Does any one know how to get a grass lawn going for a Sulcata Tortise

Tg16

New Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
Messages
20
Location (City and/or State)
California
I have been trying to find a good seed and safe fertilizer the last couple days. I just want ideas for his enclosure lawn and ask a couple questions.
 

Tim Carlisle

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Nov 13, 2017
Messages
2,560
Location (City and/or State)
Cincinnati, OH
Indoor or outdoor enclosure? Are you wanting to plant grass inside the enclosure or in the yard surrounding it?
 

Tg16

New Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
Messages
20
Location (City and/or State)
California
Indoor or outdoor enclosure? Are you wanting to plant grass inside the enclosure or in the yard surrounding it?
Okay it is a out door home where we want to plant grass so he can leave his home any part of the day and eat
 

Tim Carlisle

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Nov 13, 2017
Messages
2,560
Location (City and/or State)
Cincinnati, OH
Okay it is a out door home where we want to plant grass so he can leave his home any part of the day and eat
Well, I can tell you right away to avoid using any chemical fertilizers. Avoid laying an sod as well since they are usually riddled with chemicals. You might want to cordon off sections of the area and allow the grass to get going good and strong. Just do small sections at a time. BTW,,,, tortoise poo is an excellent natural fertilizer. Most folks seems to plant Bermuda grass. My area, however, does best with Kentucky rye. I guess it all depends on where you live as to what grass will grow best. Some of the larger sulcatas like to pull everything up by the roots, leaving bare spots. Be prepared for that. Mine is only 35 pounds so I've not yet had to worry about that. Consider offering other plants in addition to grass, such as hosta or hibiscus. Give it a decent variety to draw its attention away from picking at only one spot. Aside from that huge tangent I went on, try finding straight-up plain old grass seed that has not been treated with anything. You don't want to introduce anything that could harm your tort.
 

Tg16

New Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
Messages
20
Location (City and/or State)
California
Well, I can tell you right away to avoid using any chemical fertilizers. Avoid laying an sod as well since they are usually riddled with chemicals. You might want to cordon off sections of the area and allow the grass to get going good and strong. Just do small sections at a time. BTW,,,, tortoise poo is an excellent natural fertilizer. Most folks seems to plant Bermuda grass. My area, however, does best with Kentucky rye. I guess it all depends on where you live as to what grass will grow best. Some of the larger sulcatas like to pull everything up by the roots, leaving bare spots. Be prepared for that. Mine is only 35 pounds so I've not yet had to worry about that. Consider offering other plants in addition to grass, such as hosta or hibiscus. Give it a decent variety to draw its attention away from picking at only one spot. Aside from that huge tangent I went on, try finding straight-up plain old grass seed that has not been treated with anything. You don't want to introduce anything that could harm your tort.
Thanks do you think chicken manure would be okay as a bonus to kinda jump start the process because we are kinda picking him and and transporting him to our front lawn so we are trying to get his home figured out.
 

Tim Carlisle

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Nov 13, 2017
Messages
2,560
Location (City and/or State)
Cincinnati, OH
Thanks do you think chicken manure would be okay as a bonus to kinda jump start the process because we are kinda picking him and and transporting him to our front lawn so we are trying to get his home figured out.
If you think it can handle the smell, sure. lol
 

Tom

The Dog Trainer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
63,265
Location (City and/or State)
Southern California
I have been trying to find a good seed and safe fertilizer the last couple days. I just want ideas for his enclosure lawn and ask a couple questions.
Get grass seed intended for grazing pasture animals. No sod and no hardware store seeds. Till the soil, add amendments, add fertilizer, till some more. Scatter your pasture seed, scatter some of you soil on top of the seed and water gently, but heavily for a couple of weeks at least. Do not let the top layer dry out and crust up before the grass germinates and pokes through. Water every hour during the day in this hot summer weather. You will probably need to cover the area to keep the birds from eating all your seed until it germinates and starts growing.

Best to do several sections that can be blocked off. Let one section be open for grazing while the other sections re-grow and recover.

Don't use any sort of weed n' feed or pesticidal stuff. No perlite or other additives either. Plain fertilizer is fine as long as the tortoise doesn't have direct access to the actual fertilizer product. Once it soaks in and the area has been getting watered for a few weeks while the grass grows, the tortoise can have access to that area.
 

Maro2Bear

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
May 29, 2014
Messages
14,712
Location (City and/or State)
Glenn Dale, Maryland, USA
Thanks do you think chicken manure would be okay as a bonus to kinda jump start the process because we are kinda picking him and and transporting him to our front lawn so we are trying to get his home figured out.

Just don’t use fresh chicken manure. Fresh manure is “hot” and will easily burn/ruin any fresh seeds, grasses.

➡️ The answer is to use it as a soil amendment or fertilizer. However, raw chicken manure can burn and damage plants. It should be composted or aged prior to use. In addition, raw manure can contain pathogens that can harm people and animals.

➡️ Raw poultry manure also can contain high levels of ammonia-nitrogen and salts that can damage plants if applied in the spring, so don't apply raw manure to any garden immediately prior to planting.

If it’s from a single pet chicken or two, it’s usually not an issue. Just don’t clean out the coop & use all that poop.
 

mastershake

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2018
Messages
585
Location (City and/or State)
Florida
tractor supply sells all purpose pasture grass seed and its what we use here it has no added fertilizer at all, grows fast and always takes. just spread water daily and it will grow. its not super cheap though at 50$ a bag but it goes really far. they mix weeds into the mix like clover etc so its a really good mix for a sully.
 

Tg16

New Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2021
Messages
20
Location (City and/or State)
California
tractor supply sells all purpose pasture grass seed and its what we use here it has no added fertilizer at all, grows fast and always takes. just spread water daily and it will grow. its not super cheap though at 50$ a bag but it goes really far. they mix weeds into the mix like clover etc so its a really good mix for a sully.
Thanks do you know the main grass by chance like is it Bermuda
 

mastershake

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2018
Messages
585
Location (City and/or State)
Florida
35% Forage Tall Fescue
20% Tetraploid Annual Ryegrass
20% Orchard Grass
10% Red Clover
5% White Clover
5% Crimson Clover

it also has some weeds in it but at very low % i have used it for a while and not seen anything bad weed wise

you can also add some other seed of your choice in there if you want just be sure its not the pre fertilized encased seed
 

mastershake

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2018
Messages
585
Location (City and/or State)
Florida
they also have another version which is a bit different this is that list in full:

35.29% Fawn Tall Fescue
25.38% Striker Tetraploid Annual Ryegrass
19.19% Potomac Orchard Grass
7.19% Renegade Red Clover
5.27% Crimson Clover*
5.20% Dutch White Clover
0.80% Other Crop Seed
1.58% Inert Matter
0.10% Other Weeds

• Attractive green color
• Handles traffic well
• More heat tolerant to high temperatures
• Low Maintenance
• Wide area of adaptation
• Grows to 4.5 ft.

Planting rate: 20-25 lb/acre or 1-2 lb/1000 sq ft.
(No inoculant needed)
 

mastershake

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2018
Messages
585
Location (City and/or State)
Florida
its by groundwork and simply called all purpose forage seed 25lb bags

if you want smaller bags they do also sell a 3lb Barenbrug Free Range Groundcover Forage Seed Mixture which is a great seed also
 
Top