesproducts.com/products/sit...
► If you are thinking about trying to seed Buffalograss in your own lawn you can see the seed I've been experimenting with this year through this link - fair warning, it's not cheap: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...
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I learned a few things when I seeded my 13,000 sq.ft. of buffalograss:
1. The seeds will FLOAT. If they are not being held down with something like clay soil or your straw mats, they'll just float away (or downhill), for example, if there's a summer rain.
2. The seeds need darkness to germinate, so if they float up, they can't germinate.
3. The seeds are tasty to ants. I have watched parades of ants taking them off to their homes. But they only carry off the ones that are on the surface.
4. The seeds will germinate more quickly if they are pre-soaked. I have soaked them for about 3-4 days, and then they germinate within a week (instead of 3 weeks). That really saves on the critical time of extra watering (which brings weeds), and lessens the risk of seeds floating away if there's a heavy summer rain.
I hope that helps.
Thanks for taking the time to make this video for us.
I also seeded my backyard with Buffalo grass on 3 dates. Mid June, early July, and end of july. I’m amazed how how different mine looks than yours. I have been mowing mine to 3 inches, but I haven’t seen any male pollen heads yet. I’ve seen a few female flowers though. Also, I’ve got stolens going everywhere too. My grass doesn’t seem to be as compact as yours though, so I’m guessing those are variety issues. I used topgun. I actually thought this stuff was really easy to seed, but I was seeding into compact clay that stays moist . I also buried my seed up to 1/4 inch, and I pre soaked it for a few days too. I had germination within the week, buttons more sprouted as time went on, like yours. My mid June section has filled out and is decent and I didn’t water it for 3 weeks in August , and my full sun end of july section even looks good at a distance. However, in my shadier areas it didn’t hardly germinate, and I might need to blend something else in there for the long term. This has been our hottest summer on record-106 yesterday. I watered it only twice a day during germination, and now I’m doing every 3 days.
I'm growing it too. See if you can send Brian some pics. There is zero info out there we all want to hear real world experience!
I’m going in on buffalo grass. Thanks for the info! There isn’t a lot on TH-cam
Love it! Let's start a movement! :D One lawn at a time. Sidenote - I've been thinking about mixing Buffalo with K31 as both are less dark, one is spreading the other is a bunch, both are drought and heat tolerant with lower disease pressure, neither require tons of fert, and k31 will give extra color into the bookend season of the year. Food for thought. In shady areas mix in a little creeping red fescue to keep some denser ground cover...my ideas are flowing this morning. You'd have quite a mix of grass textures but I'm not sure that's a bad thing either.
you're like a mad scientist of grass growing. Love it!
Very informative thanks for sharing.
Are any of the big guys (Pennington, TMI, Barenbrug, etc.) actively breeding Buffalo grass?
Thank you for all your details. This was very helpful!
I ordered a pack of BG to experiment with. It's getting past the time to plant in yard here in MN but I have grow lights! And maybe can have some plugs for next year.
I think shade cloth is the way to go, I took mine down because I thought it looked healthy and was worried too little sun would cause issues, well the exposure thinned it out a ton. Not sure if it will recover. I also think it is better to over water than under up until cool season seeding time. I don't believe it can stand up to once a day watering in July.
love how educational these videos are. Do you have a separate channel for chickens?
You are establishing a helpfull video channel on Buffalo Grass. We had buffalo grass planted about 8 weeks ago in south central Kansas. However it is slow to come up. Knowing that time is limited to get it to mature quickly before the frost comes, how often and how much should I be irrigating it? Thank you!
I just seeded Buffalo four days ago. I'll be watering extra plus adding lots of rooting stimulants through Oct to help it establish as best as possible before winter. I'll probably water mine every other day for the first month after germination then every third day until it goes dormant. Honestly though I'm not sure how it will respond to establishing this time of year. I'm learning about growing Buffalo grass in Fall right now.
I've noticed that plywood on top of sown seeds germinated very fast... it keeps the water from evaporating almost indefinitely. You have to check it often because since it is blocking the light the sprouts will get leggy very fast. Tarps may cover more area more easily, but they might cook ("steam" lol) what is under it depending on the sun and the color of the top (def NOT clear)...I'll have to experiment. The other advantage to coverings is no bird problem. Pine needles work well with bird netting over top too. Loose straw/needles are probably good to put over the sprouts If the sun is still very strong and will save on water for the beginning phase.
That is a super cool idea for small patches. If you picked up a few sheets of the plywood underlayment that's only 1/4" thick that might do perfectly. My first impression is to sow seed, top with peat, water very heavy for day one then cover with wood for 5 days. Inside my home I was able to germinate Buffalo in 5 days so at that point I'd take the plywood off and then roll out a straw blanket or some garden crop cover (either a frost blanket or a shade blanket) to let some light though but still hold extra moisture in for the first few weeks of the seedling's life. I may try this on a small patch of my hill this month to see how it responds. Thanks a bunch for that comment and suggestion.
@@TurfMechanic Yeah, I think for your cup experiment, you could have done the plywood. Some guy gave me a ton of pine needles ... I put that over clover and Tall Fescue, then under bird netting BC of wind. I did also notice things sprouting very well under black plastic...BUT that was in a shadow so sun was not directly beating on the plastic. Thanks for your videos :-)
As always thanks for another great video! I was wondering if you have experimented with Pre germinating Buffalo grass? If it was in a video I apologize I missed it. Love the channel!
Thanks John didn't publish a video but I've filmed some clips on pre-germinating seed earlier this year when I first experimented with priming buffalograss seed. In a controlled environment I got some primed seed to germinate in 4 days. I also pregerminated some buffalograss in about 3 1/2 days but didn't sow that seed because we still had freezing temps and snow on the ground around here at the time.
This is a very interesting series. I look forward to your experimentation with iron to see how dark green this can get. One question, since this is a warm season grass, how will it look during the Winter? I guess we'll see in a few months.
I'm going to try and drop a dose of iron on half of the most established patch in the next week. I'll have a results video out near the end of the month to show the difference. As for winter, I've only read about the straw brown color through winter from university publications. I'm assuming a dense Buffalo stand will look a lot like Bermuda through the winter but only time will tell.
Thank you for the informative video on buffalo grass. There is very little out there. I was extremely interested in buffalo grass but I have a 2 acre yard and the cost Factor was just out of my reach
Yeah that would definitely be a limiting factor for large yards. So far I'd recommend other large yard owners looking to go with buffalo to take it sections at a time and to sow thin. Once it takes and a few months go by it spreads quite a bit, that first 4-6 weeks though is the hardest. If you don't mind, what type did you ultimately go with?
It is worth it. If you go on the min bag rate it will fill in eventually.
What is the variety of buffalograss you have planted?
17:05 did you add peat moss to that double layer of straw? Also, how long should you keep the double layer of straw on for?
I have a 1 acre pond and I want to plant something that will grow fast, provide vast ground cover but never need to be mowed...do you think putting down buffalo grass seed is my best - inexpensive option ? I read that it only grows to be about 4 inchs tall max...im in zone 7. ..the area around the pond is in full sun
The blue-green color is a common criticism, I doubt adding anything is going to change it much, that's just want color it is. There are some varieties of improved buffalograss that have been selected for green color and shorter inter-node spacing. Sundancer is one that comes to mind. Weed pressure is going to be a constant challenge in areas that receive significant rainfall as it competes poorly with weeds and other grasses. A strategy to help the buffalograss compete is to interplant it with blue gramma, as this mimics the native environment of buffalograss, where a pure stand would never happen.
Thanks for all that, ive already started researching blue gamma, one of the seed mixes includes it with buffalo. BG grows a bit taller when left uncut so id like to find something else to pair it with that can also be left unmowed, do you have thoughts on pairing it with any of the mini clover options?
@@TurfMechanic I can't say for certain because I've never tried it, but from growing it myself and from seeing my university's test plots, my experience is that left unmowed, it is so soft that it flops over once it reaches a couple inches and becomes hard to mow. Left like that, my gut feeling is that the two could coexist. But If it gets mowed, my gut feeling is that the clover will win over time. It's a pioneer species, it wants to charge into a freshly burned prairie and take over as much territory as it can, quickly, it doesnt offer much resistance to the next wave of plants to come up. We have the benefit of not needing fire to maintain a stand, we can use glyphosate as long as the BG is fully dormant to prevent the ecological succession.
@@pushs_cool_stuff good stuff to think about there, thank you. I need to find a good university plot and willing person to show me real tests in those plots sometime in the future. I may also have to try growing a bit of blue grama and over by itself in pots or planters to see how it matures compared to buffalo.
@@TurfMechanic I can take pictures if there's something specific, we have a while before it goes dormant. Otherwise you can find results for buffalograss and blue gramma from NTEP under "buffalograss" and "low-input", unfortunately both are too old to include sundancer.
@@TurfMechanici know this post is a year old, but i live around the colorado springs area and have eexperimented with mini clover and buffalo. Mini clover cant handle the sun in the summer here. It loves shade and does well there. Buffalo really likes the sun here. Im going to do a buffalo and blue grama front lawn next summer! Btw your videos are awesome. Ive binged almost all of yours.
I bought Buffalo grass seed and am going to try making my own plugs and seed over it. Would hydratain help too?
Heh, I looked into Buffalograss sod as an option for me here in Oklahoma, but a pallet of Cody BG Sod is about double the price of a pallet of Patriot Bermuda, yikes! lol Although, I suppose a pallet at a time is good enough for me to learn how to take care of it.
I listened to a presentation by a turf specialist from our state university. He mentioned that Buffalo Grass takes as much water to establish as Kentucky Bluegrass. An even more interesting fact he said is that Kentucky Bluegrass is about as drought tolerant as Buffalo Grass (in terms of being able to recover after extreme drought). It just takes a lot more water to stay green.
I'm in zone 5b and seeded Sundancers this year. It came in ~75%. It is there anything such as fertilizing I should do now? How does Buffalo grass stand dog urine? Would like to do my best to give it the best chance of thriving next summer.
Did you overseed with Rye last winter?
You can pregerminate cold season grasses by just keeping it moist in buckets for a few days. Plenty of videos of that on TH-cam. Is buffalo seed different? Does it require more than just moisture to germinate? I can see fescue coming up 2 days after planting if I pregerminate.
Great content by the way. Never seen content on this type of grass
It's a warm season, so it's best to seed when soil temps get to 70.
I've actually pre-germinated some and primed some. The pre-germ took about 3 days to start sprouting in room temp water, the primed seed germinated in soil in a pot in a stable 80-degree room in only four days. This is definitely an option. I could see pre-germinating small batches at a time and mixing into peat moss and hand spreading over small areas at a time as a great option for fast establishment. University publications indicate that all you need is one good seedling per square foot to fill in a full lawn over a couple seasons so this method would probably get us there very easily if enough time were allotted to the project. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Kenneth!
There's a couple varieties established with plugs that do not produce seed heads
Hey there...I'm struggling with best fert for early fall here in Ohio. I know a balanced fert is best but finding a balanced with phosphorous is difficult. I know a good shot a nitrogen is good here in the fall but seems many lack the phosphorus. Yard Mastery suggests their blend which is a 24-0-7 I believe....and suggestions for a balanced fertilizer with strong nitrogen?
You probably only need phosphorus if you’re seeding. Otherwise nitrogen and potassium are most crucial in fall.
Trust me. Hit it with more N, water, and mow more, but its late now. Vigor starts declining starting 1st of September here. 9 weeks the stolens are just starting. The stolens will get more aggressive. It filled in 2 feet of barren ground from dormancy to about mid may on year 2.
I'm going to be transforming my lawn to a native grass mix. I'm starting first in the back where we normally entertain and the dogs hang out.... previous owner didn't take care of the lawn so theres a ton of burrs and the dogs get it in their hair. real pain! My question is would presoaking the seed before you plant could help speed up?
it absolutely will speed things up. presoak for half a day in warm water inside the house and it works like a charm. I did it just a few weeks ago and featured it in this video th-cam.com/video/q3PSglySTvM/w-d-xo.html - It's a long one but it's exactly the topic you are referring to and I even did it in that video with buffalograss.
can you please do a video where you show how the Buffalo grass compares to orher turf grass? similar to what you’ve done in the past?
I will for sure do that, may not be until the off season but I definitely want to do that.
Buffalo grass wont work really well on the east coast because of our high moisture content
I’m in sw KS, Buffalo grass is natural here but unfortunately homeowners before me planted Bermuda and I so badly want to get natural Buffalo in my yard. My Gma had it for decades, basically zero maintenance (if you accept it as it is naturally a yellow brownish grass except when it’s rained) and rarely had to cut the grass! Recently we’ve had a ton of rain and across the st from my house a field has been overtaken with buffalo grass. It’s not viney like burmuda and it has a softness to it. My dogs can scratch and be rough, pee, etc. and doesn’t effect buffalo at all at least my experience of it is it’s the only choice of grass for sw KS! Is there anyway I can get buffalo to overtake Bermuda without digging up the earth? This Bermuda exists in most neighbors yards which is how it overtook the fescue I put in years ago, I hate the vines and I love the native buffalo grass landscape that should be here
I'm battling a 2,000 sq.ft. patch of Bermuda that snuck into my Buffalograss. I tried steam, hand-digging/sifting/sort - both ineffective against this stuff (heck, I found rhizomes as deep as 12"!) - and next I'm going to use Tenacity, which is shown in this video and on the herbicide label as safe on Buffalo, yet it will stall out photosynthesis in actively-growing Bermuda and other weeds. The Bermuda will turn white and slowly starve. I don't know how long it will take or how many treatments yet (Bermuda will live off the food in its rhizomes until that's depleted), but I don't care: I'll have white in my lawn until I'm certain it's dead, and then plug the area with buffalo plugs taken from my otherwise beautiful lawn. I'm excited and hopeful that this will work. Good luck to you, too!
@@SeniorLady Thank you and I’m so sorry! Bermuda is evil!!! When I first moved here and rototilled this yard the Bermuda I thought I killed it all but was severely mistaken. The next summer my yard was 1/4 Bermuda and fescue and since then it just gets further ahead of my fescue. I even (to home veggie garden in recycled ibc wicking totes) used cardboard boxes flattened out and placed on top of the Bermuda with a layer of landscape fabric and cedar chips on top to kill it in my garden area… it’s actually alive underneath the cardboard and fabric rn although very yellow and that’s after almost two years now of being covered and spraying grass killer anywhere it surfaces. Such a bummer it’s killing off your buffalo! I was hoping because it’s native, once it took hold it’d kick butt and dominate. I’ll have to try that spray, good luck to you and I hope you can get control! I mean Bermuda is so bad I’ve actually been tripped or my foot caught in its nasty vines and fallen lol! Even the mower struggles to cut through all those gross vines so I’m always taking my weed eater through to get what the mower couldn’t and yet as tough as it is it yellows and dies where my dogs mess consistently lol
Buffalo grass seeds are quite expensive.... definitely wise to do small experiments.
Agreed, the seed I bought is currently selling for $48 per pound! Yikes! One big reason why I want to experiment and find the best, easiest, most reliable way to install this seed in a lawn with the best success rate possible.
@@TurfMechanic @Turf Mechanic , same it is native near me unfortunatley , expensive (the seeds are different than other grasses so hard to harvest I think) I am doing some test...I think* blue gramma is what I have native on my land, but Buffalo grass could be nicer I'm doing some experiments with "The Rebels" also (Tall Fescue) (cheap) , I'm in a warm part of Colorado, v. Sunny, 12 in rain, I have a lot of cactus on my land as well as the Gramma . I the the Tall Fescue might do better in the shady side of my house..we shall see
@@TurfMechanic I just ordered a plugging tool to 'harvest' plugs from the part of my buffalo lawn that's excellent and filling in the parts that aren't (mostly because I don't want to deal with germinating the seeds again), and I'm thinking that if someone was not in a huge hurry, they could start by seeding a small area, give it a couple of years to become established, then harvest plugs to expand. They will fill in fairly quickly, planted about 6 - 12" apart.