Cultivars St. Augustinegrasses are mainly propagated vegetatively. Therefore, breeding of new varieties takes a considerable length of time, which is one of a variety of reasons for their slow appearance in the marketplace. A key factor is the long and vigorous testing that is required before release to confirm and understand both positive and negative traits. In areas where I have planted St. Augustinegrass, it has performed very well in shade. We also know that the semi-dwarf varieties do not possess chinch bug resistance, and those planting this grass will need to use insecticides to control infestations when they occur.
Palmetto is available as plugs or sod.
Recently, we successfully planted in the plugs in a very shady area, and in the past month have planted it as sod at the Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center in South Florida. We plan on conducting some cultural trials with this grass as it becomes well established. There have been anecdotal claims for deep rooting with Palmetto. Although beyond the scope of our study, a good test would be to compare this grass for its rooting capability with similar semi-dwarf among St. Augustinegrasses for a variety of growing conditions.