ST 85 Buffalo Grass

Overview

Avoid this Buffalo Grass unless you want a real cheap grass.

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3/5

Detailed Review

Prior to the introduction of Palmetto, Sir Walter and Sapphire, this was probably the best Buffalo grass available for your lawn. Now it just does not cut it. It goes purple or brown very quickly in winter, but worst of all it is prone to problems that cause drop out, leaving your lawn with holes in it, which take a long time to recover. It is one of the first types of lawn turf to shrivel in the dry. It appears to have a much shallower root system, giving it less drought tolerance than other grass varieties. It is hard to find solid information about this grass, but on one of the ST85 grower’s web sites, it was rated only fair for hot weather tolerance, whilst the same grower rated Palmetto as very good for hot weather tolerance. ST85 has problems with some chemicals. Some chemicals even list ST85 on their label saying, ‘Varietal difference in certain Buffalo grasses (e.g. ST85) may produce more pronounced effects’. It was probably one of the worst performing Buffalo types in Australian research. On the plus side it requires less lawn mowing like Palmetto, but that really is this grass' main benefit.

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