Prestige® Buffalo Grass

Drought Tolerance

Thanks to its deep, dense root system, Prestige Buffalo joins other Buffalo and warm season grasses in the category of Drought Tolerant grasses, making them extremely desirable for Australia’s warm and sometimes exceptionally dry climate.

Prestige Buffalo can survive with less water than other Buffalo varieties, making it a leading choice for home lawns in regional areas where water can be scarce and droughts hit hard, as well as in some of the northernmost regions that experience the harshest summer temperatures.

High Wear Tolerance

Prestige Buffalo benefits from exceptional wear tolerance, despite its low thatch layer and soft canopy. It boasts an exceptionally quick growth rate which contributes to its speedy recovery from excessive wear, or rough play in active backyards with pets, making it a leading choice for households around Australia.

High Shade Tolerance

Prestige Buffalo boasts one of the best shade tolerance profiles of any warm season grass, making it a versatile option for yards with established trees, or in densely populated suburbs that can suffer from shading due to rooflines and fences. Prestige Buffalo will tolerate up to 50% shade in high traffic areas, or up to 70% shade in moderate traffic areas.

 While Prestige Buffalo can survive with as little as 2 hours of sunlight per day, ideally it would receive between 3-4 hours to keep it looking its best.

Dark Green Colour

Buffalo varieties are lauded for their stunning, broad green leaves and Prestige Buffalo has been specifically bred to offer the best colour throughout the growing season, meaning a vibrant green lawn throughout the warmer months.

It’s also proven itself to hold on to this colour throughout winter dormancy, where some other warm season grasses lose colour and condition to cope with the cooler soil temperatures, meaning a consistently greener lawn all year round.

Low Thatch

Unlike other warm season grasses that send roots deep into the soil, the majority of your Buffalo lawn lives above the surface which can contribute to a spongy feeling underfoot, as older plant matter breaks down allowing new growth to come through.

This phenomena known as ‘thatch’ is the middle layer of older material between the soil and the healthy, green canopy of the lawn. Buffalo varieties can suffer from thatch, however Prestige Buffalo boasts one of the lowest thatch profiles of any warm season grass.

 As well as contributing to a healthier looking lawn and one that feels nicer underfoot, lower thatch levels contribute to a healthier lawn by prioritising the delivery of water and nutrients to the soil layer.

Low Seed Head

Traditional Buffalo seed heads can be unsightly and agitate people with allergies, which is why Prestige Buffalo with its low seed head is the preferred choice for people who’ve suffered with grass sensitivities in the past, making it a lush lawn solution that everyone can enjoy.

Best Planting Time

Because it’s less susceptible to winter dormancy and thanks to its strong year-round colour, Prestige Buffalo can be planted at any time of the year.

Planting in Autumn or Winter when the grass is naturally growing slower will translate to slightly longer establishment period, whereas planting in Spring or Summer when the plant is actively growing will drastically reduce the time it takes for the lawn to establish.

For this reason, many home lawn owners choose to plant their new lawn at the start of Spring as soil temperatures rise, allowing them to start mowing and enjoying their new lawn sooner.

Installing Prestige Buffalo Grass

Installing any new lawn begins with a good base, and in the case of laying your new Prestige Buffalo turf you’ll want a nice soil subsurface. Your soil should show the basic signs of good health, and be a rich dark brown colour, be holding good moisture and show signs of bioactivity which can include the presence of worms. If your soil isn’t meeting these standards, consider bringing in a quality turf underlay from your local landscape supplies store.

Once you’ve levelled the soil subsurface, apply a quality starter fertiliser like Lawn Pride’s Under Turf Starter. You can begin laying your rolls of turf, ensuring there are no air pockets between the turf roll and the soil to maximise soil-to-root contact. Lay your turf rolls in a brickwork like fashion – butting the ends of the rolls neatly up against one another, and offsetting each row so as to spread out your turf join lines.

During the turf establishment process, look to water for between 10-15min three times a day as this is when your Prestige Buffalo’s water requirements will be greatest.

Mowing Prestige Buffalo Grass

Buffalo lawns can be maintained at a variety of mowing heights, and the two most common mowing methods in Australia are rotary lawn mowers or cylinder mowing.

Rotary lawn mowers are by far the most popular, and are the mower most likely to be found in any residential garden shed. They’re perfect for maintaining your Prestige Buffalo height at a healthy 30-50mm – remember that Buffalo leaf length is directly proportional to plant health, and a longer lawn will hold better colour and be more shade and frost tolerant.

Cylinder mowing is becoming more popular in Australia as home lawn owners fall in love with the signature stripes of the cylinder mowing process. Cylinder mowing is suitable for flatter lawns and will reduce your height of cut to between 20-30mm. The cylinder mowing process does bring with it a raft of plant health benefits including increased disease tolerance due to the cleanliness of the cut, and will not affect overall plant health or condition despite the lower height of cut compared to a rotary lawn mower.

Watering Your Lawn

Keeping your lawn sufficiently watered is a delicate balance between providing enough water for your lawn to grow and thrive, without overwatering and stunting root development or welcoming in fungal issues.

In the growing season (Spring and Summer) look to water at least once a week for around 15min as your baseline, and adjust this based on environmental and climatic pressures. If the weather is exceptionally warm and there’s been little rainfall, look to water your lawn whenever its showing signs of heat stress which may include slight changes in colour, or a reluctance of the leaf to spring back up after you stand on it.

Similarly, dial this watering schedule back if the weather is cold and wet, as your lawn’s water requirements will subside as the temperature plummets. During Winter, remember that cold, windy conditions can dry the lawn out just as much as hot dry conditions.

A quality soil wetter like Lawn Pride’s HydraMaxx will help your soil absorb and store water, allowing better nutrient uptake during the growing season and reducing the likelihood of moisture stress during dry spells.

Fertilising

Fertilising your lawn is one of the easiest ways to improve overall lawn condition and take a good home lawn to a great one. Prestige Buffalo requires some of the lowest nutrient levels of any warm season grass on the market, and while it offers exceptional colour and condition straight out of the box, this can be enhanced with the use of external supplements such as granular fertilisers, and liquid soil and plant conditioners.

Consider starting Spring with a high-quality granular fertiliser like Lawn Pride’s Turfmaxx which contains slow-release nitrogen for sustained growth with a hint of Iron for an added boost in colour.

Quality granular fertilisers will provide between 8-12 weeks of nutrient release depending on the climate in your region, and can be used in conjunction with liquid fertilisers like Lawn Pride’s GreenXtra, or soil and root conditioners like Lawn Pride’s Kelp-er.

Weed Control

Thanks to its dense canopy of above ground roots, Prestige Buffalo is less susceptible to broadleaf weeds than some other warm season grasses but invasive weeds can still threaten your otherwise perfect home lawn.

If you see seasonal weeds like clover, bindi or other broadleaf weeds it’s easy to eradicate them using a selective herbicide like Bow and Arrow or Broadforce, however the simplest way to keep pesky weeds out of your pride and joy is through the use of a pre-emergent herbicide.

Pre-emergent herbicides stop weeds before they even have the chance to germinate, and most products will provide up to six months residual protection. It’s recommended that you apply your pre-emergents in Spring to cover you through Spring and Summer, and again in Autumn to cover you through Autumn and Winter providing year-round protection.

Barricade and Spartan are both popular liquid pre-emergents, otherwise products like Oxafert, Onset GR or Echelon Duo all provide fertiliser and pre-emergent weed protection in a convenient, granular application.

Pest & Diseases

Armyworm and African Black Beetle populations exist beneath just about every home lawn around the country, however when these populations explode the common lawn grubs can destroy your home lawn within days!

The easiest way to manage these populations is through the use of a preventative insecticide which will provide residual protection from common lawn bugs for up to six months. The market’s most common insecticide is Acelepryn, which Lawn Pride provides in a convenient granular form meaning no need for a backpack sprayer.

Alternatively, Echelon Duo combines an insecticide with a pre-emergent herbicide and granular fertiliser in one convenient application, tackling the three keys to an exceptional home lawn in one product.

However you choose to apply it, lay your insecticide down at the same time as your pre-emergent herbicide for year-round protection.

Buffalo lawns are also susceptible to some fungal issues, which can present in a number of ways. Fungal stress can manifest in the form of coloured spots on the leaf (typically black or brown), in circular sections of the lawn of varying sizes that have lost condition or colour, or through sections that have become flat and covered in clear, sticky pythium.

Fungal issues are addressed using anti-fungal products as they arise. Because fungal issues are usually very isolated and more often due to environmental stress (like prolonged periods of humid, summer rain or poor drainage in the lawn), there is no residual anti-fungal product available.  

Prestige Buffalo is the next generation of Australian home lawn, and an exciting Buffalo hybrid with a number of features that make it perfect for Australian yards.

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