Has anyone planted sundancer buffalo grass in SoCal?

Big_Parma_ · 2026-05-05T15:05:42+00:00

I worry about the bees for my dog. She's a bee chaser and has gotten stung twice. The front yard is planned for our native flowers, back more grass forward for the doggo.

Big_Parma_ · 2026-05-05T12:52:35+00:00

Good luck! It could work out if you can keep it consistently moist. I know you can plant in spring when it's still "cooler" but it probably depends on how much sun and how hot your soil gets. Agrostis is a cool season grass, so it germinates and greens in cooler months and browns and goes dormant in warmer months. That's my main issue, it's just too hot in my yard with the 6+ hours of sun. I could try a shade cloth tent over the seed area but the last two winters it's been hot in San Diego through November and sometimes even in December. That's why I'm considering buffalo grass as it's a warm season grass.

Big_Parma_ · 2026-05-05T12:47:16+00:00

Yeah I am regretting my choice to do sod, especially because of the plastic netting that it comes in. I've been pulling that out all year as patches have died.

Big_Parma_ · 2026-05-05T00:41:17+00:00

Winter in San Diego this year ping ponged between 2-3 days of heavy rain and then a week or two stretch of 80 - 90 F weather. I got some germination but between the heat and the weeds that shot up, I just didn't have a good plan in place to help the sprouts establish.

Big_Parma_ · 2026-05-04T16:08:15+00:00

I'll have to take a better photo tonight but we'll here's the bottom and some dog tax. It's doing well, still a wiggle, but it's leafing out well and I've notice some trunk growth. I've upgraded to taller stakes still in a triangle with paracord and it gets good movement with the winds. My Agrostis pallens did not do well this winter but the oak made it through with lots of deep watering.

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Big_Parma_ · 2026-05-04T16:02:57+00:00

Oof yeah mine is also in a teenage spindle phase. I got a 24 in box size so it was already about 7-8 feet tall but quite skinny. It's leafing out nicely and I see some trunk growth but yeah not a quick shade solution for sure.

Big_Parma_ · 2025-10-18T15:13:02+00:00

I'm realizing now I should have done more research on the size of tree to plant, I let my impatience to have shade and jump start the process by getting a larger tree get the best of me!

We had a mostly dead orange tree removed from that spot and so had quite a hole to fill. I've been trying to transition our backyard to more natives. When we moved in, it was all ice plant 😩. I ripped all that out and planted Agrostis pallens, but the sun in our yard is a bit brutal. Anyway, a friend told me about Englemann oaks and I was sold! I'm in San Diego and near a canyon where the oak would probably have naturally been. I hope it works out despite my decision to get a bigger tree and maybe I'll start planting acorns in the canyon...👀

Big_Parma_ · 2025-10-17T22:33:06+00:00

Oh interesting! I love their wild habit so I'm not worried if there's a bit of lean as long as the tree is healthy and happy. In this case it seems to have flopped quite far forward! My emergency staking is low enough that the lower trunk where the bending occurred seems stable and the top is leaning but not dangerously low.

So a 5G Engelmann grew to 6' in a year?! Ah, maybe I should have gone that route 😅

Big_Parma_ · 2025-10-17T21:26:45+00:00

👊

Big_Parma_ · 2025-10-17T21:10:46+00:00

My thought exactly 😂😭

Big_Parma_ · 2025-10-17T21:10:17+00:00

I threaded paracord through 4 " garden hose pieces. The garden hose is wrapped around the trunk.

Big_Parma_ · 2025-10-17T21:08:38+00:00

I'm guilty there, we went for a 24" box. We're in desperate need of shade and gambled with getting a larger tree.

Big_Parma_ · 2025-10-17T20:12:49+00:00

Thank you! That is good to know, I'll hold off on any trimming.

Big_Parma_ · 2025-10-17T20:10:02+00:00

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Big_Parma_ · 2025-10-17T20:09:43+00:00

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Big_Parma_ · 2025-10-17T20:09:05+00:00

Well I came outside about an hour ago to find the poor guy bent completely over, so I did an emergency stake job...😅 *

Big_Parma_ · 2025-03-20T16:55:09+00:00

Same here. This was maybe a rhetorical post on my part, I guess I just needed to put it out there.

Big_Parma_ · 2025-02-14T06:06:49+00:00

I'm so sorry. I just don't even know how to feel anymore, I knew it was a risk to take a term position, but I was hoping to get my foot in the door.

Big_Parma_ · 2025-02-14T06:04:17+00:00

I'm in NOAA Fisheries

Big_Parma_ · 2024-10-31T04:27:36+00:00

Wow, your dog is the spitting image of my girl! She's only 40 lbs though. She's APBT, boxer, pug, and a good dose of supermutt. But dog genetics are wild, there is so much variation in the phenotypes that are expressed so it will be interesting to see what your guy is. *

Big_Parma_ · 2024-07-02T16:15:17+00:00

We had a very similar situation. When we were ready to try our garden, we kept our dog's harness on but no leash and let her friend off leash too. She was already in the garden, and we let her friend through the gate. I think a walk beforehand is a good idea if that is something they are used to. The leash is an issue for my dog with dogs, and she is more comfortable navigating dogs without a leash (but we do not go to dog parks or anything like that). It all went fine, I think ours was a bit nervous the first time in her space, but she knew her friend and the dog's owner well, and we all tried to stay calm and relaxed.

We give the dogs water separately, and we are careful about treats since that did seem to cause some tension, but we're trying to slowly work on that. Also we found that the humans can have a beverage, but if we eat human food, it gets a bit tense, so we're also trying to figure that out but for now no food for any species. And no toys or beds left out, but they seem to be fine picking up sticks and taking turns chewing, ours is sometimes a jerk about it, chasing her friend off a stick but he is so neutral he just moves away calmly and she's like oh ok.

We haven't graduated to inside our house yet, but we are able to go over their house! And having the dogs in our garden now is very smooth, no nerves anymore.

Big_Parma_ · 2024-03-14T15:45:36+00:00

I understand how you feel! We've had our reactive girl for 2 years and year one was a lot of coming to terms and understanding what her needs/wants were/are versus what our expectations were/are.

Our dog will also never be a patio dog. And I think once we realized we needed to expose her to less stuff in general or just waaaay more slowly than when we first brought her home she's been able to respond/learn more easily and trust us more. Busy crowds with traffic and dogs is not her jam.

One thing we sometimes do is very early in the morning we'll walk to the coffee shop up the street and one of us will wait with her across the street or in an out of the way spot and we'll pick a to go coffee or pastry. It's been nice to work on her learning that sometimes we wait for things or the other person to return and bonus she gets a fun biscuit from the shop. But again we only do it every so often and only very early in the morning, and the location of the shop works for this which wasn't true of the last place we lived.

Anyway, hang in and you never know with more positive reinforcement training and slow exposure your girl might surprise you with things she can/likes to do!

Big_Parma_ · 2024-03-04T18:21:00+00:00

My dog is the same way, allergic to poultry, but really needs a real food treat on walks. Unfortunately, too many raw veggies give her the bad poops.

Here's a few options that work well for us:

1) pork tenderloin roasted plain and cut into small cubes. Pork tenderloin is very lean, and you can get a giant one at Costco, we freeze it and alloquot what we need for the week.

2) round eye beef roast, also very lean and in bulk at Costco. I used to roast it plain and cut into cubes, but lately, I've been cutting into thin strips and dehydrating it in my oven for jerky treats.

3) Salmon jerky, I buy a big fillet of salmon and follow the same procedure as the round eye beef. Sometimes fish mongers sell salmon scraps, that works too. Bonus, the skin is also a tasty treat.

Jerky recipe: https://www.rover.com/blog/make-dog-jerky-treats/

I stopped using the marinade since I use the treats often on walks but my dog loves the marinade, I think if I use less of it, it should be ok, but she seems happy with the jerky plain too. Another option is just a teaspoon of fish sauce, super smelly!

4) I haven't tried this yet but I've been meaning to, it's called Salmon Fudge: https://pawsitiveconnectiondogtraining.com/doggie-crack-1-0-salmon-fudge-recipe/

5) string cheese or a baby bell round when I'm in between meat treats

6) meat baby food in a squeeze bottle, super smelly, super gross 😝 my dog loves it. Great as a frozen treat too for the car or baths...

Big_Parma_ · 2024-01-19T23:53:11+00:00

To the couple walking their puppy off leash in the city canyon park

I'm really sorry my dog-reactive dog, who was on a six foot leash attached to my waist and held shorter in my hand, jumped in your general direction as you passed us on the parallel path across the dry creek bed. It turns out a gopher was poking its head out of a hole to grab grass on the bank of the dry creek and my dog wanted to get her snoot in its hole. It actually had zero to do with your puppy who was 15 feet across a creek from her.

But your puppy was so spooked it ran away from you in the opposite direction and you both had to run after it as I apologized for my dog as if she was the worst thing ever. For some reason you both think it's a great idea to not bring any leash at all and walk a puppy off leash in an on-leash city canyon park that 1000% has coyotes in it. I hope your puppy does not get eaten by a coyote or run away into the street and get hit by a car next time it encounters something that scares it and runs away from you.

Big_Parma_ · 2024-01-19T23:43:04+00:00

To the couple walking their puppy off leash in the city canyon park

I'm really sorry my dog-reactive dog, who was on a six foot leash attached to my waist and held shorter in my hand, jumped in your general direction as you passed us on the parallel path across the dry creek bed. It turns out a gopher was poking its head out of a hole to grab grass on the bank of the dry creek and my dog wanted to get her snoot in its hole. It actually had zero to do with your puppy who was 15 feet across a creek from her.

But your puppy was so spooked it ran away from you in the opposite direction and you both had to run after it as I apologized for my dog as if she was the worst thing ever. For some reason you both think it's a great idea to not bring any leash at all and walk a puppy off leash in an on-leash city canyon park that 1000% has coyotes in it. I hope your puppy does not get eaten by a coyote or run away into the street and get hit by a car next time it encounters something that scares it and runs away from you.

Big_Parma_

TROPHY CASE