Cedar Park: Buffalo Grass and water softener (Round Rock, Spring: house, landscaping)

[l0ll1]

Hello All,

Do anyone of you have Buffalo Grass in the lawn? How is it working out? How is it compared to Bermuda? I read about it online and since it is native grass less water and less maintainance. Also, my backyard has slope so water will quickly flow away and Beffalo Grass seems to be a better choice.

We save Bermuda, but did not see Buffalo Grass anywhere to compare. If you have it or if you know of anyone/any place please let me know. We'll go and take a look.

--

Water Softener: Any suggestions for water softner in Cedar Park area water? What features and type to look for?

Thanks in Advance

[FromCalitoSteinerRanch]

Originally Posted by l0ll1

Hello All,

Do anyone of you have Buffalo Grass in the lawn? How is it working out? How is it compared to Bermuda? I read about it online and since it is native grass less water and less maintainance. Also, my backyard has slope so water will quickly flow away and Beffalo Grass seems to be a better choice.

We save Bermuda, but did not see Buffalo Grass anywhere to compare. If you have it or if you know of anyone/any place please let me know. We'll go and take a look.

--

Water Softener: Any suggestions for water softner in Cedar Park area water? What features and type to look for?

Thanks in Advance

We don't have Buffalo grass, but we do have Zoysia El Toro. It is supposed to be 30% less water, but I think we have to water it more than our St. Augustine! I would check out the claims for Buffalo.

We are near the lake so our water comes from Lake Travis, and we don't have a softener, nor do most of, or all, or our neighbors. I can get away with two weeks in between cleanings of the shower glass! When we were in Round Rock, you could see the mineral deposits after two days!!!

Check out where your water will come from before doing it.

[jwb123]

When we were in Round Rock, you could see the mineral deposits after two days!!!

Not if you have a water softener. There are no problems at all.

I heard Cedar Park, generally, was even more hard than out here in Round Rock.

We bought ours from Sears, it's a Kenmore. It was about $350? We have to buy a $10 bag of potassium every now and then, from Walmart. We love our water softner!!!!

[TexasHorseLady]

Buffalo grass is great for not needing as much water. It does go dormant in winter.

I'm wondering if the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center might have some growing that you could look at (and it's a lot of fun to go there, anyway).

[achtungpv]

You can go check out the shopping center on the west side of Brodie where Bed Bath and Beyond is. All that grass is Buffalo grass according to the signs. I think it's the same for the areas on the east side too.

[HappyTexan]

See what your neighbors have. Burmuda and St. Augustine with invade and kill off your Buffalo grass.

[FromCalitoSteinerRanch]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

See what your neighbors have. Burmuda and St. Augustine with invade and kill off your Buffalo grass.

For got about that part! I am glad we got some rain because I can now go out over the weekend and pull out the St. Augstine runners coming in from two different neighbors' yards. It is manageable if you stay on top of it.

[tahoma14410]

At our house in Dripping Springs, we had Buffalo in the front and Zoysia in the back...both from sod. The Zoysia was almost St. Augustine like, but with 40% less water needed to stay green. The buffalo was never watered...except for rain...and it stayed green all summer long. In fact, one wouldn't have to cut it but once every two weeks or so...very slow growing, but completely worth it as far as maintenance. Also, it's pretty much bug free.

[l0ll1]

Thanks a ton to all of you!

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

See what your neighbors have. Burmuda and St. Augustine with invade and kill off your Buffalo grass.

One neighbor has Burmuda, and so far no neighbor on the other side. Back side is green belt with tall grass. Not sure what type it is.

We and our neighbors have slope. So, water flows out to back fence along with common side fence (basically, landscaping has been done to move rain water along the fence). This area near the fence is muddy because of either rain or when lawn is watered. So, I'm planning to put gravel (not sure whether it is correct thing to do - but thats the idea so far). Do you think I still need to worry about the neighbors grass?

Originally Posted by tahoma14410

At our house in Dripping Springs, we had Buffalo in the front and Zoysia in the back...both from sod. The Zoysia was almost St. Augustine like, but with 40% less water needed to stay green. The buffalo was never watered...except for rain...and it stayed green all summer long. In fact, one wouldn't have to cut it but once every two weeks or so...very slow growing, but completely worth it as far as maintenance. Also, it's pretty much bug free.

The other day I called a land scaping guy and he says buffalo grass needs 6" of soil to grow. Is this correct? I did not read about this anywhere online. I don't have that much of soil. He says I would at least a truck load (or may be up to 2) of it which would cost $250 a truck load!!!

It seems buffalo grass takes less foot traffic. Does it really matter for a family of four (one 4yrs, and one 1yr)?

[BJB817]

Regarding sod, we just installed El Toro Zoysia in our lawn this summer. I can't comment on the water use since it's only a few months old and we've had to water the heck out of it to keep it green. Supposedly, in the long run it's a low water user. It costs about 1/3 more than Bermuda or St. Augustine, but to me it's been well worth it. The texture and color is really superior.

As for Buffalo, I've only seen it first hand in a yard once. It has a very fine texture and is very light green. Not sure how important the "greenness" is to you... Supposedly it won't tolerate ANY shade either.