New to mowing warm season grasses

Bermuda, St. Augustine, Zoysia, Centipede, Bahia, Paspalum, etc
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LawnEnvy
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New to mowing warm season grasses

Post by LawnEnvy » September 23rd, 2017, 10:03 pm

Around my neighborhood, I take care of a few lawns and recently picked up a yard that has a warm season grass, which I believe is hybrid Bermuda. The grass is very soft and has narrow blades similar to fine fescue. It is not uncommon for some to have warm season grasses here in VA, but more have fescue yards.

Well, the first cut was at 3.75" due to lawn being overgrown, due to previous lawn guy stopped mowing 3 weeks prior. After I cut the yard at 3.75" it looked brown like it had been scalped. While mowing I could see more debris or dust in the air (similar to mowing over straw), which I thought was strange. We haven't had rain for a couple weeks, but should not be that dry. For this past week, growth wasn't to bad so I cut at 3.25" and it had the same look of being brown with appearance of being scalped once I was done.

I've been researching about Bermuda grass and read that it likes to be around 2". Should I keep dropping the height of cut until it's down to around 2" then keep it there all next year? As the temperature drops it will go dormant which I feel I'll be done with this yard mid - late October.

My next mow on this yard will be Thursday and I'll snap a few pictures if needed. I appreciate any insight to this grass type.

Thanks, Michael

PW405
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Re: New to mowing warm season grasses

Post by PW405 » September 24th, 2017, 12:54 pm

I've found this to be pretty common of Bermuda. If you drop the cut between weekly mows, most of the green "canopy" will be cut off. This happens to a lesser extent even if you don't drop the cutting height (especially if the bermuda doesn't get a full day's sunlight).

This late in the season, it will be unlikely for the canopy to return to the full density & color even if you don't drop the height again. However - the weather has been very odd this year. As an example of how this played out for me this year, I started dropping my HOC (height of cut) from 4" in late August with the goal being to get down to 2.5" so I can overseed with rye for the winter. Each time I reduced HOC, it was 7 days between mows. When I finally got down to 2.5" about two weeks ago, the bermuda section of my lawn was practically white/brown. Daily high/low temps were about 80/65°. I started watering 3x daily last weekend, but daily high temp's crept up into the mid 90's over the same period and today the bermuda is back to being thick and green. Creates a bit of a conundrum, as I might need to re-cut and seed again.

During spring and summer, I actually use this tactic in reverse to my advantage. I'll generally start the bermuda mowing season pretty low - I have common bermuda, so that's about 2.5" for me. Hybrids can usually tolerate much lower. My plan goes something like this: May, 2.5" cut, June 3", July 3.5', August 4". Cut weekly (some suggest more frequent mows). This allows the bermuda to retain a much fuller canopy after each cut and doesn't give it the scalped look. My bermuda only gets about 75% sun, and this strategy has made a huge difference in helping it look great throughout the summer.

My advice would be to keep this lawn at the current 3.25" until it goes dormant (unless they are wanting to overseed with annual rye for the winter). Next spring when temps start to warm up, I would cut off all the dead growth to allow sun to reach the new growth tips that will emerge. You can maintain the 2" cut at this time and use discretion for raising it.

Yes, that dusty plume is pretty common if cutting bermuda when dry, and especially worse when cutting shorter than what it is used to.

Bermuda is a pretty strange grass compared to typical cool season turf. Growing up, bermuda was just the norm in this part of the country, so in my mind bermuda=grass. It has been quite the revelation frequenting cool season boards on this site over the past two years and how different the practices are for a typical cool season grass vs. bermuda.

This is a great article to start with if you aren't accustomed to bermuda: https://aroundtheyard.com/index.php?opt ... Itemid=117

LawnEnvy
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Re: New to mowing warm season grasses

Post by LawnEnvy » September 24th, 2017, 9:38 pm

Thanks PW405 ! I appreciate the insight to Bermuda (including link) and the helpful mowing height recommendations. I'm not over seeding this lawn, so I'll stick with the 3.25" HOC until this lawn is dormant.

Next season, there is a small patch that I have been asked to kill off and replant due to cable company tearing into lawn and threw down K31 fescue / P. Rye mix. I've read that it's better to seed warm season grass when soil temp is around 70 degrees. This is a complete 180 degree turn from everything that I've learned about cool season grass, but I never mind learning more.

Next spring I'll maintain the schedule you mentioned that way my mower will be already set for my fescue yards, and I'm only mowing this yard weekly. I was unaware that Bermuda could be mowed high and my perception was that it had to be maintained short. I guess that if it is maintained short you'd have to mow every 3 days, which I know they wouldn't go for (but I wouldn't mind).

Thanks.

PW405
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Re: New to mowing warm season grasses

Post by PW405 » September 24th, 2017, 11:31 pm

No problem! I've spent quite a few years mowing bermuda. Due to some stars aligning, I became a homeowner when I was 19.

That said, one of the most interesting yards I've seen is the neighbor of a good friend. This yard is insane... SUPER dense and very tall. 4" easily. The canopy is so thick that when walking on it even during winter, I don't think you ever actually touch the dirt. He finally asked the neighbor what type of grass it was, and turns out it is Tiffway bermuda, just cut at a very high height. It looks like snow in the winter it is so dense and uniform. Very odd. I suppose I've just always seen hybrid bermuda cut down to 1" or less, so it was weird to see it so tall. Just goes to show, bermuda will pretty much adapt to anything you throw at it. Provided it is hot, and has light.

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Re: New to mowing warm season grasses

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » September 27th, 2017, 12:30 pm

Bermuda is quite a plant. I have seen it look excellent mowed at 3.5 inches, but much more often I've seen it look terrible at that height. I think the guy fertilized a LOT.

Here's a picture of a bermuda lawn mowed at 5/8" high.

Image

Thanks to qwerkyquercus for posting that many years ago. He talked about walking on the grass, not in the grass. When you mow that low, those stems begin to grow horizontally and not vertically. Then you would see multiple blades of grass growing off of each stem. That's when bermuda really becomes dense.

At some point you'll have to bite the bullet to mow it low. Bermuda is bermuda and will come back from whatever you do to it. If you lowered your mower all the way and mowed it down to stems, it would be back looking green in a week. Then if you raised the mower one notch, you would be mowing grass every time instead of stems.


LawnEnvy
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Re: New to mowing warm season grasses

Post by LawnEnvy » October 3rd, 2017, 11:18 pm

Glad to hear that Bermuda is tolerant of being abused and can recover. Attached is a close up of the grass and after mowing picture. We are starting to cool off with day temperatures in high 70's, so a few more cuts and this yard will go to sleep. I was sweating after first cut and entire lawn was nasty brown. Thanks for info.

Image

Image

williecoyote
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Re: New to mowing warm season grasses

Post by williecoyote » October 5th, 2017, 5:25 pm

Maintain the Bermuda with your mower deck one notch taller than the 3.25 that you just cut it.
That way it will stay green until temps drop enough for it to go into dormancy.
You don't want to scalp Bermuda this late in the season, because you want to have some top growth to insulate the roots during the winter.

Next spring, when you start to see green in the grass, scalp it low, and then maintain it one notch taller.
The heat of summer will gradually force you to maintain it taller.

Spammage
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Re: New to mowing warm season grasses

Post by Spammage » October 5th, 2017, 10:01 pm

I don't see anything there that looks like bermuda. I would guess that is a zoysia matrella like zeon or zorro.

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Begotten
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Re: New to mowing warm season grasses

Post by Begotten » October 25th, 2017, 9:50 pm

By the look and sound of it you've got some type of Zoysia not Bermuda, but it doesn't really make much difference in this case. My advice is to not get hung up on specific numbers you find online, you'll just have to try different things and see what works best in the real world for what you're doing. Keeping it mowed frequently is more important than the cutting height if you're trying to avoid scalping and ugly grass.

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Re: New to mowing warm season grasses

Post by Sicride » October 26th, 2017, 9:11 am

Not likely to avoid the browning trying to cut it down. Very little time left in your season so cut at same height for now and scalp it before wake up in spring. Once it wakes up maintain regular cut frequency as low of a height as you can without scalping areas of the yard due to high/low spots.

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Re: New to mowing warm season grasses

Post by Sicride » October 27th, 2017, 7:10 am

err, only first post was showing when I typed that response. Now that I see it's a different type of grass my response my not apply directly. Don't know much about that type

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