We bought a farm in Chappell Hill/Brenham, Texas area 3 years ago. The farm had coastal planted on it but it had gotten pretty weedy over the years. Now we have moved to the farm and would like to get the grass going again. I have several questions:

1) Jiggs vs Coastal stem size and leaf size. The guy that bailed it this year said we had both jiggs and coastal on the place. How can you tell the difference by looking at it? Are there pictures available?

2) Which one (Coastal or Jiggs) would be best for and preferred by:
a) Horse Owners?
b) Cattle people?

3) We have both black land (mostly) and sandy areas. Which one would do best (we plan to irrigate)?

4) How is the best way to get the coastal/jiggs going again and spreading? The drought has killed back the weeds but the coastal/jiggs has still stayed green but was stressed up until last week when we finally got 1.5 inches of rain. We have put about 80-90 pounds of N2 on the place for the last 3 years along with phosphorous (not much this year it was too costly)...so:
a) Should we apply more fertilizer (since we have just been doing it once/year)? How much?
b) Will renovation work? When do we do it?
c) Should we just mow or bail (we bailed 2 times per year in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and 1 time this year. I was told that just mowing will help it spread and the N2 will go back to the soil)?
d) Best herbicide? When do we apply?

Thanks for your help.

Bud Neely

I came across a site that has some pretty good information about some of the things you are asking about. Simple and straightforward site but also includes a lot of pics so you have an idea of how things establish over time. http://www.superiorfarming.com/qa/