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Pros for Bermuda and Zoysia: require far less watering and mowing. Assuming you're using a gas mower, that means not only less work but also better for the environment. Same goes with less watering. It's very lush and green and very few weeds grow in it once it is established (which again makes it more environmentally friendly as you don't have to keep treating it for weeds).
Cons for Bermuda and Zoysia: totally brown in winter. To get well established, best bet is to sod, not seed. Any sod of course is more expensive than seed, but Zoysia is almost double the cost of fescue sod. Not sure about Bermuda. Must have lots and lots of full sun.
Pros for Fescue: stays relatively green year-round. Can easily seed (although not this time of year). Zoysia should be sodded no matter what time of year. Cheaper. Can do well in quite shady areas.
They all have their advantages and drawbacks. We're right on the dividing line where warm and cool season grasses should be used, so each will do well for part of the year.
Fescue is great during the spring and fall, and reasonably good during the winter. It takes a lot of water (relatively) to keep it alive during the summer as temps get and stay in the upper 80s or above. But on the plus side, it'll be more or less green all year round here. It's easy to establish from seed, readily available, and fairly easy to maintain if you do keep it watered.
The main drawbacks to warm season grasses are that they go dormant and turn brown late fall and stay that way until about this time of year. Bermuda has a reputation for spreading aggressively into beds, so it requires a bit more to keep it from taking over everything. Zoysia is a bit less invasive, but more expensive.
There have been a number of threads on this previously. A search should turn up some more info. Also, check out TurfFiles for more info on the maintenance needs for each type of grass.
Do you have neighbors? I would stay away from Bermuda if you have neighbors with fescue because it has an aggressive creep. I've heard zoysia's creep is significantly slower. We have fescue and I would never have zoysia or Bermuda because it looks terrible until April, but I'm willing to pay the water bill to keep our fescue alive.
Do you have neighbors? I would stay away from Bermuda if you have neighbors with fescue because it has an aggressive creep. I've heard zoysia's creep is significantly slower. We have fescue and I would never have zoysia or Bermuda because it looks terrible until April, but I'm willing to pay the water bill to keep our fescue alive.
I am considering Bermuda because I think it WILL creep into the neighbor's weed-generation beds...
Really.
I am curious about the cost to sod with Bermuda as two neighbors have gone that route with good results. I know there is the issue with the brown grass in the winter but you can always overseed with Rye. What is the going rate for a skid of Bermuda and how much square or linear feet does that cover? Thanks in advance.
If you can afford it, I'd go with Zoysia. From what I understand, it looks great, you don't have to water it and you only have to cut it a couple times a year.
I agree on the Zoysia posts...expensive but lush and less invasive. Bermuda is tough to manage and it requires a good amount of maintenance with regards to fertilizing, edging and cutting. Plus plenty of weeds tend to creep in during the winter months.
Most Bermuda will not get going until May of this year with the cool spring we have had.
Our backyard is still in a very bad shape...clay, weeds, rocks, erosion problems, mud...Planned to fix it last year, but haven't done anything for the past 11 months.
We'd like to have fescue in the backyard. We built some flower beds/shrubs in order to decrease the lawn size. Do you think laying sod would be a dumb decision now (Durham's water restrictions allow us to water We and Sat 5:00am-8:00am or 5:00pm-8:00pm)? The tall fescue sod that was laid in the front yard by the builder was already established when we moved in and still look "green" even without watering for a year...
Or would it be complete waste of money?
I'd really appreciate your advice. Thank you!
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Would it be dumb decision to lay sod now?
