I have many Oak trees in my yard and am having trouble growing grass.?

Question

I live in Central Florida and was wondering if there is a good grass seed that will grow well in the shade. Any suggestions?

Douglas

Answer 1

Bahiagrass -shade tolerant and drought resistant. A course grass, but fast growing.
Bentgrass- some shade tolerance. small leaves, well textured, needs mowing often. Problem, susceptible to several fungus diseases, not recommended.
Centipede - will grow in some shade, coarse texture and adaptable to poor soil. Fescue - some shade tolerance, spreads slowly, but stays green year round.
St Augustine - tolerates salty soil and shade. turns brown in winter...needs iron supplement to really stay healthy.
Unless you have soil erosion, oak trees normally don't have surface roots that interfer with a grass lawn. Also, you should provide deep watering to prevent shallow, developing roots from travelling upwards in search of water.
You should probably provide some type of fertilizer yearly for best results.
If you have low hanging limbs (less than 6 feet from the ground) you could trim these to allow more sunlight onto your lawn. Also, thinning higher branches will give more sunlight. If your lawn rceives at least two hours of sunlight, one of the shade tolerant types should grow.
If no grass will take root, or you have less than two hours of sunlight daily, you could also consider planting some shade-tolerant nongrass species such as vinca; wild ginger; sweet woodruff; mondograss; winter creeper; ajuga; Japanese spurge, or even ivy, if it can be controlled.
If you put in a shade tolerant grass seed, do it in late summer or early fall before the oak trees fully leave out. This gives the seed time to grow and develop and give time for the lawn to establish.

good luck

Answer 2

Your oaks are probably giving you two obstacles to your regular grass:
- it's using all water and nutrients
- it's giving pretty heavy shade most likely

There are specific blends of grass available for low light, low moisture which might do the trick for you. I've had mixed luck with them - it can really depend. It might not be a stable long solution, so you would have to keep reapplying.
Something I've had a lot of luck with is growing moss under oaks. I just transplant bits. It blends with the grass and makes a very comfy place to sit. So maybe you could put down a bunch of moss patches, and some shade blend grass - and watch your moss slowly win out over time. Always green, super low maintenance and very cushy for sitting!

Answer 3

It really depends on how much sun the grass gets. If it is in the shade most of the time, you will always have either no grass or puny grass.

We had that problem in Houston and in our current house in East Texas. Parts of the lawn is very thick and other parts won't grow any St Augustine, even the so called shade tolerant ones.

Depending on the area, we have used flower beds, ferns, ground cover, and in traffic areas, small gravel. In fact most of our side and back yard that isn't in flower beds is gravel.

Answer 4

Crab Grass will grow anywhere and it is stronger too.
I have crab grass all over my yard and it looks good when I cut it. Under the trees the grass is nice and green and full.

Crab Grass my man thats the way to go.

When I water my yard it takes off growing crazy and get dark green./ Crab grass will survive on less water and still be green.

Answer 5

There is a type of St. Augustine that is shade tolerant. It's called amerishade (I think). It only needs 2 hours of sun per day. I have some and works great. It grows slower, but it works.

Answer 6

the problem with those beautiful oaks - is that they
STEAL the nutrients from the grass

use some good fertilizer - ask a garden center what they would recommend as it changes with the season
there are 3 sets of numbers - for the 3 major compounds

all the best

Answer 7

usually blue kentucky grass do you have home depot or lowes or a mail order catalog go online and type in lawn care or grass seed your yard does it have any sand in it you might look into like a grass that looks like a carpet but you roll it out and water it and it grows

Answer 8

u can buy fake grass

ps orlado is well cool i am from england