Question
Hi Floyd,

I recently bought a beach front home on the Big Island of Hawaii.  The current lawn is a conglomeration of clover and all sorts of different grasses.

I have some peculiar problems and was wondering if you might have some advice...

1) Salt mist from the ocean breaking on rocks carries into the yard.
2)  The current lawn is planted directly on crushed cinder.  I guess it's hydroponic?  
3)  It rains alot.
4)  The sun can be quite warm sometimes causing a high humidity.

Do you, by any chance, have advice as to what kind of grass I should plant that might do well under these circumstances?

If not, do you know of any of your collegues that might be able to assist me?

Thank you very much,

Larry Cooper-Wyble

Answer
Good afternoon Larry:
My expertise is in cool weather grasses. I have found a couple of web sites that I am sure will help you in your quest for that ideal Hawaiian  lawn. Also a good source of information would be your local Cooperative Extension. You can find that on the second web site.

Simply copy and paste these to your browser and hit "GO"

Adaptation of turfgrasses in Hawaii:
http://www2.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/TM-4.pdf

Hawaii Lawns and turfgrass recommendations:
http://www.lawngrass.com/states/hawaii.html

Have a good lawn!
Floyd McMahon