Your Choices Have Always Been Limited
If You Wanted a Nice Lawn in the Phoenix area.

   Hybrid Bermudas like Tif-Green, Santa-Ana. Bob Sod and Tifway make nice lawns, but they're difficult and expensive to plant.  In the 1950's Tifgreen was created by cross breeding Arizona Common with the African variety of Bermuda.  In the 1960's and 1970's Tifway, Santa Ana and Midiron were Developed.  Bob Sod is really an old variety called Mississippi Choice that was developed in the 1980's. 

   These grasses are 'vegetatively propagated.'  The only way Hybrid Bermudas can be planted are from plugs or little cut-up pieces of grass called stolons, or from sod.  That makes them expensive to plant.

   Sod farms don't have to re-plant every time they harvest a field.  The root system allows them to sell the same grass again and again, several times a year.  If the grasses the sod farms have been selling for all these decades became un-popular, it would be very expensive and time consuming to change a field to another kind of grass.  That means they have very little incentive to adopt newer varieties.

   Unfortunately, except for Midiron, Hybrids are maintenance intensive. Unless cut as often as twice a week with an expensive special "Tif Mower" high-end Hybrids "scalp easily."  That's because they're very dense and the green color on the blades of grass doesn't go very far down into the plant.  Hybrids also build a dense layer of dead grass and have to be de-thatched as often as twice a year.  (I couldn't even begin to tell you how many people have told me they loved their Bob Sod lawn the first year then wished they never got it because it became so "thatchy.")

   Midiron is popular because it's easy to take care of, but it has another problem.  It's dense enough to have decent "curb appeal" but the kids won't like it because it's "itchy and scratchy."  It lacks density.  MID-IRON IS NOT DENSE ENOUGH TO BE "SOFT AND PLUSH" OR NICE TO WALK BAREFOOT IN.

   Hybrids are drought tolerant but they can be thirsty if you want them to look good.  They don't tolerate traffic well.  They have disease and insect problems.  They're not shade tolerant.  (Except Bob Sod requires 4-1/2 to 5 hours of direct sun instead of 6 hours.)  And they go dormant (turn brown) for nearly half the year.  And unless well fertilized, they have an unattractive light green color.  It's no wonder most people in Arizona give up and have colored rocks instead of a nice lawn.

   BUT THAT'S CHANGING. Research and development didn't stop 30 or 40 years ago. We have beautiful new, low maintenance grasses that are easy to plant - because they're planted from seed.

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Nature's Way HydroSeeding
Post Office Box 1114
Queen Creek, AZ 85242
www.WhySod.com
(480) 540-9850
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