Lawn questions here?

Dsking85

Dsking85

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Is this the right place for lawn questions? Not survival related of course but I’m a lawn newbie and am trying to make my new Bermuda lawn flourish.

just moved into my first house with a real lawn. Old place had green stuff that looked OK when you mowed. It’s a Bermuda sodded lawn about 6 weeks old. I feel like I cant tell if I’m overwatering or underwatering and have some fertilizer questions. Anyone here have that picture perfect lawn and want to enlighten me?

thanks!
 
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Tagged for interest
 
Interest in answering or seeing the answers? Haha. I figured I’d hold off on writing out the question until someone thought they could help.
 
Seeing answers, I've got several lawns at my place, but only really wanna see 1 look really good
 
You only need to water Bermuda twice a week to about an inch deep. Next year mow the crap out of it. The more you mow the more it grows. Watch closely for poa grass in the fall. I've never tried it but my old yard guy said that in a cold winter after the ground temp drops to around freezing you can spray the entire yard with round up to kill all the bad weeds and grass. Now I haven't verified that but he was a great yard man.
 
Here's my simplified calendar, ground temps and rainfall are important. You're supposed to get a soil sample but I never do. Most likely you have an inch or two of soil and then a bunch of red clay. Always water in the early morning if possible.
Early spring(March):
When the ground temps near 55 degrees, mow as low as possible, bag and remove clippings. This will let the sun hit the ground and heat it so the Bermuda will come out of dormancy. The next day, apply your first round of preemergent crabgrasskiller.
Mid-late Spring(April, May):
The Bermuda will start growing now. Mow it as low as possible without damaging the ground. It needs at least 1" of water per week whether from rain or from your spigot. Wait 4-6 weeks after you applied premergent and apply your second round of preemergent, this second roundshould include some type of fertilizer. You can add lime if you would like to (or you soil test tells you to).
Early Summer(June):
Mow at least twice a week, low (1-1.5 inches). Spot treat weeds as needed. Pulling by hand is my way. Aerate with a core aerator then apply nitrogen fertilizer, I use compost and rake it in. If there's no rain, water twice per week and water deep. You want to soak down to 6", if possible, so the roots will grow.
Summer(July,August):
Mow a little higher (2-2.5) to help the grass cope with the heat stress. Grass needs at least 2" of water per week. Apply more nitrogen or compost.
Fall:
Ease up on watering and fertilizer, you probably won't need much of either. Mow as needed and high, 2.5-3 inches. This height will act as a way to smoother weeds and insulate the bermuda. You can apply a preemergent if you would like.
Winter;
Its dormant, do nothing except pull weeds if needed. When you sure the grass is dormant, you can nuke it with Roundup to kill weeds.
Repeat starting with Early Spring.

I used chemicals to get started since my yard was pretty far gone. After a couple of years the only chemical I use is the crabgrass preemergent. I will use that one more year then switch to corn gluten. Using natural fertilizers and weed control is better for you lawn. Once you get it established without chemicals it will be cheaper and easier to maintain and it will take MUCH less water. Chemicals kill the microflora that allow the lawn to protect itself. Rule of thumb: you want little mushrooms growing in you lawn. That means your soil is alive.
 
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Here’s info, and schedules for your grass. You can get on a ‘what to do’ email alert schedule.
www.turffiles.ncsu.edu

Bermudagrass

The content on this page is derived from an Extension Factsheet. You must login at https://content.ces.ncsu.edu to edit this content. ...
www.turffiles.ncsu.edu www.turffiles.ncsu.edu
A new sod type Bermuda has been out for a few years, Tiff Tuff, it’s supposed to be the most drought resistant grass available. You could spend less than $20 at Super Sod for several pieces, then plug them out in your existing Bermuda on a 1’ or 2’ grid. It’ll thicken up what you have.
After decades of hybrid Bermuda at multiple homes, I went with zoysia. I plugged it out with one of these. I called them up and asked for blems, they were less expensive than anywhere else.

Home | ProPlugger

proplugger.com proplugger.com
 
Do you have a ton of deciduous trees (trees that lose their leaves every Fall)? If so, two things.

1) Get a leaf bagger for your mower and suck them up as much as possible.

2) Lime - Spread it several times per year.

Those leaves are very acidic. Acid is good for weeds and bad for grass. One sign that this may be the case is moss. If you have, or get, lots of moss, that's a sign of very acidic soil. Many think moss just "grows well in shade". It grows well in acidic soils. Both shade and acidic soils occur under deciduous trees. The leaves from some trees are more acidic than others. Particularly oaks and some maples are pretty bad.

I just got a killer old used Deere with a powered bagger. I plan to put it to good use this Fall. 4 acres is a lot to spread with my push spreader, so I may need to get a pull spreader for that Deere. I just learned about the lime and leaves so I haven't tried it yet. But a very nerdy neighbor with an unbelievable lawn (and almost as many deciduous trees as I have) swears by it. According to him, the process really takes a good couple of years to get going. But once you change (and maintain) the proper acidity, weeds mostly stay away and grass is greener than AOC when someone steals her spotlight.
 
Sounds like you are fairly well off financially, retired with no work responsibilities or hobbies. If you are and you love to spend all your waking hours working in the yard, GO FOR IT! If that does not describe you, take this ole guy's free advice. If employed or self-employed, spend your time working, if retired, go hunting, fishing, golfing, bowling, or whatever and Hire a lawn care service. Buy the time you buy and maintain all the supplies and equipment you can hire it maintained for less money and go about enjoying life. As a former owner/operator of a John Deere Farm, Industrial, Lawn & Garden equipment dealership, I know from experience, YOU COME OUT MUCH BETTER FINANCIALLY. However, if it is your passion to grub in a yard, go for it. GOOD LUCK!
 
16-0-8 works wonders on Bermuda. My sod is a little over a year old and was having issues staying full. It would consistently show lawn mower tracks, despite being watered and green, but it was never really dark green. I placed the 16-0-8 out about three weeks ago and it is significantly darker than the neighbors who use TruGreen service and has filled in all the uneven areas. My neighbors asked what I put out it is doing so well.

www.domyown.com

Ferti-Lome Classic Lawn Food 16-0-8 with Slow-Release Nitrogen

Ferti-Lome Classic Lawn Food 16-0-8 with Slow-Release Nitrogen
www.domyown.com www.domyown.com
 
greengiant said:
Sounds like you are fairly well off financially, retired with no work responsibilities or hobbies. If you are and you love to spend all your waking hours working in the yard, GO FOR IT! If that does not describe you, take this ole guy's free advice. If employed or self-employed, spend your time working, if retired, go hunting, fishing, golfing, bowling, or whatever and Hire a lawn care service. Buy the time you buy and maintain all the supplies and equipment you can hire it maintained for less money and go about enjoying life. As a former owner/operator of a John Deere Farm, Industrial, Lawn & Garden equipment dealership, I know from experience, YOU COME OUT MUCH BETTER FINANCIALLY. However, if it is your passion to grub in a yard, go for it. GOOD LUCK!
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While I see your point, some of us are at different stages of life. I don't do any weeding or trimming. I usually don't even cut. But I also live in a house with a wife and two pre-teen daughters. Sometimes tractor time is THERAPY time. 😁 Riding around bagging leaves or spreading lime might just be enough time to take in a Red Sox game on the radio (phone app) with my earbuds. It might just be time to put in earplugs and stew over something troubling me. Heck, on some days it could be the quietest part of my day. 🤣
 
One thing to be aware of, some of the pre-emergents will stunt Bermuda root growth, check before applying.
If you ever make it towards Angier, check with Watkins Farm Supply 52 Camellia Rd, Angier, NC 27501, 919-639-0686
They're prices and product are much better than the home stores.
 
greengiant said:
Buy the time you buy and maintain all the supplies and equipment you can hire it maintained for less money and go about enjoying life.
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This right here. We went with Fairway Green, and our lawn has never looked better. It's about the same price as buying all the stuff and doing it myself. Way too time consuming for me. Plus, I never have to remember WHEN I'm supposed to do whatever treatment.
 
Lots of good advice here. I had a Bermuda lawn once. Don’t want one any more. I manage about 80 acres of three different cultivars and damn if I want to mow grass twice a week at home. But that’s just me. Seriously, Bermuda is hard to mess up. If you have adequate sun, soil, and water you’ll be fine. It’s tolerant of most herbicides and just about any fertilizer. Pest pressures are few. It’s just an easy grass to grow. A couple things I’d humbly add on to what’s been already shared. Pre-emergence herbicides can root prune if mis applied, as stated above. A safe one for first year turf is called Ronstar. Oxadiazon is the chemical name, and it’s available off brand. I’d recommend using only the granular formulation, following the label rate. If Bermuda is fully dormant you can indeed spray a weak solution of glyphosate (Roundup) on Poa. Go light. I spray at 8oz to the acre for this purpose. We usually look for a warm day in February or even March when the daytime temp gets up to 50 or so. You can apply when it’s colder but the target pest won’t take up the herbicide as effectively. Hell, if you really want to go all out overseed in the winter. Then you can mow all year round. I hear some folks actually like to do that 😂. Good luck with your new lawn.
 
tbafile said:
Pre-emergence herbicides can root prune if mis applied, as stated above. A safe one for first year turf is called Ronstar. Oxadiazon is the chemical name, and it’s available off brand. I’d recommend using only the granular formulation, following the label rate.
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Ronstar is what was suggested for my Zoysia as well.
 
tbafile said:
It’s pretty good stuff, been around a long time. Ive seen the liquid formulation fry some turf, so I wouldn’t recommend that. We use a lot of Specticle for Spring Pre-em and it’s pretty effective for summer weeds, but expensive.
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$405, AND out of stock! Too rich for my blood.
I've been using a different pre-emerg (can't remember the active ingredient), 50lb bag with fertilizer for $22.
Oxadiazon.jpg
 
Get Off My Lawn said:
$405, AND out of stock! Too rich for my blood.
I've been using a different pre-emerg (can't remember the active ingredient), 50lb bag with fertilizer for $22.
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When the Flowable came out everyone was excited at the idea of ease of application on the golf course. What I’ve seen happen is, if it’s not applied to sho-nuff absolutely dormant Bermuda it will burn the piss out of it and even kill. This wasn’t my experience, but I watched another course lay a lot of sod in their collars two years running after spraying it. It seems to be a little more mobile than the granular, too. Not good if you get a heavy rainstorm after applying. Nope, good ole Ronstar G works fine for me. Split applications help with a longer control window, too.
 
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