Tips for Grow-In & Maintenance of Seashore Paspalum

By Stacie Zinn, president and international marketing director, Environmental Turf, Inc.

Seashore paspalum requires only about half the water needed to irrigate Bermudagrass and it takes up to 75% less nitrogen for fertilization.

Many landscapes in warm-season climates all over the U.S. are converting from St. Augustinegrass and Bermudagrass to seashore paspalum (SP) cultivars such as SeaDwarf?EUR??,,????'?????????????? and Aloha?EUR??,,????'?????????????? because of the grass?EUR??,,????'?????<

Contractors are just beginning to maintain this grass, so consider this: SP requires only about half the water needed to irrigate Bermudagrass and it takes up to 75% less nitrogen for fertilization. Potable water can irrigate this grass, but SP is so salt tolerant that it can be irrigated with reclaimed or effluent water, even seawater.

It only makes sense that this grass thrives when the landscape contractors water it less, fertilizer it less and even use salt as an herbicide, right? During grow-in, it may be productive to be somewhat aggressive with irrigation and fertilization, but once established, the grass performs best when moderately irrigated and fertilized with nitrogen even less.

Establishment

Landscape contractors generally sod the grass to create an instant lawn. To get started with SP, eradicate the soil?EUR??,,????'?????<

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Immediately after installation, a granular fertilizer with a 1-1-2 or 1-2-3 mixture and full minor package is applied to get the fertilizer down into the root system for root growth. Irrigate the fertilizer in right away at 1/5 to 2/5-inches per acre per day, depending on soil type and rain amount. For the next two-to-four weeks, irrigate 1/10 to 3/10-inches per acre per day, depending on soil type and rainfall amounts, until grass has a well-established root system. Fertilize again in approximately 30 days with the same mix.

General Maintenance

Once established, the sod is gradually mowed down with a high-speed rotary or reel mower with sharp blades to the desired height. Increments of 1/4-inch to 1-inch height reductions may be used but no more than one-third of the leaf blade should be removed at any one time to avoid scalping. The University of Florida recommends mowing heights between 3?4-inch and 1.5-inches to create a dense turf that should choke out most weeds.

The University of Florida suggests no more than two-to-three pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 sq. ft. per year in a landscape situation.

The grass is fairly drought tolerant. Irrigate on an as-needed basis. The University of Florida suggests irrigating only about 1?2 to 3?4-inch of water to the entire lawn surface.

SP is sensitive to some herbicides and not all products are yet labeled for the grass. DRIVE, Trimec Southern, Kerb and Ronstar Granular are common herbicides used successfully on SP, however, a high brine solution or ordinary table salt also works to treat weeds without injuring the turf.

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Turf Facts

1970s ?EUR??,,????'?????< Decade when Adalyad (also called Excalibre), a selection of seashore paspalum, was found in Australia by Hugh Whiting.

4,000 ?EUR??,,????'?????< Ppm, the level of salts present in water where seashore paspalum was found growing at King?EUR??,,????'?????<

Source: Texas A&M University