Carpet Grass Seed

Carpet grass is a good choice for shade. It's a short, stoloniferous perennial that forms a dense, mat-like sward and copes with shade, poor soil conditions and low fertility. It's an alternative to kikuyu and Bermuda couch, and Bermuda doesn't tolerate shade well. Carpet grass isn't drought tolerant, so it needs 650 mm or more of rainfall, or irrigation. It grows on sands through to heavy soils.

Carpet grass is suited to exactly that. It's chosen for poor soil conditions and low fertility, and its creeping stolons form a dense mat that keeps the surface covered. The trade-off is that it isn't drought or salt tolerant, so it belongs in 650 mm-plus country or under irrigation. If you can lift fertility and want more summer feed, Whittet Kikuyu responds well to fertiliser, especially nitrogen in the warm season.

Carpet grass handles both. It has tolerance to waterlogging and low pH, grows on sands through to heavy soils, and suits areas with 650 mm or more of rainfall. Its dense, mat-like sward also gives good ground cover on damp ground. Where the wet area is acidic but not salty, it's a sound choice for permanent pasture or turf; sow 8 kg/ha for pasture.

Not reliably. Carpet grass isn't drought tolerant and needs at least 650 mm of rainfall, so in WA it suits irrigated areas or naturally moist, high-rainfall sites. For dryland summer perennials on light sands to loams, Gatton panic and Katambora, Finecut or Reclaimer Rhodes grass suit 300 mm-plus rainfall. In 650 mm-plus country, Whittet Kikuyu has drought tolerance and survives long dry periods.

No. Carpet grass has no salt tolerance, so choose a salt-tolerant grass instead. Reclaimer Rhodes Grass was bred for saline areas: established plants stay productive at 4 to 10 dS/m and suit 300 mm-plus rainfall on light sands to loams. On irrigated country with salty water, Bermuda Grass Speedie tolerates salinity, waterlogging and drought. Where salty ground also stays wet through winter, puccinellia is a better fit.

Sow carpet grass at 8 kg/ha for pasture and 100 kg/ha for turf. The much higher turf rate gives a dense, even surface quickly, while a pasture sowing relies more on the stolons spreading to close the gaps. Our Carpet Grass is sold as coated seed, treated with Gaucho. Coating helps small seed flow evenly through the seeder and makes it easier to see where it lands when you check placement.

Yes. Carpet grass is sown for grazing, permanent pasture and turf. As turf it forms a short, dense, mat-like cover that copes with shade and low fertility, so it suits areas under trees where couch struggles. Sow at 100 kg/ha for turf and 8 kg/ha for pasture. Like other warm-season grasses it grows mainly in the warmer months, and it needs regular moisture because it isn't drought tolerant.

Treat it like other small-seeded summer grasses. Sow into a firm, moist, weed-free seedbed once soils have warmed in spring, keep the seed shallow at no more than about 10 mm, and use press wheels or a roller for good seed-to-soil contact. Control weeds and insects before sowing, and keep the surface moist until seedlings establish, especially for turf. Because carpet grass isn't drought tolerant, a dry spell straight after sowing is the biggest risk.

It depends on the site. Carpet grass suits shady, low-fertility, acidic or damp ground in 650 mm-plus country. Whittet Kikuyu (650 mm-plus) gives high-quality summer forage when moisture is available and tolerates drought, waterlogging and mild salinity. Bermuda Grass Speedie (600 mm-plus) tolerates drought, waterlogging and salinity and suits irrigated grazing and hay, but not shade. Choose carpet grass where shade or poor fertility rules the others out.

It can be, as a grazing grass for difficult country rather than a high-production one. Carpet grass is chosen for poor, shady or acidic soils where other summer grasses struggle, and its low, dense mat keeps the ground covered under grazing. Its feed quality is modest on low-fertility soil, and nitrogen fertiliser lifts its protein. Graze it regularly to keep it short and leafy, and soil test so you know what the paddock needs.