Tips on how to grow your own lawn from Kikuyu Grass Seed

Back 2 Front Turf sells Kikuyu - Whittet Certified 100% Grass Seed, so you can grow your own residential lawn or kikuyu pasture.  You can purchase direct from us in quantities of 200 grams, 500 grams, 1kg, 2kg and bulk amounts or you can purchase from Ebay.

Our kikuyu product is not a blended or mixed seed lot, and has not been treated or varied in any way. It has a certified germination and purity levels for each batch.

Application Rate	The application for kikuyu seed for a residential lawn is 4kg of seed per acre (equivalent ratio being 1kg/1000m2). Breaking this down to a smaller area, it is one gram of seed over one square metre.   Pastures and paddocks are planted at a rate of 1.5kg/acre.    Kikuyu is a runner grass and by sowing the seed heavier (more seed over a smaller area) the plants are closer together which causes seedlings to fight for room and nutrients. As your lawn grows, plants won’t have room to send out runners and establish properly. The short term result of sowing heavy is a very thick coverage of lawn within 8-10 weeks (depending on climatic conditions), however in the long term, you will need to mow, water and fertilizer more often, as plants compete for nutrients. The grass may struggle in summer and become weak or thin in areas. After 12 months, you may find your lawn becomes thatchy. Planting at the recommended application rate and assuming there is adequate moisture, reasonable soil fertility and growing conditions, your lawn should look pretty good in 12-16 weeks.
Prepare the area for seeding	Kill weeds with glyphosate (such as Roundup).  Once the weeds are dead, plough/dig over the ground to depth of 2cm, remove debris, break up soil clumps and level the area. You may wish to apply Ammonium Nitrate, Sulphate of Ammonia or manure at this point.  Tend the area for next two weeks – so more weeds will germinate.  Spray glyphosate again and wait at least one week after spraying before planting. This process will rid your area from competing weeds prior to planting the Kikuyu seed.
Planting the seed	Work out the area you want to plant and calculate the amount of seed needed to do this area based on the Application Rate ratio.   Mix the seed with enough fertilizer (or course river sand) to cover the whole area.  Calibrate your fertilizer spreader to ensure the delivery rate will apply the seed/fertilizer evenly.  If you don’t have a spreader, mix the seed in a bucket with enough fertilizer (or course river sand) to cover the whole area and broadcast it.  Cover the seed by raking lightly or dragging over the seed bed so the soil covers the seed. You can then use a roller to lightly compact the soil.  This keeps the moisture around the seed longer increasing the strike rate.  It is recommended that the seed is planted about 1.2cm deep. To take advantage of soil moisture in the summer months, plant the seed at a depth of up to 2cm.  Be mindful though, planting seed too deeply is a major cause of seed not striking, along with broadcasting it without soil coverage.
Watering and Mowing	The grass seed bed needs to be kept moist for the seed to germinate effectively.  Water lightly but don't saturate it.  Depending on the ambient temperature, it will need watering daily until new grass is at least 5cm high. Allowing the soil to dry out will stop germination and may fry the seedlings. Keep the new lawn’s roots moist in the first three months.  Mow the Kikuyu when it is 5cm tall, this will encourage the plant to send out runners.

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