Picture didn't work... I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong?

I'll try again:

[IMG]http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb141/auteck/CIMG2232.jpg[/IMG]

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You probably already know this, but, the biggest issue in your area is likely to be too much water.

Let us know how it does for you.

Let us know how it goes with that. People keep saying that doesn't grow on the east coast.

Also, for future reference, one of the forums here is titled Test. I've used it before to figure out how to post pictures.

I'm curious to see how they stand that much rain over there. They typically grow in area where they recieve less than 20" of rain a year. Does great in FULL SUN. Cannot tolerate any shade...

It can tolerate some shade just like other warm season grasses, but they all grow best in full sun. I understand that it needs a minimun of 6 to 8 hours of direct sun light, it's getting about 9 hours right now.

We receive about 45 plus inches of rain per year on average. The people at VallyFarms told me that as long as it's well drained it should handle the extra inches of water.

That grass is very expensive, I paid $39.90 for the tray plus $10 for shipping. Considering that it looks like a piece of bermuda sod from Lowe's that will sell for $1.50 or so...

They told me the grass performs best on heavy clays soils and without much fertilization. I just love the color, check this out:

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I absolutely love the greyish-green color... The lawn next to it (to the right) is bright green Tall Fescue.

I'll be interested in hearing how you fare with the buffalo grass, too. I wanted a low water lawn and did a lot of reading about buffalo grass but decided it would be dormant for too much of the year here since spring is so late and fall so early. I'll admit that the cost was also a little scary.

One advantage to legacy is that it doesn't produce pollen (buffalo grass pollen is supposed to be rough on allergies).

As far as soil types, if I remember correctly, the only soil that it doesn't do well on is very sandy soil.

I think the biggest issue you may have is the amount of rain you mentioned. But if the soil drains well enough, it may not be a problem.

Looking at the beautiful color I'd be happy to wait 6 months before it greens up again in the Spring.

I don't know where to plant it, all my turf areas are cool season grasses. The only other option is to sacrify some Perennial Ryegrass that's currently growing between curb and sidewalk. It looks so good right now that I can't gather enough "cojones" to kill it and place the Buffalo instead...

Look at this beauty once again:

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Auteck,

Keep us posted how that experiments work out. I notice the pictures are actually from the Sod farm (From somewhere in the midwest, I suppose). It will be interesting to see how they adapt.

Indeed. Those pictures are (I Believe) in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The grass is growing right now - even without fertilizer. I'm going to give it some Ortho 12-10-10 with iron this weekend to see what happens.

I'll keep you posted.

Go easy on the fertilizer. Buffalo grass does very well without fertilizer, and I seem to remember that it can actually suffer if it gets fertilized the way KBG would.

When I first started reading about buffalo grass, they were recommending no fertilizer. I think more research has shown that a very small amount can help. But If I remember correctly, the amount they used was something along the lines of 1/2 lb per 1000 sq ft per year.

I was about to drop 1/2 pound of fertilizer on it to see if it turns greyish green like the pictures rather than lime green.

So what much should I put? I don't want to kill it...

If I were you, I wouldn't add any fertilizer for the first year or so. After that, you can add a little bit, but only a very little bit. I'm not sure why it's lime green. All the buffalo grass I've ever seen was kind of gray green. I think I'd chalk it up to transportation shock. Plant it and get it established. Then if it's still lime green, consider fertilizing it.

In the meantime, I'll look through some of the stuff I found when I was considering buffalo grass to see what they say about fertilizing. You might also want to ask the place where you bought it. They probably have more up to date information.

I just fertilzed a few hours ago, I couldn't resist the temptation... I only used less than a handful of Scotts Southern Turf 26-2-13 with 2% iron. Then I watered it for about 2 minutes.

Do think it will die?

I don't think it'll die, but buffalo grass is a very low input grass. It requires very little in the way of fertilizer or water. Actually, If I remember correctly, overwatering is probably worse for it than overfertilizing. If you've got it growing with a more traditional lawn grass and you water and fertilize for the other grass, the other grass will do better than the buffalo grass.

It also doesn't grow very tall, so some people don't bother mowing it.

I'm very sad to report that Legacy Buffalograss has slipped into a coma. About 99% of the grassy area is brown, and only about 1% is green.

I'm not sure what has gone wrong, but I'm going to do a transplant tomorrow to an area with heavy clay soil and almost full sun to see if it recovers.

I'm hoping is dormant and not dead. Pray for buffalo to make a full recovery soon and that the surgery is a success - I'll keep you posted.

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I think there are a couple of possibilities.

Buffalo grass isn't well adapted to the high rainfall you get, so that could have been an issue. It is a very low maintenance grass, and doesn't like much fertilizer, but you fertilized it. I notice that you say that you're going to transplant it into an area with almost full sun. Does that mean that you're transplanting from full sun to almost full or from shady to full sun? If it's in full sun now, leave it, stop fertilizing it, stop watering it.

If you planted it in shade, watered and fertilized, I'm not real hopeful, but you may be able to revive it by moving to someplace sunnier.

What's the pH of the soil? Buffalo grass does best in neutral to alkaline soils.

That's too bad there was a guy on here las week asking about buffalo. I always thought that was some utility/builder grass but it looks really nice in your photos.. I have to admit the the dark green of the tall fescue is calling my name but if you want to explore something along the lines of both maybe Blue stem or blue grama should be tried next.

I suspect you all are correct in that Buffalograss doesn't like too much water, and I wouldn't be surprised if it would suffer from the high humidity that occurs in your neck of the woods. Much different climate (and soil) than that in which it evolved.

A.J.

"That's too bad there was a guy on here las week asking about buffalo."

I remember two people asking about buffalo grass recently.

One was in GA in an area with an annual average of 50 inches of rainfall.

I said that I thought that was too much rainfall for buffalo grass to be happy. I think Auteck's experience bears this out.

The other lives in my county. Buffalo grass is native here, but from comments you've made about Bermuda in GA, I don't think you'd consider the 3-4 months buffalo grass would be green here to be acceptable.

I was considering buffalo grass until I found out it would rarely be green as long as 4 months here.

Right. I didn't have high hopes for the bufallo but I was under the impression that it would grow satisfactorily in points south of here like floirda (even more rainfall) because of something I read somewhat recently. I also thought it was more of a utility grass out west or what the home builders would put in the yards to be cheap like they normally are.
Kind of like a centiwede or bahia.

I think if you want a real low maintenance S.E. native warm season grass to put out there then little bluestem is more realistic.

It has only recently been gaining favor as a lawn grass. Some of the newer varieties are a darker green (most buffalo grass is somewhat gray green in color). Many of the ones that are sold as sod or plugs are seedless and pollen free.

Buffalo grass would be a poor choice for somebody trying to be cheap. The seeds are expensive and people generally seed at fairly low rates and let it fill in over a period of a few years. Plugs are even more expensive, even when they're set relatively far apart. The plugs generally establish faster than the seeds. Sod is so expensive that some people who sod lay it in some sort of checkerboard pattern and let it fill in the unsodded parts.