Curious about Brown Patch w/ organic

[bicmudpuppy]

Kiril, that is a nice graphic, but it won't wash. The eastern third of that map gets way to MUCH natural rain to promote quality buffalo grass. Even NE TX is going to be marginal and above the 24" of natural rainfall. Also, the further north you get, the longer that dormant season gets and the more trouble you may have with invasive weeds. Start a line through the middle of KS and move south. Move the Eastern edge of the zone west to eliminate MO and AR and your on to something. I don't think where I am, here in NW NM gets hot enough to get the summer growth. My season isn't long enough for bermuda, even the newer varieties either.

I've seen some really nice results in SW KS with the newer varieties of seed propagated bermudas too. They have "better" color than buffalo and while they need slightly more water, they are a much better choice than KBG or TTF.

[Kiril]

Originally Posted by bicmudpuppy

Kiril, that is a nice graphic, but it won't wash.

The graphic is a link back to the USDA page for Buffalo grass ( Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) J.T. Columbus ).
That particular graphic shows where it is native.

[bicmudpuppy]

This rainfall map might help. Only the light green section down the middle is going to be low enough on natural rainfall to not hurt the buffalo grass. The darker green/brown to the west of that band is only a little bit short of what I would like to have for buffalo grass, and might actually be easier to manage. Adding a little bit here or there is much easier than having to much water.

[Marcos]

Originally Posted by bicmudpuppy

This rainfall map might help. Only the light green section down the middle is going to be low enough on natural rainfall to not hurt the buffalo grass. The darker green/brown to the west of that band is only a little bit short of what I would like to have for buffalo grass, and might actually be easier to manage. Adding a little bit here or there is much easier than having to much water.

Still......a hearty chunk of real estate.

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by bicmudpuppy

Buffalo grass doesn't have that rich, dark green color we are used to for turf, but ?????you don't like the texture? I can show you golf courses in SW Kansas that have buffalo FAIRWAYS. I can show you field trial plots at K-State that, when mowed at 1" look great. At around 2", you get the flowers and seed heads starting to form and it does look a little ragged then. If you can provide a proper grade and mow it at under 2", I like 1.5", but you could go 1.75" without seeing the seed heads and flowers, you now have a lawn that doesn't want more than 2#N/ year and will do fine on half of that. It also will be VERY happy with 17" of total precipitation. The problem is it is a niche grass. It will not do well with more than 24" of total precip. For you southern guys, bermuda does quite well on low fert levels, but the fert needs to be applied at the worst time for everything else. July is great timing for a pound of nitrogen. Cut back the water and watch the bermuda LOVE the heat!! (I said cut back, not stop watering)

If we got the ground level to the point of doing 1" mowing ... we could play croquet anytime.