How does grass seed proliferate in nature, especially in dry climates, if it requires so much water to germinate?
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The problem here isn’t grass – it is lawns.
Grasses can be divided up into two groups called C3 and C4 which refers to the way that they do photosynthesis. The latter has evolved to actually use very little water to deal with higher temperatures and dry seasons.
Which works quite well and is a big part of the reason it has managed to claim such vast regions of the earth – but that doesn’t guarantee a nice even spread of the plants, especially outside of their natural habitats
If I gave you 3 options of where to spend 12 hours wearing a t-shirt and jeans would you choose; the desert at 100F (37C) with no water, the freezing arctic, or inside a house at room temp with a fridge full or food and things to drink? I’m guessing you chose the last one.
In nature grass grows really well and spreads in places where (that species of) grass is well suited for and where other plants like trees aren’t well suited. However people want certain types of grass that aren’t necessarily suitable for their location and soil type, so in order force the grass to grow and look good it takes watering and fertilizing.
Basically be we try and grow grass in places it naturally wouldn’t grow or seasons it would have already grown dormant. And typically we grow only a few species of fescue, bluegrass or Bermuda grasses.
Generally native grasses don’t make the same neat manicured lawns that people want. For example in my area native grasses tend to seed and go dormant or die off until next year by late June or mid July . Our native grass growing season starts around February/march, and by July it’s all dried and dead. Lawns are irrigated, mowed and fertilized year round. Mowing prevents it from going to seed and keeps the roots shallow. Native grasses can have roots that to down several feet to survive the dry season, lawns rarely have roots that extend beyond a few inches.
Humans pick the grass they want. Nature picks the grass suited for the environment. Grass that takes 7-10 days of moisture isn’t from where you are.
You’ve got to look around and see if there are perfectly full lawns (albeit long) just sitting there. Places where there’s grass also have a lot of other stuff in it, and it probably took a while for the grass to get in that state as well. We manicure grass to be perfect and dense enough to walk on well while short, but that’s not what you see in nature
Most grasses you see in suburban neighborhoods are not native to that environment. They evolved to grow in other parts of the world whose climate conditions are closer to their needs.
It sprouts when rain falls.
I live in a dry climate where there are lots of wild grasses. They sprout up in spring, when it is rainy, then dry out over summer, when it is dry.
Constant moisture for 7-10 days isn’t really anything special, in fact, the low moisture needs of grass relative to trees and bushes are what allows it to dominate dryer climates like grasslands and savannas.
Houston Texas here. Hot every summer. But our first year at this house was a drought. Thousands of trees died. Our flourishing San Augustine grass went brown. We did nothing to it and it grew back thicker than ever the next year. Ever since (20 years) it has been fine. We have no sprinkler system and NEVER water the lawn. The humidity and occasional flooding rain handled it. Forget seeding grass. Put in San Augustine sod and forget about it.
If you live in a place where grass grows naturally then this is not an issue.
In gardens, where I live, we spend more time making sure grass doesn’t grow where we don’t want it to. Grass only stop growing here when we approach winter and the temperature drops below 7c. Then in early spring, when the temps get above 7c. it start growing again, and we have to start mowing the lawn at least once a week again.
If you have a patch of land with nothing’s growing on it here, grass will be one of the things that just starts growing there on it’s own. No care or speciel attention required.
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