Follow Us!
† Requires Javascript
Copyright © 1997-2009 Demand Media. All rights reserved.
|
| Member | Message |
|---|---|
 |
Posted: Feb/18/2009 6:49 PM PST
So number one, I moved house not far from the last but sooooo much more space to plant... plus I own it so I can actually dig up the yard! yay! anywho onto the issue... There was an issue with the yard last summer where it was not watered at all for the hottest 3 months of the year. so duh EVERYTHING (except 4 rose bushes and a oleander plant) is dead! well all the dead plants I can handle and have dug up the gardens and excited to begin with all my new space! but I have never done anything with grass... not to mention that the front yard (all I care about as far as grass) is shaded by 5! beautiful  pine trees...Before you say anything that the internet has already told me about how you can only grow grass in shaded areas that the trees thin out, I know it is possible because the entire neighborhood is covered in pine trees and there are people with very very very green yards (even right now). So... any ideas on what to do? I am willing to put in the effort but I am not willing to have the worst lawn on the block! Attachments:   |
 |
Posted: Feb/19/2009 2:59 AM PST
Well, here again, your pictures didn't show up. If you have lots of pines, you could create beautiful natural areas with all that pine straw. My mother's entire front yard is pine trees. I believe that her grass is Bermuda, but I'm not sure. GJoe seems to be the grass expert. I'm sure that he can help. |
 |
Posted: Feb/19/2009 4:26 PM PST
Azaleas do well with pine trees. Try maybe the ones that bloom twice a year. |
 |
Posted: Feb/20/2009 3:12 PM PST
Not sure I'm an "expert", Witt...but I sure got my opinion. lol Anyway, Bermuda or St. Augustine seem like the likely choices, especially in Texas. For the shade, I'd throw in a mixture of rye & fescue. It's often very acidic under pines due to the needle drop... so working some lime into the soil wouldn't hurt, unless you're wanting some landscaping, whereas azaleas or another acid lover would grow well. Not sure if they need alot of sun or not though. |
|
|
Posted: Feb/21/2009 3:21 AM PST
Well, you may not be the expert, but you're our expert! Azaleas love the shade. They don't have deep roots, so that's why they do so well in natural areas and love the acidic conditions. |
 |
Posted: Feb/21/2009 2:01 PM PST
I have a few pine trees in my yard-about 60-70 feet tall, not too much in the way of shade. St. Augustine grows well in my yard-I fertilize with a St. Agustine fertilizer every spring, the one that also kills dollar weed, because I have an abundance of that too. Azaleas here pretty much will take both sun and shade and anything in between. I have those in my yard, too. I guess the key question is How Much Shade do you have? St. Augustine does need some sun to grow. |
 |
Posted: Feb/23/2009 6:12 PM PST
Hey, just joined this site. I have a bachelors degree in agronomy, specialized in turf management. Im from the north which has a completely different attack mode in terms of grass species. If I were you what I would do is first take a soil analysis test of your lawn, and do one seperate for where the pine trees are. After you get the soil analysis back see what your pH is, usually with pine trees it will be very acidic, if needed apply some pulverized lime. Usually they say dont apply more then 100lbs of lime per year. If the soil analysis calls for this then do a split applications of 50lbs during this time frame, 50 lbs in the fall, then 50 lbs the next year in march. Usually most lawns need less then 100 lbs. You also may want to check your salinity in the other areas of your lawn, assuming you live in an arid region of texas. Under the pine tree area the salinity may be counteracted by the acidity of the pine needles. If you have high salinity use gypsum it takes awhile to bring the salinity levels down but it does the job. After you control your soil acidity, in your given area of texas st augustine is prob your best bet. If your area does not get atleast 5hours of sunlight you may want to think about removing some of the lower branches on the trees to a lloow more sunlight to filter in. Even shade type grasses need atleast 5 hours of sunlight, if less they will take on a sporadic needle like appearence do to the lack of sunlight and photosynthesis to produce more abundant leaves. If the area gets a lot of shade I would not use bermudagrass, unless their is a cultivar for that area that is adapted to shader condtions. Bermudagrass is a full sun grass, and would not do well in the shade given off by your pine trees. Im not sure if you need fertilization help either? Also with any stolon/rhizomatic producing grass aerification is a good thing to do for thatch problems. Hope this helps, tom |
|
|
Posted: Feb/24/2009 3:35 AM PST
Welcome, tom! We're happy to have another grass expert to help us out! |
 |
Posted: Mar/05/2009 3:49 PM PST
 Hi folks ,I am a newcomer and I know nothing about nothing , that is why i am here i need to learn what ,when , where,why and how to do things .The only thing I know about grass is it seems to require a lot of mowing .I live in Southwest Tn. ,and we also have pines in the front ,they really have some huge pine cones ,the grass does grow well under them , but I could not begin to tell you what kind it is , I also have 1 Azalea in that area and it does quite well if the deer does not nip it every year , so far they have left it alone this year , but last year we had a hard freeze and killed all the young acorns and the deer ate everything they could find .I also have a dogwood growing in the shade of the pines, lilys, monkey grass, wisteria , day lillies ,cannas ,all of these are shaded by the pines , but not right up close to them .While I am on here I have a question .? is there a way I can post a picture of a plant that I need an I.D. on , it is a strange thing , it looks like it should be a house plant ,stays pretty lush and green from October to June when it puts up a spike and the spike is about 6 inches long and is covered with pretty orange colored seeds ,then it will die down again until the fall. It has been here for the 6 years that I have lived here and just keeps going and going .Thanks for any help you can give , from Hornsby, Tennessee where if you blink you will miss it ,this is Jo saying Goodbye.. |
|
|
Posted: Mar/06/2009 2:31 AM PST
I'm sure there are different ways to post pictures, but here's what I do. I have my pictures saved to a folder. Here on GG, all you have to do is click Add Photo and it will allow you to browse your computer. Go to the folder and click on the picture that you want to post. Click Upload. Then write your question in the message box. I'll look for you in the Plant Identification section of the Forums. |
† Requires Javascript
Copyright © 1997-2009 Demand Media. All rights reserved.
