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Common Types of Bermuda Grass
Choosing a type of grass for your lawn can become daunting—after all, you’re going to want something that makes your home look good and stand out from the rest of the neighborhood. Oftentimes, homeowners aren’t sure of how to begin the process with choosing the right type of sod. Educating yourself on the different options available will benefit you during the selection process.
Bermuda grass sod is frequently chosen by the homeowner who wants the best looking yard on the block—and it’s usually someone who really enjoys the finer-bladed look that bermuda grass provides. In comparison to zoysia or St. Augustine grass, the homeowner who chooses bermuda sod usually has priorities centered around visual appeal without worrying about the amount of maintenance that will need to go into it. Some of the advantages of bermuda grass include its ability to tolerate high temperatures, droughts, traffic and its ability to recover from injury quickly.
- Celebration Bermudagrass
- Latitude 36 Bermudagrass
- NorthBridge Bermudagrass
- Tifway 419 Bermudagrass
- TifTuf Bermudagrass
- Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass
- Bimini Bermudagrass
Types of Bermuda Grass
The most common types of bermuda grass will grow throughout the southern two-thirds of the United States as they thrive in warm, tropical or subtropical climates. They grow best through periods of high temperatures, mild winters and moderate to high rainfall. However, certain types of bermuda grass have been bred to withstand cooler temperatures up into the transition zone, like Latitude 36 and NorthBridge. Some of the bermuda grasses listed below are the most popular and best performing ones available.
Celebration Bermudagrass
Celebration® Bermudagrass is typically a favorite for most homeowners due to its deep blue-green color and to the fact that it finished best in numerous university research studies for wear tolerance and recovery, drought resistance, drought tolerance and bermuda grass shade tolerance. Drought tolerance and drought resistance are two different things, though. Drought tolerance is the ability to survive a drought whereas drought resistance, in comparison, is the ability to look good during drought. Celebration Bermudagrass finishes best in both. In fact, Celebration can be found on professional golf courses and sports fields around the globe—not just the United States.
Celebration is a finer-bladed bermuda grass with an exceptional root system that allows for rapid recovery time. Its wear tolerance makes it a great choice for pets and kids to play on all day long. Be sure to check out a research summary on Celebration to see how it compares to some of the other bermuda grasses available.
Celebration Bermudagrass Characteristics
- Ideal Use: Golf, commercial landscapes, sports fields, parks and home lawns
- Mow Height: 0.5–1.5 inches
- Blade Width: 1.7 mm
- Wear Tolerance: Excellent
- Injury Recovery: Excellent
- Shade Tolerance: Very Good
- Drought Tolerance: Excellent
- Insect Resistance: Very Good
- Disease Resistance: Excellent
- Weed Control: Very Good
Latitude 36 Bermudagrass
Latitude 36® Bermudagrass is popular for its beautiful color and texture that make it stand out from other home lawns and bermuda grasses alike. This turfgrass was developed by renowned Oklahoma State University and is one of the most cold-hardy bermuda grasses on the market. Along with NorthBridge, Latitude 36 is one of the few bermuda grass varieties that will grow up into the transition zone (pictured below), which resides in Southern California and across the United States towards North Carolina and Virginia.
As a top-quality NTEP bermuda grass, Latitude 36 offers high traffic tolerance, excellent tensile strength and has a finer texture than NorthBridge Bermudagrass. Latitude 36’s visual appeal often surpasses that of other bermuda grasses on the market. Check out a few of Latitude 36’s supporting research documents below.
Latitude 36 Bermudagrass Characteristics
- Ideal Use: Golf, commercial landscapes, sports fields, parks and home lawns
- Mow Height: 0.5–1.5 inches
- Blade Width: 1.67 mm
- Wear Tolerance: Very Good
- Injury Recovery: Excellent
- Shade Tolerance: Good
- Drought Tolerance: Excellent
- Insect Resistance: Very Good
- Disease Resistance: Excellent
- Weed Control: Very Good
NorthBridge Bermudagrass
Similarly to Latitude 36, NorthBridge® Bermudagrass is another turfgrass developed by Oklahoma State University that will thrive up in the transition zone of the United States. NorthBridge has a fine texture, improved cold tolerance, early spring green-up and extreme sod strength. Its tensile strength and aggressive rooting make it one of the most durable choices for homeowners with children and pets who enjoy the outdoors. NorthBridge is a finer-bladed bermuda grass like Latitude 36 and has Latitude 36’s color. Be sure to take a look at a study comparing NorthBridge’s shade tolerance with other bermuda grasses below.
NorthBridge Bermudagrass Characteristics
- Ideal Use: Commercial landscapes, golf, sports fields and home lawns
- Mow Height: 0.5–1.5 inches
- Blade Width: 1.68 mm
- Wear Tolerance: Very Good
- Injury Recovery: Excellent
- Shade Tolerance: Good
- Drought Tolerance: Excellent
- Insect Resistance: Very Good
- Disease Resistance: Excellent
- Weed Control: Very Good
Tifway 419 Bermudagrass
While Tifway 419 Bermudagrass has been at the top of the list when it comes to sports turf, it’s also the perfect fit for a well-loved lawn. Tifway 419 is a deep green bermuda grass with a fine texture and excellent weed and disease resistance. It has a dense, rapidly spreading growth habit which allows it to recover from injury quickly—it’s also one of the most durable hybrid bermuda selections available. Tifway 419 has a medium-low, vigorous growth habit that establishes quickly upon planting. It tolerates close mowing heights of 1–2 inches and will thrive in the southern two-thirds of the United States.
Tifway 419 Bermudagrass Characteristics
- Ideal Use: Commercial landscapes, golf, sports fields and home lawns
- Mow Height: 1–2 inches
- Blade Width: 5–7 mm
- Wear Tolerance: Very Good
- Injury Recovery: Very Good
- Shade Tolerance: Good
- Drought Tolerance: Very Good
- Insect Resistance: Excellent
- Disease Resistance: Very Good
- Weed Control: Very Good
TifTuf Bermudagrass
TifTuf Bermudagrass was developed with the goal of having excellent drought tolerance. If you’re a homeowner who lives in an area with long, dry summers, TifTuf may be the best choice for you. This fine-textured bermuda grass uses 38 percent less water than other similar bermuda grass cultivars. It also has high shade tolerance and stays green further into the fall than other grasses. Like most bermuda grasses, TifTuf will thrive in the southern two-thirds of the United States. Read more about TifTuf and its comparisons to other bermuda grasses in Celebration vs. Latitude 36 vs. TifTuf Bermudagrass.
TifTuf Bermudagrass Characteristics
- Ideal Use: Commercial landscapes, golf, sports fields and home lawns
- Mow Height: 0.5–2 inches
- Blade Width: 1.7 mm
- Wear Tolerance: Excellent
- Injury Recovery: Excellent
- Shade Tolerance: Very Good
- Drought Tolerance: Excellent
- Insect Resistance: Good
- Disease Resistance: Good
- Weed Control: Good
Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass
Like Latitude 36 and NorthBridge, Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass was developed at Oklahoma State University with the goal of having overall excellent turfgrass quality and cold tolerance. Along with these two superior characteristics, some of Tahoma 31’s other key features include its finer texture, drought resistance, early spring green-up and wear tolerance. In the NTEP trials, Tahoma 31 demonstrated exceptional cold hardiness and resistance to winterkill. Additionally, it greened up next to other bermuda grass cultivars that were killed by the same cold weather.
Tahoma 31 Characteristics
- Ideal Use: Commercial landscapes, golf, sports fields and home lawns
- Mow Height: 0.5–1.5 inches
- Blade Width: 5–7 mm
- Wear Tolerance: Very Good
- Injury Recovery: Very Good
- Shade Tolerance: Excellent
- Drought Tolerance: Very Good
- Insect Resistance: Good
- Disease Resistance: Good
- Weed Control: Good
Bimini Bermudagrass
Like Tifway 419, Bimini Bermudagrass is also a fine-textured, hybrid bermuda grass. It has a beautiful dark green color that forms a dense canopy. Bimini’s rapidly spreading growth habit and quick injury recovery make it one of the most durable turfgrasses available. It has a soft texture that many will love walking through with their bare feet. Bimini will establish a thick root system fairly quickly. As a result, it is capable of withstanding external stressors caused by heat, drought, heavy foot traffic, pests and disease.
Bimini Bermudagrass Characteristics
- Ideal Use: Commercial landscapes, golf, sports fields and home lawns
- Mow Height: 1–2 inches
- Blade Width: 5–7 mm
- Wear Tolerance: Excellent
- Injury Recovery: Excellent
- Shade Tolerance: Good
- Drought Tolerance: Very Good
- Insect Resistance: Very Good
- Disease Resistance: Very Good
- Weed Control: Very Good
Bermuda Grass Research
The bermuda grasses listed above are some of the best varieties available to the homeowner. Sod Solutions is always working to improve bermuda grass characteristics while universities breed and test different varieties. Take a look at some of the research projects that are currently taking place below.
The Celebration X Program
Sod Solutions has partnered with Mississippi State University in the Celebration X program with the primary focus of improving Celebration Bermudagrass. Celebration X is evaluating 86 experimental bermuda grass genotypes that have been generated at sod farms located in SC, TN, TX, GA and FL. Six selections are jointly sponsored by Sod Solutions and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station for testing with the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP). Read more on the Sod Solutions Professional’s website in an interview with Mississippi State’s Turfgrass Breeder, Dr. Hongxu Dong.
Turf Research Bermuda California
Sod Solutions, Oklahoma State and AG Sod Farms are using drone technology combined with visual observation to bring the next generation of improved turfgrasses to the industry. The target of Turf Research Bermuda California (TRBC) is to develop extreme drought tolerant bermuda grasses that exhibit improved winter color. Click here to read more.
Overall, it can be tricky to choose the right kind of grass for your home lawn. If you’re in an area that can grow bermuda grass and love the superior, elite look it provides, the bermuda grasses above are the most ideal options to choose from. It all depends on what you’re looking for, though. If you know you want a bermuda grass, be sure to also read our Sod University blog, All About Bermudagrass Sod.
If you still aren’t really sure of what kind of grass you’re looking for and want to weigh all of your options, the best thing you can do is familiarize yourself with the different grasses available. Start by figuring out if you need a warm season or cool season turfgrass based on the geographic area you live in. Learn more in our blog on The Difference Between Warm and Cool Season Turfgrass Varieties.
