Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Balance of plants in the environment Seeds for new pond banks, too hot for rye?

I was reading what everyone has put and seems rye is recommended a lot. Well it is 100 every afternoon here in SE GA. I have been told Bermuda works well, maybe mix in rye for the heck of it and cover with some hay?

Also the pond is all in the middle of an old cutover, no shade trees at all right now. Will add a small dock and trees later this summer.

Whatever you go with, if you don't let it dry out you should be fine. I use a light topping of peat moss to help retain moisture... Works great. We are in a pretty significant drought. I have been watering for about a month now. I'm ready for something else!

Bermuda should be plugged or sodded. Seeding it requires a lot of TLC.

As John F said, bermuda requires some TLC. But can be done. If you do not have much top soil and alot of clay it won't do well. Its too hot for rye grass right now in SW AR. I would do that towards the end of summer Beginning of fall.

Bermuda will work well. Break up the soil best you can. Bermuda seed is a VERY small seed. Many of your store bought seeders will have trouble with controlling the out pouring of it due to its small size. I'm not saying you can't...just be careful, you don't want it to all pour out in one spot. Bermuda is also pricey. 5-10lbs to the acre would work good. Once you have sown it, then you need to roll something over it. A four wheeler roller will work...a push roller...you do not have to cover them...anything to push the seeds into your broken up ground. At least try to water it once...just to get it moist. Bermuda will take a couple weeks to come up, but it will. As hot as it is, do not fertilize. The main thing is once it comes up, let it head out. It might take a couple months depending on rain and temps...but once it heads out you will be good to go. Common bermuda will work fine. This is just how we have sown hay meadows in the past.

If you are afraid of heavy rains, you need to spread some straw over it to keep it from washing.

Thanks for the tips, the ground is mostly dark soil with a little sand mixed in. Really no clay or hard pan. It is still extremely soft since he is just finishing it today.

I'm curious, is there a more heat and shade tolerant variety that can handle Michigan winters? I hear a lot about bermuda and zoisia grasses but not sure they can tolerate our zone. I still struggle to find a shade grass that can deal with dense shade and periodic heat/dryness.

Good advice about rolling it in. When I hand seed and drive over it the grass shoots up in the tire tracks and not so well elsewhere so I always tamp it down in small areas or roll it in in larger seeded plots with a pull behind water filled lawn roller.

canyoncreek, I would check the zones, but when I worked landscaping at a college, we sodded the whole campus in zoysia due to the fact that we had LOTS of trees. It does great in shade. Now your winter I do not know about. Zoysia does not do well with drought.

chambers, I would go get the seed in the next few days...it will take to that soil like crazy I bet! By the way, Those are the most powerful words ever spoken!!

Bermuda won't grow in Michigan. Winter kill. It won't even grow on my hilltop land near here at 2,420 feet elevation, but does great in this river valley. Heat, humidity, good moisture, and mild winters are needed for Bermuda to flourish.

Thanks for the tip! And nice to hear from a fellow believer, that passage has always stuck to my heart/soul

Forgot to add, this is all wide open sun, no shade at this point. I am going to plant so trees but it will be awhile before they help I am sure

I think the bermuda was for Georgia?? I think the question from Michigan was about zoysia? I got confused had to reread the thread. lol

Found this from your state. Check it out. I had some other ideas if winter kill was a problem. But this should shed some light on the subject. Find where you are on the map, then look at the recommendations. Shows common bermuda to not be common in the northern parts but possible. Should give you some options anyways. Anything for hay or forage will work well for your application.

Georgia Grass Recommendations

Yeah, those words have always stuck out to me also...Steven saying it is the one that gets me the most though.

Thanks John for the advise, now back to the thread about warm weather seed varieties

canyon..found some stuff for you. Didn't realize zoysia was so winter tolerant.

Here are some links.

Zoysia 1

Zoysia 2

Zoysia 3

Hope that helps. Says -30 degrees and up to the Canadian border.

I've read about different zoysia hybrids and remember a time growing up where my dad came home with a trailer load of 'plugs' that we spent hours as kids plugging into the back yard. My research says that plugs may not be able to take over if adjacent cool weather grass, bluegrass etc is already in good shape. That probably is what happened to my parent's yard as today the back yard where we put the zoysia plugs has round circles of funny looking, funny colored grass but it really didn't establish and didn't really take off.

I think someone with experience with the various hybrids (all websites say their hybrid is best) in Michigan and has local experience to show me is the best bet. I would want to try it in a limited way on my pond banks that get baked with sun and are missed by my irrigation system. I also have some deep shade areas under the canopy of trees that grow the fescues but come this time in summer with no sun they die out despite adequate fertilizer and water, must be that zero direct sun is just incompatible with grass of any type....

thanks for your research peachgrower.

Any Canadian's with experience with zoysia?

Hey Peachgrower or anyone else, the tips that you gave, is that for the bank going down to the water line? I only have very little water and want to get something to grow before water comes up. Your thoughts

I'm not a pond expert by ANY means. That's why I joined this fine place!! . I just know some about grasses and forages from my years as an agriculture teacher. I'm a big fan of common bermuda. It does well in our states. I see you are from Louisiana.

Just me I would sow your break up the soil around your banks, unless already loose, spread some common bermuda, roll it in and in a couple weeks it will be coming up. Probably with some other native grasses that will be released when you break up the soil. Then by fall, you can scratch it up some and put some rye grass down. As long as you let the bermuda head out before you cut it the first time you should be good to go. Just my thoughts. I'm partial. lol

Thanks everybody for the tips, this really is an excellent place for information. I also spoke with the UGA County Extension and he recommended Bermuda or Centipede. Said Centipede was preferred because it required significantly less nitrogen when fertilizing.

He also recommended Big Blue Stem as a native aquatic plant.

I didn't think about yard grasses. Centipede would be nice. For yards that and St Augustine are my favorites. Can you get centipede seed? I know we always laid it or plugged it.

Not zoysia but we have some bermuda around our pond. It is a very hardy type but will die in the winter to take until June to green the next year. I expect zoysia to be the same but have never used the product.

Cheers Don.

Interesting Dono,
I thought Bermuda would die completely and not come back, but it sounds like you are in a similar zone as we are and your bermuda lives on, but takes a while to wake up from winter. That may still be something useful to keep in mind.

Dono, how long does it last? August? September? Just curious.

Our first good frost it starts to brown off. When I am down at the pond today I will shoot some pictures of it mixed into our rye grass.

The stuff that lives up here is big I mean really big stock. We imported it a few years ago to try to add to a hay crop. We learned early the mid winter thaw would leave ice that would lift the crown of the runner out of the ground. Then the winter wind would freeze it right off. What is living made it through pushing off all the top soil to dig the pond and pushed back on.

Cheers Don.

Here is a few pictures of our Bermuda grass that grows around our pond. It is a very late grass and is not any good for a hay crop in Ontario. BUT it makes a nice summer lawn that stays green when all the other grasses brown right off.

Cheers Don.

I planted 10 lbs of Bermuda around the bank per the owner at the feed/seed store. I just hope the recent rain didn't wash it all away.

Hey Chambers270, Did you till it up at all? If so what was your process?

It was freshly dug, I planted within 3 days after the guy left. The ground was still very soft. I used a large leaf rake and went around 75% of the pond to cover it, was too hot to finish. Afterwards I ran sprinklers on it for a couple hours each day x 3 days. Since then, it has rained every day at least a little so I hope it is not all washed away.

You can spread hay over dirt to help with erosion and keep seeds in place. Search using wood chipper to spread hay. Wish I had known about wood chipper before spreading nearly 100 square bales and 4 round bales.

Thanks Brian, I did put out a few bales of pine straw, the seed is already coming up.

Regarding Bermuda.

I threw some Yukon variety Bermuda out in early June. Nothing grew. I did some research. It can take from 7 to 30 days to germinate, and wants soil temp above 70°F. So I ran another test here. I raked the ground in 2 areas. One loamy soil, another sand. Spread out the Bermuda, raked it flat, covering the seeds with soil.

I put a sprinkler on that covered both areas, on a timer that turned on for 15 minutes every 2 hours.

13 days later the Bermuda is poking it's head out of the ground in both areas.

Without the correct soil temp and keeping the seeds moist it's a wasted effort to plant Bermuda, or any grass seed for that matter is what I have concluded from that little test.