Native Lippia Ground Cover or Turkey Tangle Frog Fruit

Posted by Razy Garcia-Sanchez on May 25, 2022

Native Lippia Ground Cover

Turkey Tangle Frog Fruit

Hello everyone, this is Razy from Sod and Seed, Inc. We're going to be showcasing the native Lippia today. You can follow along with the video below, or watch the video only if you're more of a visual learner! Lippia is also named Phyla Nodiflora, Turkey Tangle Frogfruit or Turkey Tangle Frog Fruit.

Lippia Ground Cover Rooting System

In the beginning clips, we wanted to show you the resilience of Lippia's rooting system. That Lippia has been housed here for a couple weeks and you can see the rooting system penetrating the mesh tote. Very strong rooting system! The watering down is a technique we use to make sure we preserve the roots as much as possible. We don't want to damage the roots too much for this demonstration. So, instead of uprooting them or ripping up the Lippia, we use some water to wash down the roots and clear them of soil to showcase them. This way, we don't cause so much damage to the still developing rooting system.

In the video, we zoom in and get up close to the Lippia to really give you a sense of what the intricacies of the rooting system look like. As the Lippia is being washed out and uncovered, you can see a pretty complex system of roots that in just a few weeks has developed quite well. Again, we use this method to preserve as many of the roots as possible.

Lippia Ground Cover Stolon

Before jumping in to showcasing the rooting system of the Lippia 4-inch plug, we want to start off by showing a small stolon and its already developing roots. The small stolen shown in the video was placed in water with the left side in first, so the right side the top sticking out. As soon as that second node got water, it started to grow roots. With the roots on the left being in water first, they started to develop first so you can tell that they're thicker, there's more of them, and the roots are longer. But, even at this early stage in the rooting process, you can already see that as there is lateral growth, there is also downward growth into the soil of the developing Lippia rooting system.

Lippia Ground Cover Plugs

Above, we show the rooting system of the 4-inch plug that you saw us water down with the hose. Again, we watered the Lippia down to detach it from the soil instead of pulling it out to preserve as many as the roots as possible. What you is what you can expect from a 4-inch Lippia plug after about a month and a half to two months. Keep in mind, the early stages of this Lippia plug were during the winter, so the temperatures were cooler. We know Lippia likes heat and full sun, so the winter conditions impacted its development a little bit.

Drought Tolerant Lippia Ground Cover

The Lippia's rooting system is essentially what gives Lippia all of the attributes that are sought after. It's thick and sturdy rooting system accounts for its drought tolerance, heat tolerance and the healing or self-repairing properties it has.

Lippia Plugs Filling In

We start off this section by showing you some of the Lippia's lateral growth. What you see is what is to be expected when you install plugs, which is that the Lippia will begin to grow laterally and fill itself in over a couple of weeks or months. As there's lateral growth that's filling in the area, beneath each node you also have downward rooting and establishment that's happening.

Installing Lippia Ground Cover

When you're installing plugs or sod rolls, whichever, you'll want to make sure that the lawn stays moist. These roots are showing you why, because in the beginning phases, the roots are shorter, they're thinner, so they hold less water. In the earliest stages, when the roots are very, very small, they can dry out super fast.

Watering Lippia Ground Cover

To avoid young, tender roots from drying out, you want to make sure that the lawn stays moist, so as the rooting system develops and grows into the area, it continuously has enough water for it to keep growing and also resist stressful conditions such as drought and heat. So, very important to keep your lawn moist the first couple of weeks. Lippia has a rooting and establishment period that's a little bit longer than traditional sod. So, traditional sod is generally two to three weeks, Lippia could be up to two months, reason being is that it has a very strong, deep, complex rooting system, and so it's just going to take it a little bit longer.

Lippia Ground Cover Leaf Size

Okay, and real quick before we recap to end the video, we'll go over two things: leaf size and weed resistance. So, you might notice on Lippia that the leaf sizes vary. There are some leaves that are smaller, some that are a little bit bigger. Essentially, that difference is due to the Lippia increasing the size of the leaf to have more surface area to absorb more sunlight, and in that way absorb energy that it's going to need to continue to develop and stay alive.

Weed Resistant Lippia Ground Cover

Lippia ground cover is very dense. The density of Lippia's surface layer, similar to the density of its rooting system, is what helps it be weed resistant. With that much density, weeds are going to have a really hard time penetrating this native ground cover.

Lippia Ground Cover Benefits

To recap, in today's blog and video, we showcased Lippia's rooting system. Its rooting system is what helps Lippia be so drought-tolerant, heat tolerant, and have excellent healing or self-repairing abilities. The lateral growth you see is also consisting of downward growth into the soil as the rooting system develops and establishes itself into your lawn. Lippia's leaf sizes change a little bit to increase the surface area that the Lippia can absorb light through. The density you'll see as Lippia fills in, is what helps it be weed resistant or disease-resistant. Remember to keep your lawn moist the first couple of weeks, most likely around two months, to help the rooting and establishment.

Lippia Ground Cover Flowering

Thank You!

Thank you so much for watching. You can reach us via text or phone call at 925-435-7874 or via email at info@lawndelivery.com. You can also visit our website directly at www.lawndelivery.com or find us on Facebook. You can also find us on Instagram and on YouTube. If there's anything we didn't cover that you'd like to know about, let us know. We welcome any questions, input, or feedback. Again, thanks for watching, and until next time!

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Native Lippia Ground Cover or Turkey Tangle Frog Fruit