Why Pick Raleigh St. Augustine Grass

Why Choose Raleigh St. Augustine Grass Sod for Houston Projects?

Call us at 281-431-7441 for more information.  If you’re looking for a variety of grass that’s easy to care for and is well adapted to the climate and soil we have in the Houston area, then Raleigh St. Augustine grass may be your best choice.  Most of the grass sod we sell is Raleigh St. Augustine and there are good reasons for that.  Houston Grass Owner Michael Romine talks about Raleigh St. Augustine grass in this video.

Summary of Why Pick Raleigh St. Augustine Grass

Raleigh St. Augustine is the most popular of the two St. Augustine grass varieties that we carry. The best grass variety for your project depends on what your requirements are as far as shade, traffic tolerance, price and other factors.

We no longer carry Floratam St. Augustine grass.

If you were to compare the Raleigh St. Augustine to the Palmetto, the Raleigh has larger leaf thickness. The Palmetto would be the smallest leaves with the highest density and certainly the thickest grass.

why pick raleigh st augustine grass
Why pick Raleigh St. Augustine Grass?

Raleigh St. Augustine is the only grass that we keep here at our office in Arcola, and we keep it in stock all the time. We sell it by the piece, by the pallet, and by the half pallet.  It’s 99% of what we sell and it probably composes 95% of what our family farm grows.  Our farm in Bay City is large, and the vast majority of the farm’s acreage is the Raleigh St. Augustine grass.  If you look around in your neighborhood, more than likely Raleigh St. Augustine is what’s probably in your neighbor’s yard and probably in your yard as well.

In my opinion, it’s probably the easiest to care for.  It’s the most forgiving certainly as far as fertilization, mowing and things like that.  I would say that the Raleigh St. Augustine grass in general is probably the easiest for a homeowner to care for, whether you’re a first time homeowner that’s just taking on their first lawn, or someone with many years of experience caring for a lawn.  Looking at it another way, if you want to minimize the time required to care for your lawn, Raleigh St. Augustine may be the grass to choose.

Sunlight Requirements of Raleigh St. Augustine Grass

It also requires the most sunlight or sun exposure of the St. Augustine grasses we carry.   If you compare grass varieties for the amount of direct sun they need to flourish, the Bermuda grass varieties need 100 percent sunlight through the day and then the St. Augustine grass varieties certainly can subsist with some filtered sunlight, like through trees with thinned branches or in some partial shade.

How much sunlight do you get? On a sunny day you go out with your phone and take a photo every hour or two. Then at the end of the day you scroll through your pictures, and it will show you the different areas of sunlight and shade through the day. You’ll get a rough measurement of which areas of your yard get how much sunlight.
Another method that works well for measuring sunlight is to use your security cameras. After a sunny day, you can of scroll through and watch the sunlight move across your lawn. You’ll see which areas may or may not be a problem.
We recommend that people do one of these two options when we talk to them on the phone.

Michael Romine, Houston Grass

The Raleigh St. Augustine needs six or seven hours of direct sunlight and indirect or filtered sunlight throughout the rest of the day.  Direct sunlight is, say the morning or evening sun with the sun is coming underneath a tree from angles. So if you have grass sod going in under mature oak trees, you probably won’t have enough sun for Raleigh St. Augustine to thrive.  Bermuda grass sod should not be installed under trees.

Palmetto St. Augustine can subsist on four to five hours of direct sunlight.   All grass varieties prefer 100% sunlight and they look their best in those conditions but Palmetto St. Augustine grass can still thrive with less direct sunlight and more filtered sunlight than Raleigh St. Augustine.  So if you have large trees in your yard or you have small trees that will become large trees over time, you might still be able to use Palmetto St. Augustine if you keep your trees trimmed on a regular basis.

Watering, Fertilization & Mowing Requirements

As far as watering requirements just like the rest of these grass varieties to have them look their best, we say one inch of water per week during the growing season — either from rain or from watering. Preferably you should do that over two watering so half inch twice a week, ideally the day after or right after you mow your yard.

So the next morning after you mow, you follow it up with a half inch of water and then three or four days later another half inch. If it’s out of your hose that’s about two hours of watering in each area.  To put out a half inch of water with your irrigation system, I found that about 15 or 20 minutes per zone on a sprinkler system twice a week is enough water for established grass to do very well.  During the winter months, an inch of water every two weeks is enough.

Fertilization for Raleigh St. Augustine grass is just like all the St. Augustines with about two to three fertilizations per year.  If you’re comparing Raleigh St. Augustine and the other St. Augustine’s to the Bermuda grasses, you’ll find that you’re fertilizing the Bermuda grass varieties about twice that much per year. Again, two to three times a year, fall or spring fertilizer and then somewhere in between is usually ample fertilizer for the Raleigh St. Augustine.

We mow all of the display grass out here once a week, and every seven days it’s kind of the minimum requirement for all these grasses.  As a rule of thumb, you never want to cut more than a third of the grass leaf off at any one time. So usually every seven days is the maximum interval for mowings.  If you mow less frequently than that, you really can cause a lot of stress to the grass because you’ll be cutting off more of the grass leaves when you do mow. So if you can mow about every five days with the St. Augustine, that’s ideal but every seven days is kind of the minimum requirement.

As far as the Raleigh St. Augustine, I would say we sell the most of it for many good reasons. It’s fairly forgiving and easy to take care of, and looks pretty good to most folks.  It’s also the lowest price grass we sell, and I think that it’s a real good option for lots of people and lots of grass projects in the Houston area.

Call Us to Get a Quote

If you have questions about any of our grass varieties, please call us at 281-431-7441 for advice or use our contact form.  Our grass sod is grown and harvested from our family farm in Bay City, TX, and that’s why we’re confident in the quality and the freshness of every pallet we sell.  Our family has been in the grass business since 1981 and we’ve focused on quality from the start.  So if you want grass that looks good this year, next year and five years from now, order from Houston Grass!

We’re located in Arcola, which is south of Houston.  We’re a few miles east of Sienna Plantation and just off Highway 6 on McKeever Road.  You can pick up your grass sod at our office or we’re happy to quote a delivery price to your project.  We can also arrange installation at your project site.

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