We planted kurapia plugs about a month and a half ago. We wanted something safe for our kids to play on that also wouldn’t require a ton of water or upkeep since we already have our hands full with two toddlers and a baby on the way. Once it grows in, we plan to add a play structure for the kiddos. We had looked into kurapia sod originally but couldn’t find a source with it in stock.
Our backyard in the Bay Area faces south so it gets a ton of sun. At first, I was watering the Kurapia plugs 15 minutes daily, but they started drying out and dying. I’ve increased watering to 25–30 minutes a day, and that seems to be the sweet spot for keeping things healthy. We decided not to install a permanent sprinkler system because once the ground cover is established, we’ll only need to water about once a month + we get plenty of rain in winter and spring.
I replaced the dead plugs with lippia plugs since kurapia was so expensive. It’s not a big deal for us since the goal is to get everything filled in and we’re surrounded by mostly cement and not too worried about spread. Lippia is native to our area.
Right now, I'm doing a ton of daily weeding because burclover and other weeds pop up fast in the bare spots. Also, the neighborhood cats and squirrels keep digging up our yard, which isn't fun. Fingers crossed it all grows in soon…debating whether to fill it in with more lippia plugs to make it go faster.
The stuff between the pavers are weeds, which in engaged in battle with right now.
by thatnaplife
5 Comments
That’s a lot of effort and grief and watering when you really just wanted grass for your kids to play on.
Very cool! Curious to see if you notice any long term difference between the kurapia and lippia.
Where in the Bay Area are you? I planted this in the Oakland Hills (south/west lawn) and it died during the winter. I planted sod in the September/October so it had plenty of time (and water) to root down nicely. It looked like a fungal infection killed the Kurapia.
I let it try to come back next Spring, but lots of weeds took over and it never fully took over again after a nice warm Spring/Summer.
I did a ton of research and even got a referral for some folk who installed it in in Berkeley who said it was pretty okay. I wouldn’t do this in retrospect unless I lived in a microclimate of the Bay where it was consistently over 80F for most of the warm season. Otherwise you’re burning money on this specialized cultivar and not going to get a ton of water savings.
Looks great! I planted kurapia plugs in our backyard 2 years ago and it’s thriving. The trickiest part was weeding during the establishment period. Now that it’s filled in there’s very little weed pressure. Now that it’s rooted I only water once every 2 weeks even in the hottest part of summer.
We did this same thing 3 years ago, and it was so worth it. Right now it’s mowed once every 3 months. We only water once every 15 days, and we live in the Central Valley of California where it gets super hot. It’s so vigorous that now very few weeds even manage to get in there. And I love the flowers!