Palmetto St. Augustine grass was found by a Florida sod growers in 1988. Palmetto is a versatile sod that is often referred to as a semi-dwarf St. Augustine grass variety with intermediate growth habit and inter-nodes. Even though it’s semi dwarf grass type, the blades are slightly larger than other St. Augustine sods. Palmetto grass blades are a light emerald green, and soft, subtle texture. Using Palmetto St Augustine Sod in full sun or partial shade in zones 8 thru 10 is highly recommend. This is a excellent choice for just about any sod installation project.
Even though this grass variety is a great option for medium amounts of shade, sodding Palmetto in dense shade is not recommended in areas with less than 4 hours of sunlight per day. This sod type is one of the colder tolerant St. Augustine sods’. Palmetto sod resists cinch bugs and is referred to as “drought-tolerant,” even though there is no research proving this. This sod is recommended for home lawns, highways, parks, erosion control, commercial developments.
Palmetto St Augustine sod is so widely used that it is the #1 turf grass sold in America. Palmetto has an extensive horizontal growth, similar to Floratam and Bitter Blue. It is known to grow faster, and spread rapidly horizontally and has a massive root system to make this a very hardy sodding option.
Although, Palmetto is known to grow slower vertically than any other dwarf varieties. Palmetto St. Augustine should be mowed to a height of 3 inches for best overall appearance and well-being. A plus to choosing Palmetto St Augustine sod for your landscape project is it requires lower maintenance and recovers rapidly from injury.
If you properly maintain this sod, Palmetto will deliver years and years of aesthetically pleasing and a fully functional lawn. The salt tolerance is superior to other St. Augustine sods. In fact, it’s so well that it would be an excellent choice for coastal homes or businesses. We recommend to mow off 1-2 inches every week or so in the spring and summer, and in the winter every two to four weeks. Make sure not to scalp, and never remove more than 1/3 of the leaf blade in a single mowing.
