How to Care for Buffalo Grass

Buffalo grass lawn

Many people are looking for attractive and environmentally friendly alternatives to the traditional lawn. Whether you hope to cut your water consumption, stop using large amounts of fertilizers or just want to spend less time on yard work, buffalo grass is a good choice.

Things You'll Need

• Seeds, sod or transplants

Instructions

1. Where and how to plant. Hardy buffalo grass is very drought tolerant and fairly cold tolerant. It can grow well in most parts of the United States, but tends to fail in the tropics and coastal areas. Buffalo grass needs lots of sunlight, so if large areas of your yard are shaded, this is not a good choice for you. Sod is the quickest method to getting your lawn in gear but can be quite expensive. Planting plugs or seed are cost effective alternatives to sod and may be worth the wait. Purchase trays of 2-inch clumps of grass and plant at 8 inch intervals. In about a year's time, you will have a complete lawn. Seed is much slower to grow but if you choose this route, spread 2 pounds per 1,000 square feet of land and give frequent good soaks--to a depth of one foot. Once established, buffalo grass reproduces rapidly with runners.

2. Water and fertilizer. Young buffalo grass will need frequent watering during the first month after transplanting. Start off with daily watering to a 2-inch depth and gradually decrease throughout the month until you are watering about once per week. After the lawn has filled in and matured, you may never need to water it again. Buffalo grass is very tolerant of drought and will rebound from dry spells quite well after a good rain or two. If you live in the driest parts of the U.S., you may wish to water your buffalo grass about every 2 or 3 weeks when droughts are bad. When working to establish your lawn, feed plugs with a liquid fertilizer about every two weeks if you want to speed the process a bit. Once established, the lawn will need only one application per year, in the fall. Use one 20 pound bag of 5-3-1 fertilizer per 1,000 square feet of land.

3. Mowing. One of the biggest advantages of buffalo grass is that it needs very little mowing. How often you mow depends almost entirely on your aesthetic preference. The grass does best when allowed to grow a little tall, about 4 to 6 inches, but you may cut down to a length of 1 or 2 inches if you wish. At minimum, buffalo grass will need to be mowed three times per year to keep it healthy and thick. Cut to a length of 1 inch in mid-March, mow to 2 inches in mid-June and once more to 2 inches in late September.