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Nara native turf

Zoysia macrantha ‘MAC03’ PBR        

By Katrina Layt

Nara native turf is a multi-generational selection that has taken almost a decade to breed. Selections each year were based on speed of growth and overall turf habit (density, ground coverage). From this came Nara, it is much faster establishing than any other Zoysia macrantha which would be too slow to establish. It takes the turf farmer one third to one quarter the time to grow Nara.

Nara is the first all purpose native turf that works just as good as any other, with the benefit of being native. This will mean a native turf can be specified to comply with councils and it is suited to the Australian climate. It is native to Australia from northern Queensland all the way down to Tasmania, to the centre of Australia and Adelaide. Zoysia macrantha is well suited to most parts including Perth, where it has performed very well, making it ideal for your local Australian lawn. We are currently releasing Nara in the USA as well. It performs very well there and is admired for its beauty. Nara is well adapted for all parts of Australia, except maybe the Alpine regions, although it can handle down to -12° Celsius in USA tests, which is colder than Canberra.

Nara native turf needs 20% less mowing than Buffalo, 35% less than Couch and 55% less than Kikuyu. It also needs less edging as it is less invasive; perfect near gardens.  Nara can be mown exactly how you would mow Couch, Kikuyu or Buffalo. Short, medium or long. In general, however, it is better to not mow too short as it stresses all lawns, especially in drought. Nara also scalps less than Couch.

Nara saves on maintenance for mowing as well as fertilizing. It can survive off only one fertilize per year! For high wear areas we suggest twice a year. It is also very good at out competing weeds and you can use any chemical that you would use on Couch.

Nara handles 45-55% shade and has better wear tolerance than Buffalo in full sun. In semi shade Nara has better wear tolerance than Couch and Kikuyu. It has better wear tolerance than Couch and Kikuyu, although Couch and Kikuyu recover better from wear as they grow faster.

There is less need to worry about future water restrictions as Nara has vigorous deep rhizomes, it is far more drought tolerant than non rhizome grasses such as Buffalo. Buffalo will hold its colour in drought a few days longer than Nara, but will die much quicker in a hot prolonged dry spell. Nara goes dormant in severe drought to survive and has developed extreme drought tolerance from its parentage. Millions of years growing in Australia's hot dry and hot humid climates has made it a real drought survivor.

Nara’s winter colour is better than Couch and better than many Buffalo types. It browns off quicker than Palmetto, Sapphire and Kikuyu which are well known for their excellent winter colour. In Western Sydney at Richmond this year it was dormant for about 7 weeks. So sure there a few grasses that have better winter colour, but compared to many, Nara is better.

Nara rarely gets disease and copes very well with humid and dry climates. In colder areas and in wet winters, like many grasses, it can occasionally develop signs of rust, but this is generally hidden amongst the leaves of a mature lawn. Nara hides rust much better than many other types, so it is a safer choice.

Nara copes well with our bugs and insects, probably because it built up immunity over the millions of years of development as a native species of Australia. A few introduced pest species and the odd native one may cause problems occasionally.

For more information go to www.ozbreed.com.au/nara-turf.html there you can download more photos, the full brochure and technical data.