Posted on: Friday, February 11, 2005
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HAWAI'I'S GARDENS
Choose carefully for a little splendor in your grass
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By Jay Deputy
One of the most frequently asked questions I get from homeowners is "what is the best kind of grass for me to grow in my yard?"
Typically, my response is twofold: "Where do you live?" and "How much time and/or money are you willing to spend in maintaining the lawn?"
There are plenty of other considerations, but the point is, all grass is not created equal. Not even close.
The location of your home is important with respect to proximity to the ocean and salt spray, whether it's a wet or dry part of the island, and in some cases, even the altitude of your neighborhood.
Within each of these environments we also need to know if your lawn area is very shady, in partial shade, or in full sun.
Is your house lot generally flat, or on a hillside or maybe a combination of all of the above?
Another consideration is the type of soil on your land. In most areas of Hawai'i, it's generally either sandy or heavy clay.
Other considerations before choosing your grass:
If you are going to do it yourself, make sure you have enough time and the right equipment. The essentials are a good mower (depending on the situation you may have to spend up to $1,000 for an appropriate one), a string trimmer and power blower (both preferably gas-powered).
If you have a lot of driveway and/or sidewalk to edge, a gas-powered blade edger gives a nice professional finished look as opposed to the uneven scalped edge you can get with a string trimmer.
These questions all must be answered before choosing the right grass for your lawn.
There are thousands of species of grasses, but only a very few are suitable as the ground cover we have come to call turf grass.
These few species have their own individual qualities of texture, color and density, but their one common, essential physical characteristic is that they all can withstand frequent close mowing.
However — and here's the catch — not all of these turf grasses will grow in Hawai'i.
There are two basic types of turf grass — cool-season and warm-season.
Each adapts to quite different environments, as the terms imply.
Warm- and cool-season turf grasses are as different as a plumeria tree and a sugar maple tree.
Hawai'i is basically limited to using the warm-season turf grasses. That would not really be an issue, except that many local garden shops sell cool-season grass seeds, advertising them for shady areas.
These are a mixture of species commonly used in cooler Mainland climates, usually Kentucky bluegrass, rye and fescue.
True, they are shade-tolerant, but they will do well in Hawai'i for only a short time if planted in the winter months. Cool-season grasses don't survive our warmer summer days — except possibly at some of the higher elevations on Maui and the Big Island where the temperatures stay lower.
The best turf grasses for Hawai'i and similar climates? The choices give a wide selection of texture, color, density, shade tolerance, salt tolerance, water requirements, maintenance demand and wear-resistance.
These choices are: Bermuda grass (both common seeded selections and hybrid varieties), three species of zoysia grass and several hybrids, seashore paspalum, centipede grass and St. Augustine.
Each has special characteristics.
Your choice will be determined largely by answering each of the questions asked earlier.
Jay Deputy is an education specialist in landscape horticulture and turf at the UH-Manoa Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences and is state administrator for the certified landscape technician program sponsored by the Landscape Industry Council of Hawaii. Got a lawncare or turf question? Send it to deputy@hawaii.edu.
