Let me add to that. I bought the home from a contractor, and he added about 2 ft of topsoil before laying the sod. The back and one side of that house was always in direct sun light, so it was very healthy.
The home I own now, has no topsoil, so that doesn't help matters.
Tampa will be green all year but like Norminn says, for about 3-4 month of that year you will be putting about 27,000 gallons of water per acre per week on it minimum to keep it green (1" of water per week). If it turns brown you will probably lose it. We got a real good chance to see that here in Ft Myers when the foreclosures stopped getting watered. The yards were deserts in less than a month and when the rains came there were just weeds. I will stick with my Bahia. It comes back just fine from a drought. They already restrict when and how much water you can put on the lawn. I guarantee it is just a matter of time here in Florida before they just ban watering your lawn completely. It is pretty short sighted to be putting your drinking water on the grass. The problem will probably just be cured with the price they will have to pay for it.
fairly new home that had this stuff in it. I had to spray Roundup on
3/4 of it two years ago. My lawn looked disastrous all that summer. I interviewed two lawn pro's and they both told me to do the same thing. I was ready to rip the lawn out and rock it in as it is a small patch, in my front yard. This is a five-year process and I need to keep on top of it. This is my third summer coming up, and I have made quite a bit of progress. I just need to keep on top of it.You are not alone with lawn problems.
Good luck, I wish I had the answer for you.
This is what I have to do to get rid of a noxious weed in my lawn called Johnson Grass. I got rid of most of it two years ago spraying Roundup on 3/4 of my lawn. It looked awful all summer. Now, I just take a paint brush and paint the leaves, and eventually the new stuff will die. At least the yard does not look as bad as it used to. I was told this is a five-year ordeal, and it is working. I am going on three years now. Digging them up did not help as the tubers are way underground.
I was told the birds bring it in, plus I believe two of my neighbors have it, and are not aware that it is a noxious weed.
I don't know, I may be wasting my time, because if the neighbors' have it, the wind will blow it into my yard.
Oh the joys of home ownership.
Hell's bells! By the time you put 1" of water on a Florida lawn, half of it will be back in the aquifier. You can saturate the root zone with a lot less than 1". This is where proper mowing and feeding come in - cut it high, at least 3" and preferably 4", and keep it healthy so it doesn't dry out. The city waters during the day, when homeowners are forbidden....nice afternoon wind and the water blows across the street:o) We converted a good deal of lawn to islands with hardy plants, and difficult areas to river rock. Building code forbids "all stone" lawns, allowing stone for just areas that won't grow green stuff.
We are again talking about putting reclaimed water into the aquifiers. Might save on medical expenses, given the levels of pharmaceuticals found in ground water :o) Drink your Prozac daily and nothing will bother you, even lumpy water :o)
First step is to identify the "weeds." Not knowing that there's not too much to offer a practical solution.
That is what SFWMD recommends. Most homeowners with a green lawn in April are exceeding that.
Reclaimed water is far from universally available. When Cape Coral installed their system it cost the homeowners over $12,000 to hook up (no choice) and they quickly ran out of reclaimed water. They were making up for it by pumping from the fresh water canals. Eventually the canals were going dry. They were still under water restrictions. The idea that this water reenters the aquifer is flawed too. It goes into ground water but potable water usually comes from the deep aquifer, 200' down, below the rock barrier. Nobody wants to water their yard with the ground water because it stains anything it hits and it literally smells like shit (septic tank effluent). The reality is most of this irrigation water just flows into the gulf. That is why we have so many red tide blooms and algae. The fertilizer elevates phosphates and nitrates in the estuary.
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