5 Best Grass Types for Sarasota: Choosing The Right Sod for Your Lawn
If you’re cruising down the road, listening to your favorite tunes, maybe munching a cheeseburger, all the lawns look the same as you drive by.
They’re green.
Up close, though, you’ll notice more detail. Some grass has pretty blue-green blades so soft and lush you consider throwing away all your shoes. Some lawns look great in the summer, but fade to brown in winter. Some grass, and you know who you are, looks kind of ratty. But you serve a purpose, bless your heart.
When you consider all the types of grass in Florida, which one is best for you? What’s the best sod for Sarasota?
It depends on your unique situation, but St. Augustine Floratam, St. Augustine CitraBlue, or Empire Zoysia will likely work best for you.
And while it won’t win any beauty contests, Argentine Bahia is great for specific conditions.
Let’s learn more about the best sod for Florida lawns, including:
First, Why Sod and Not Seed?
St. Augustine Floratam
St. Augustine CitraBlue
Empire Zoysia
Bimini Bermuda
Argentine Bahia
First, Why Sod and Not Seed?
Have you ever noticed hardly anybody plants grass seed around here? Up north, homeowners happily toss around grass seed like farmers feeding chickens.
Why are we so in love with sod? It’s actually pretty interesting.
Grass seed isn’t typically used In Florida, because the most popular variety for the state, St. Augustine, doesn't produce enough viable seed to be widely available. Same thing with zoysia. So grass is grown from sod or plugs.
If you look out at your St. Augustine grass and see seeds, that means your grass is stressed. It only produces seed as a reaction to stress.
If you get the DIY bug and decide to buy a bag of grass seed, beware -- it’s going to have weed seeds mixed in with grass seed. Once that stuff sprouts, you’ll have major regrets.
Our message about grass seed: just don’t use it.
Sod has other benefits over seed, too. It’s faster, for one thing. Instant lawn. And sod
is way better at resisting weeds than a seeded lawn. It’s automatically thick and healthy, which helps keep weeds from sneaking in.
Sod is also great if you have soil erosion problems on your property when it rains. It’s already thick and healthy, and no soil is exposed.
Why not let the sod farmers do all the hard work planting, fertilizing and watering your lawn to give it a great start?
But the question remains: what’s the best sod for Florida lawns?
Check out these five options:
1. St. Augustine Floratam
If your yard gets full sun, this is the grass for you. It’s the sod we install the most, and is among the best sod for Sarasota.
It’s a time-tested, reliable sod that won’t let you down.
Thick and pretty with deep roots, Floratam needs plenty of direct sunlight — a minimum of six hours or more per day. It thrives in hot, humid conditions and grows in a variety of soils.
Its attractive blue-green blades form a dense turf that establishes quickly and easily, making it one of the best grass types in Florida.
But you’ll need to adjust to having taller grass. Floratam thrives at 4 to 4.5 inches high. Don’t cut more than one-third of the leaf blade off each time. (That’s a great rule to follow in general for the healthiest lawn.)
2. St. Augustine CitraBlue
This is another great St. Augustine variety, and it’s more adaptable to shade.
If your yard doesn’t have the full sun that Floratam craves, CitraBlue is the best sod for Sarasota. It needs just two hours or more of sun a day.
It has a deep blue-green color, like Floratam, and is slow growing, so it needs minimal mowing and maintenance. It also boasts good disease and insect resistance.
3. Empire Zoysia
Can we take just a minute to point out how fun “zoysia” is to say?
But it has plenty of other good qualities, too. Empire is the only zoysia we use and one of the best grass types for Florida.
But first, important question: Do you live here in Central Florida all year? If so, you’ll probably be fine with zoysia.
Here’s the thing: it looks amazing all summer, but turns brownish in the winter.
So if you show up in November, you won’t be greeted by a lush green lawn.
But full-time residents are typically willing to put up with that winter fade because it looks so stunning in June through September.
Green, soft and plush, a lawn doesn’t get much better. You might want to ditch your bed and just sleep on your lawn.
Bonus points: It doesn’t grow too fast, resists weeds, stands up to wear, and is happy in most any type of soil, making it among the best sod types for Florida lawns.
Plan on weekly mowing during the growing season. Unlike St. Augustine Floratam, zoysia likes to be shorter, maintained no higher than 2.5 inches in height.
4. Bimini Bermuda
We’ve been testing this sod variety since the hurricanes last year. It holds up well in storm surge and saltwater.
Bimini is an improved hybrid Bermuda grass that forms a fine-textured, dense turf with a beautiful dark green color. It spreads quickly and recovers well from stress, making it one of the most durable types of grass in Florida. It stands up well to foot traffic, making it popular for golf courses. Some homeowners who admire the short turf at their favorite golf course love the idea of coming home to a similar lawn.
That’s all great news for lawn lovers, but there’s a trade off — it’s higher maintenance than other varieties.
Bimini requires a much shorter cut, which means it needs multiple mowings each week.
5. Argentine Bahia
Let’s say right up front that we’re nice people, and not trying to be mean in this discussion about Bahia grass.
It isn’t pretty. But to be fair, that’s not its job.
If you’re looking for little to no maintenance, have full sun, and don’t need a perfect green lawn, this tops the list of easy-care grass types in Florida.
What makes Bahia so tough? It has a deep and vigorous root system. It has great heat and drought tolerance, too, and it’s not picky about the condition of your soil.
And it doesn’t need as much water as other grass types in Florida. In fact, if you don’t have an irrigation system, this grass variety is about your only choice.
Once it’s established, Bahia can live off rainwater alone. Don’t worry about fertilizing or pest control either. Heavy foot traffic? No problem.
But we call Bahia “a three-year lawn.” Once weeds wrangle their way in, no weed killer will take them out.
If you want grass you can plant and basically ignore, and you’re fine with a wilder, pasture-like look, go for Bahia.
(Maybe tell it that’s it pretty once in a while, just to be nice.)
Want the Best Sod for Sarasota? Talk to Us
Once you’ve picked your perfect sod, don’t ignore it.
Hire a Sarasota FL lawn care service that specializes in comprehensive turf care.
You want a tailored lawn care program with perfectly timed fertilizer and weed control. Add attentive irrigation maintenance to help ensure that healthy green Florida lawn.
Get skilled experts on board who can set you up with the best variety of grass, make sure your irrigation can handle its specific water needs, and know how to offer nutrients that go straight to your lawn’s hungry roots.
Let’s get started. We’ll help you figure it all out.
Give us a call or fill out our form today! Our team of Sarasota lawn pros can’t wait to transform your Florida lawn into a green oasis that will make you proud.
