The Grass Doctor

planting dates for buffalo grass seed?

Public Comments

1. Being a warm season grass, Buffalo Grass is best sown in early summer (late June through July). The summer's intense heat makes for speedy germination, plus this leaves time for the new turf to establish enough of a root system to survive it's first winter. Although you may get good germination later than this, you're likely to suffer extensive winter kill as the turf won't have a chance to harden off before it starts to go dormant in the early fall. If you live in a warmer climate, or if you have a particularly hot site, you might be able to stretch it a bit, but I'd say you're outside the window at this point of the year. Better to wait until next year than to spend all the time, effort, and money (buffalo grass seed isn't cheap), and get poor results. As an aside, I'd suggest seeding heavier than is recommended if you can afford it. It will help in creating a much thicker stand initially, which will crowd out the weeds which are a problem in warm season turf. Also using an erosion fabric mat will help immensely. We use a woven wood fiber product that the manufacturer claims gets 93% better germination than loose straw. After seeing the results on seeding after seeding I'd tend to agree.