Kikuyu grass is another of the popular lawn choices for many different applications in Australia. Highly resilient, fast growing, quick to repair from damage, with an appealing bright green leaf, Kikuyu has been and continues to be used for home lawns around the country, for sporting ovals and recreational parks.
Why Is Kikuyu So Heavily Used
Kikuyu is a naturally soft lawn variety, which immediately puts it into the good graces of homeowner and council alike. It is a warm season grass which is suitable for most regions of Australia, another plus, and it has a naturally appealing bright colour.
The real strengths of Kikuyu come from its rapid growth rate, making this lawn type ideal for home lawns which are heavily used, whether it be from children’s play, or cars being parked on the lawn, or perhaps as a regular walkway to a swimming pool, Kikuyu repairs very quickly. The same applies to recreational parks and sporting ovals, the repair rate of this turf is phenomenal.
Kikuyu is also a robust lawn, capable of surviving much abuse, whether from heavy use or from being grown in a garden which may be all but neglected, Kikuyu will live and do quite okay under the worst circumstances. It can be used and abused and neglected and we could still often refer to the grass as a lawn, albeit an untidy one.
Old Kikuyu Versus New Kikuyu
There can be a stark difference between the older style common Kikuyu grasses and todays improved variants of Kikuyu which are often referred to as Male Sterile Kikuyu. Whereas the old style Kikuyu could easily and very rapidly spread into surrounding bushland and waterways and into other peoples lawns from their very fine and sticky seed being carried about by birds or dogs or other animals or even on our own clothing, the new variants of modern Kikuyu grass instead produce no viable seed, and so this environmentally negative aspect from the old Kikuyu becomes completely negated.
For this aspect alone, we could only ever strongly suggest that anyone considering installing a new Kikuyu lawn at their home to only ever consider a Male Sterile Kikuyu such as Village Green Kikuyu, though there are other Male Sterile Kikuyus available also, some licensed, others unlicensed, all an improvement on the old.
The new modern Kikuyu lawn variants also seem to grow at a reduced rate when compared to the older Kikuyu lawns, which is wonderful news for the homeowner. Whereas in the past I might come across an older Kikuyu lawn which has grown a foot high in a month, these days I can come across a newer Male Sterile Kikuyu variant and see that it has only grown about as much as a Buffalo lawn, never ever getting out of hand in its growth rates.
So while the fabulous growth of the older Kikuyu grass had its use and was an asset in the right circumstances, todays modern Kikuyu grasses seem to have slowed that monumental growth right down. While maintaining all the best traits of old Kikuyu and through turf selection and breeding to produce a better quality lawn, which is soft, of a lovely colour, and which retains great repair rates, and which has no negative environmental impact as it produces no viable seed.
Kikuyu Grass - An Old Dog Learns A New Appreciation
In all honesty I can say that for a very long time I personally had an overall dislike of Kikuyu grass, so often seeing it in overgrown and messy situations, growth rates out of hand, and seeing how it spread so easily to other lawns, it always stuck like a claw on me. This even despite the newer variants which were so much more improved over the older style Kikuyu which was responsible for this distaste.
When the newer specialty bred Male Sterile Kikuyu grasses began to emerge on the market, they had a lot to prove, a lot to overcome, to get past their old image, and this has taken time so that these new lawn variants could prove themselves to be superior to their older cousins. And this wasn’t just a bias of my own, Kikuyu had fallen out of favour for many people for the same reasons already mentioned.
And as the years have passed by, and not having actually seen an old style Kikuyu lawn for over a decade, and now seeing first hand these new Kikuyu lawns in peoples yards, I can say now that I’ve had a monumental shift in my personal appreciation for Kikuyu lawns.
Many years later, with a new real world experience of seeing the new Male Sterile Kikuyu lawns grown over years I can say that I am a convert with a new appreciation for these newer Kikuyu grass types available in Australia today. The foot high lawns are no more, only a bright green, soft, and durable and repairable grass remains, with very manageable growth rates that are inline with many other lawn varieties.
I still wouldn’t suggest to anyone asking me that they should look at the old style common Kikuyu lawns as a possible new lawn type, which is exactly the same advice I would offer anyone asking the same question about Buffalo Grass or Couch grass. The new varieties are so much better in every single aspect of quality and manageability, with all the old poor traits of any of these grasses pretty much bred out entirely.
Male Sterile Kikuyu Recommendation
I am a true convert to the new Male Sterile Kikuyu lawn varieties that are available today, seeing in the real world in real backyards, over years of use, just what a monumental shift has happened in the breeding and improvement of this grass type, it’s almost like a different grass entirely.
Yes, I can say that I would now closely consider a soft Male Sterile Kikuyu for my own lawn, depending of course on suitability to the yard in which it was to be grown. And with that I would suggest to anyone considering a new lawn, to give Kikuyu another look, specifically the new Male Sterile Kikuyu types, you may be surprised at the improvements from years past.
Male Sterile Kikuyu is best suited to full sun conditions, with minimal shade present.
Male Sterile Kikuyu is therefore a suitable lawn alternative to other full sun and warm season grasses such as Couch and Zoysia. Soft Buffalo is best suited to partial shade conditions and is usually not best suited to nor considered for a full sun environment.
So if you find Couch to be a boring yawn, if you would rather scream than to plant yet another Buffalo lawn, and if Zoysia is not your cup of tea, then it may be time to reconsider Kikuyu again, Male Sterile Kikuyu, it just got a whole lot better.
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