SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A week ago, Utah officials lifted a ban on hybrid bermudagrass, a drought-resistant grass that researchers say could allow Utahns to conserve water while keeping lush, green lawns.
“It’s super exciting for us,” said Eric Marble, of Chanshare Sod Farms in Tremonton. “We’ve spent the last three years trying to get it to this point where it’s actually allowed here in Utah.”
Along with researchers from Utah State University and Brigham Young University, Marble worked with the state’s Noxious Weed Board to delist hybrid bermudagrass as a noxious weed.
Up until July 15, hybrid bermudagrass was illegal outside of Washington County. This was due to its association with common bermudagrass, which is an invasive, highly-aggressive plant.
The hybrid versions, however, are something else. They can thrive on about half the water required for the Kentucky bluegrass commonly found on Utah lawns. New versions of the hybrid are also cold-resistant and non-invasive, as they can’t be grown by seed.
Since the lifting of the ban, Marble has seen massive interest from Utahns.
“I mean, to require 50% of the water and have a beautiful, lush, green lawn in your landscape, that’s a huge thing,” he said. “We have had a lot of people who are interested in it.”
Can’t be grown by seed
Jayden Harris, whose family owns Red Desert Sod in St. George, said that he has been getting calls every day since the ban was lifted. Generally, people are asking to buy a bag of hybrid bermudagrass seed.
“It’s the biggest eye roll,” Harris said. “[They] know enough to know that it’s a good thing, but not enough to know about the work that goes into making it a hybrid, making it what it is.”
What these callers don’t realize, Harris said, is that hybrid bermudagrass can’t grow by seed. He described the product, developed by researchers across the country, as similar to a seedless watermelon.
For people to put hybrid bermudagrass in their lawns, they need to buy sod or sprigs, grass stems that can be planted in intervals to establish a lawn. Sprigs are a more affordable option.
Harris said that his business carries hybrid bermudagrass sod, which they typically install on sports fields and on properties in Nevada and Arizona. He said it’s a great option for people with bigger lawns looking to save water.
Can you install it this summer?
Marble, of Chanshare Sod Farms, said they’re getting ready to send out their first shipment of hybrid bermudagrass in the next week or two.
He said that they’ll likely have a limited supply until late August or early September. After that, it’ll likely be too late to establish hybrid bermudagrass in most of Utah before winter. If the grass isn’t allowed time to take root, it could die over the cold months.
Over the next two years, Chanshare Sod Farms plans to increasingly offer a cold-resistant type of hybrid bermudagrass known as Tahoma 31. Developed at Oklahoma State University, this grass is currently on the lawns outside the U.S. Capitol Building, as well as the football fields for the Chicago Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles.
“It is so soft,” Marble said. “It’s like walking on carpet with 2-inch padding beneath it.”
The Cost
Outside of Washington County, it’s a process for Utah sod farmers to get hybrid bermudagrass.
According to Marble, the grass needs to be imported from other states and inspected by officials, the farms have to obtain a certificate of origin, and the grass must be grown from foundational material.
“It’s a much more detailed and controlled process than any type of bluegrass you could put in a landscape,” he said. “Because of that, the cost is higher.”
For sod, hybrid bermudagrass might set you back between $2 and $2.5 a square foot. In comparison, sod for Kentucky bluegrass is less than a dollar a square foot.
Moving ahead, however, the price will likely drop as more sod farmers grow hybrid bermudagrass across Utah in the coming years, Marble said.
Drawbacks
Hybrid bermudagrass can survive winters in the Rocky Mountains. Still, it favors warmth, and goes dormant in the fall. This means lawns with hybrid bermudagrass will be brown around the time of the first frost and won’t green up until late spring.
Bryan Hopkins, a plant and wildlife sciences professor at Brigham Young University, who helped get hybrid bermudagrass delisted, said that those who want their lawn to be green into the winter can overseed it with perennial ryegrass. That’s what he plans to do with his lawn.
“So if that’s important to you, that’s an option,” he said. “If it’s not, you don’t have to take care of it for too many months of the year.”
Hybrid bermudagrass also forms a thick thatch. This means that living and dead grass roots build up, stopping oxygen and moisture from penetrating into the soil. To counter this, homeowners will need to dethatch their hybrid bermudagrass each season.
Even so, a hybrid bermudagrass lawn should be less maintenance than a bluegrass lawn. According to Hopkins, the hybrid doesn’t need to be mowed as often as it tends to grow horizontally rather than vertically.
“Overall, your labor to take care of your lawn is going to be less,” he said, “because you’re going to be mowing less and you’re going to be watering less.”
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