Kikuyu lawns are versatile and can be used in both home gardens and on sporting fields.
Kikuyu is a good choice for warm climate and subtropical regions. It produces a dense sward of grass. Kikuyu can be grown from seeds and runners. It is a hardy lawn that is easy to maintain. It can grow in areas with the best soil conditions. However, it will often pop up in gardens and become a problem. It can grow quickly and become a problem in other lawns like couch or buffalo lawns. Kikuyu can be considered a drought-tolerant variety of lawn and will quickly recover if irrigated or when normal weather conditions return.
Kikuyu can grow in all soil types, including clays, sandy and heavy soils. A sandy loam is the best soil for growing Kikuyu. Kikuyu, out of all the grasses, is the easiest to cultivate and has the least pest problems (except the black beetle). Because it grows thickly, weeds are rarely a problem. In high-resource areas, “thatch” may be a problem. De-thatching might be necessary in these cases.
Kikuyu is often purchased as a roll-on lawn. It grows well when it is able to be walked on during the warm season. Kikuyu doesn’t require much fertiliser. However, it will benefit from a few applications during the warmer part of the year to increase its growth. Kikuyu can be fertilized with any NPK granular lawn fertilizer. It is very responsive to nitrogen applications.
Kikuyu seed can also be used to establish Kikuyu grasses. Although the original Kikuyu has a long leaf, there are newer varieties that have shorter leaves and make great lawns. These new varieties are also available as seeds. Although it is a warm-climate grass, Kikuyu doesn’t respond well to frosts. However, it can regenerate. A Rotary mower is the best for Kikuyu, but the shorter leaf varieties can also be used a Cylinder (reel mower).