Ornamental · Poaceae
Bahiagrass
Paspalum notatum
Tough, drought-proof, and happy in poor sandy soil, bahiagrass holds ground where finer lawns give up.
Full sun
Every 3–7 days
60–90 days
USDA 7–11
Overview
Bahiagrass is a warm-season perennial that grows from deep, far-reaching roots, which is the secret to how well it handles drought. It came out of South America and took hold across the warm, sandy lower South, where it now serves as lawn, pasture, and roadside cover. You will know it by the tall, two-pronged seedheads that fork into a Y over the turf.
What sets it apart is how little it asks. It thrives in infertile, acidic, sandy soil that would starve other grasses, gets by on light feeding, and rarely needs watering once established. In return you get an open, coarse, light-green turf rather than a dense carpet, and a near-constant run of seedheads through summer.
This is a grass for function over polish. Give it full sun and room to spread and it will choke out weeds and hold a slope together with very little input. Ask it to look like a fine lawn and you will be mowing every week and still chasing those seedheads.
Care
The short version: full sun, infertile acidic sandy soil, and very little water once it has rooted. Mow high at 3 to 4 inches, feed lightly, and plan on frequent summer mowing to keep the seedheads in check.
Light
Bahiagrass needs full sun to do well and won't hold a stand in shade. The more direct sun it gets, the denser and more weed-resistant the turf stays.
Water
Once rooted, this is one of the most drought-tolerant lawn grasses you can grow, thanks to its deep roots. Water only as needed, around half to three-quarters of an inch at a time, and let it go brown and dormant in a dry spell rather than fighting it. New plantings are the exception and need regular water for the first 2 to 3 weeks.
Soil
It actually prefers infertile, sandy, acidic ground where finer grasses struggle, with a sweet spot around pH 5.5 to 6.5. Push the pH much above that and the grass yellows and stalls, so keep the soil on the acidic side.
Temperature
As a warm-season grass it greens up in heat and browns off in cold, handling a range from about 19°F to 100°F (-7°C to 38°C). It goes dormant rather than dying back in winter across its hardiness range.
Humidity
Outdoor humidity is no concern for an established lawn. What matters more is letting the blades dry between waterings, since lingering leaf wetness is what invites dollar spot.
Feeding
Bahiagrass is a light feeder, needing only about 1 to 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1000 square feet a year through the spring and summer growing season. On high-pH soils a dose of iron as ferrous sulfate fixes the yellowing that lime-heavy ground brings on.
Pruning
Mow high, at 3 to 4 inches, and never take off more than a third of the blade in one pass. Through summer the tall Y-shaped seedheads shoot up within days, so expect to mow often to keep them down, and keep the blade sharp because the tough stalks dull it fast.
Repotting
none
Size & spacing
The turf itself stays low at 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) when mowed, while individual plants spread 1 to 3 feet (30 to 100 cm) to knit a stand together. Plant or sprig with that spread in mind so the cover fills in without long bare gaps.
When to plant
Bahiagrass wants warm soil to get going. Sow seed or lay sod from spring into early summer so the stand has the whole warm season to root and fill in before cooler weather slows it down.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Seed or sod in spring to early summer once soil is warm, allowing establishment before cool weather
- Harvest: Summer; tall two-spike Y- or V-shaped seedhead racemes
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 7–11
Temperature: down to -18°C
Troubleshooting
Most bahiagrass trouble is cosmetic and easy to read once you know the signs. Seedheads, yellowing, thin patches, and small bleached spots each point to a specific cause. Match what you see below, then act before it spreads.
Patches that wilt fast over spongy, tunneled soil
Mole crickets are the worst insect pest bahiagrass faces, burrowing through the root zone and chewing the roots as they go. Confirm them with a soap flush, mixing 1 to 2 ounces of lemon dish soap into 2 gallons of water over a 2-square-foot patch, and the crickets surface within minutes. Treat the young nymphs in early summer before their numbers build, and keep the turf vigorous so it can shrug off light feeding.
Fix:
- Treat for mole crickets when young nymphs are active in summer
- Keep turf healthy so it can outgrow light feeding
Small bleached circles scattered across the lawn
Those silver-dollar patches are dollar spot, a fungus that takes hold when the grass runs short on nitrogen and the blades stay wet with dew. Look for hourglass-banded lesions on the blades to confirm it. A light feeding of about half a pound of nitrogen per 1000 square feet helps the grass grow past it, and watering early in the day so the blades dry by evening keeps it from spreading.
Fix:
- Apply a light nitrogen feeding (about 0.5 lb N per 1000 sq ft)
- Water early in the day so blades dry quickly and avoid evening irrigation
Tall Y-shaped seedheads springing up days after you mow
Those forked stalks are normal bahiagrass behavior, not a sign anything is wrong, and they shoot up fastest through the long days of summer. Mow every 7 to 14 days to keep them down, and keep the blade sharp because the tough stems dull it quickly. If you want a tidier look, the Argentine type throws fewer and shorter seedheads than the common kinds.
Fix:
- Mow frequently in summer (every 7 to 14 days) to keep seedheads down
- Keep a sharp, heavy-duty rotary blade because the tough seedstalks dull blades
- Choose Argentine for fewer, shorter seedheads if a tidier look is wanted
Yellow blades with greener veins on limy soil
This is iron chlorosis, and it shows up when the soil pH climbs above 7.0 and locks the iron away from the grass. A dose of ferrous sulfate, about 2 ounces per 1000 square feet, greens it back up within days, repeated every 6 weeks or so if the yellowing returns. The lasting fix is to leave the soil acidic and resist the urge to lime.
Fix:
- Apply ferrous sulfate at about 2 oz per 1000 sq ft, repeating roughly every 6 weeks as needed
- Avoid raising soil pH; do not over-lime
Toxicity
A bahiagrass lawn is safe for pets and people and is not on the ASPCA toxic-plant lists. The only real cautions are for grazing animals, since the summer seedheads can carry an ergot fungus, and for hay-fever sufferers bothered by the pollen. Mowing the seedheads off clears the grazing risk entirely.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
A bahiagrass lawn is safe for cats. Like any grass, a few nibbled blades might bring up a small hairball, but the plant itself carries no toxin.
Dogs None
Dogs can run and roll on a bahiagrass lawn without worry. There is nothing poisonous in the blades, and the grass holds up well to paws and play.
Horses Moderate
The grass itself is good forage and safe to graze. The one catch is the summer seedheads, which can carry an ergot fungus that brings on tremors and an unsteady, staggering gait. Mow the seedheads off and the risk goes with them, and any affected horse steadies up once moved off the pasture.
Rabbits Safe
Bahiagrass is fine for rabbits to graze, with no toxin in the leaves or roots.
Livestock Moderate
Cattle, goats, and sheep graze bahiagrass widely as pasture. Trouble only comes from ergot-infected seedheads, which can cause paspalum staggers, a tremoring, off-balance condition. Keeping the seedheads mowed down clears the danger.
Birds Safe
Birds peck the seed and forage over bahiagrass without harm.
People Safe
A bahiagrass lawn is safe to walk, sit, and play on. The only thing to note is that its pollen can bother people with hay fever, so sensitive gardeners may want to mow before the seedheads open.
Safe as a lawn for pets and people. Two grazing-only nuances: grass pollen is allergenic to sensitive people, and for livestock the Paspalum seedheads can be infected with ergot (Claviceps paspali) whose sclerotia cause paspalum staggers (tremors and incoordination) in grazing cattle and horses. Mowing off seedheads removes this risk; it does not affect pet or human safety of the lawn.
Varieties
A few named types cover most plantings, and the right one depends on whether you want a tidier lawn or tougher pasture. These are the ones worth knowing.
Pensacola
The most widely grown type carries narrow leaves and shrugs off cold, but it pays for that toughness with tall, prolific seedheads.
Argentine
A wider-bladed type that knits into denser, more even sod with fewer and shorter seedheads, making it the tidier pick for lawns even though it handles cold less well.
Tifton 9
An improved Pensacola selection bred by USDA-ARS and the University of Georgia for stronger seedlings and longer leaves, grown mainly for pasture and forage.
TifQuik
A fast-germinating selection in the Pensacola line that gets established quickly for pasture and forage use.
How to propagate
Bahiagrass is one of the easier warm-season grasses to start, whether you sow it from seed or lay it as sod. Either way, patience pays, since it is slow to knit into full cover.
SeedEasy
Spring to early summer when soil is warm · Several weeks to a few months; scarified seed speeds germination
Bahiagrass is one of the few warm-season lawn grasses you can start straight from seed, which is why most new stands begin this way. Sow in spring to early summer once the soil has warmed, and expect it to take several weeks to a few months to fill in, since it germinates slowly. Scarified seed comes up faster if you can find it.
DivisionModerate
Warm season; spring to summer · A few weeks for sod to root; plugs and sprigs are slow to fill in
Laying sod or planting sprigs and plugs through the warm months gets you cover faster than seed, with sod rooting in a few weeks. The trade-off is that bahiagrass never forms tight, uniform sod slabs, and plugs are slow to knit together into a solid stand.
Myths
Bahiagrass makes a fine, manicured lawn like Bermuda or St. Augustine.
It forms open, coarse, light-green sod and keeps pushing up tall Y-shaped seedheads all summer, so it never reads as a carpet lawn no matter how often you mow. Its real strength is large, low-maintenance ground like pastures, roadsides, and erosion control, where its toughness and drought resistance count for more than a tidy finish.