Drought Tolerant Grass - TIFTUF Bermudagrass - Turfgrass Drought Tolerance Just Got a New Standard

Drought tolerance just got a new standard. BuySod, NG Turf, and SuperSod are pleased to present the game-changing, drought-tolerant Bermudagrass TIFTUF™ for customers in the Southeast.

This turfgrass has been observed and tested by the University of Georgia since 1992 and was made available for sale in 2015. Multiple tests against other Bermudagrass varieties have shown that TifTuf is superior in drought tolerance, has early spring green up, stays green later into the fall months, and is traffic tolerant, among other impressive characteristics. This dark-green turfgrass has a fine texture and matches the standard Bermuda, Tifway 419, until there is a drought. As UGA turfgrass researcher Brian Schwartz is about to explain, TifTuf is drought tolerant.

“As the drought continued, the moisture in the soil underneath our TifTuf plots remained for longer, and you could see it dramatically on top as the Tifway and TifSport plots became dormant with drought, while the TifTuf plots did not. They remained, and it was a direct correlation to the moisture level in the soil. It was really an exciting kind of discovery because this is a great type of drought tolerance. If it goes brown, that’s ok, but we would like a grass that stays green for longer and can save water, and not just save a little water. Our results found that we could save up to 38% more water than a variety such as Tifway. If you expand that on a city of a state, or even the South, that’s a huge amount of water savings.”

TifTuf holds up under traffic or wear and tear better than other typical Bermudagrasses. What exactly does this mean for your home? It means that if you have children and big dogs, TifTuf will hold up under big feet pounding on the lawn, having fun, being dogs and kids. Because it’s a Bermudagrass, it will quickly repair itself from any damage incurred while your family is enjoying their time on the lawn.

“We had cleats actually simulate the wear in between the hashes on a football field and around the goal box on a soccer field. Over years of research, we were able to impose wear on TifTuf, Celebration, TifGrand, Tifway, Patriot and some others and watch their wear as they decreased in turf quality over the season, as you would expect with a tremendous amount of traffic. We also saw the recovery each week, and these trials led us to believe that not only is this a drought-tolerant grass, but TifTuf is also a wear-tolerant grass, which is explained by the mechanisms that it has when it’s well-watered and fertilized, it can recover.”

Along with drought and traffic tolerance, studies reveal that TifTuf greens up faster in the spring than other typical Bermudagrasses. While it looks good earlier, it also stays green later in the fall months and maintains visual appeal longer than the standard Tifway.

“One of the biggest questions that people have is ‘Well, how will TifTuf do in the shade?’ We picked a home lawn in 2013 that we could plant with big pine trees and dogwoods. We were able to measure the intensity of the sun over the entire day for several days out in the full sun and correlate and relate that back to the intensity of the sun underneath these trees. The pine trees allowed sun in the morning and in the evening, but there was heavy shade in the afternoon, so the light intensity underneath the dogwood tree was very low. We were able to maintain pretty good quality in most places. We were able to avoid the drought the roots cause and able to make energy even with the lower sunlight, and really that lawn was the start. That was where we decided that ‘Hey, this has a good application for homeowners.’”

On top of drought tolerance, traffic tolerance, and shade resistance, TifTuf is exhibiting exceptional transplanting success. In a short time, customers are seeing quick establishment on their sports fields, lawns, and recreation areas.

“Prior to release, we planted a lawn in Florida because it’s a different environment than we are. So we put the grass in Jacksonville, Florida. At the same time, we planted one in Atlanta, Georgia, on the red clay where it’s totally different than Tifton. Watching the grass there do good in the sun, do good in the shade, it’s been comforting, as the developers, to know that it does do well out there in the real world under homeowner management.

“We put a lawn in Austin, Texas, on their limestone shelf in the hill country in a neighborhood where the builder mandated Tifway in the front lawns. This homeowner put TifTuf in the back lawn, and in the droughts of the last year, TifTuf has shined over Tifway.

“So it’s the results where we believe that other Bermudagrasses are going to go dormant in a drought, where TifTuf will remain green and healthy and strong. That will make it a success, not only in Georgia, not only in the Southeast, but hopefully the whole Southern United States and even other parts of the world where it can be grown."

Presented courtesy of TIFTUF Turf Southeast