Best Bermuda Variant - North Alabama

[Movingshrub]

It's been almost ten months since my original post.

I've got a few updates.

I plan to install the TIFTUF Variant of Bermuda in my yard. It's almost as shade tolerant as Tifgrand and Celebration and supposed to be drought tolerant.

I plan to install an irrigation system in my front and back yard.

I am going to attempt planting TIFTUF via stolonizing. I'll document the process.

Furthermore, I've continued to clean out my back yard. I am down to two pecan trees, which have had the canopy raised, and I've removed almost all the stumps.



I took the photo right before a thunderstorm, hence the dark/overcast look.

My plan is to bring in some additional dirt, grade it (Should I use a box blade? Harely Rake? What's the right tool for this?)

Install sprinklers.
Plant grass.
Cross Fingers
Open beer.

[andy10917]

There is a big difference between topsoil and "dirt". Choose wisely.

[Movingshrub]

I don't want to use just fill dirt. I assumed I would need a combination of topsoil and compost. I already had a soil test, which indicated I don't need to add any amendments to the soil, so I want to minimize disrupting the chemistry of the soil. However, I know I'll need to add something to sufficiently grade the yard. Any suggestions on how I go about doing that?

[Bsean0714]

I'm in Rome, GA. I seeded Laprima Xd with great success in back yard. Can't tell mUchiha difference in that and 419 in my front yard. I leet grow much higher than the recommended 1" and it still looks great me.

[Movingshrub]

Another update.

I have been working to kill everything prior to planting. I have applied four applications of glyphosate, with two weeks between each application.

Also, I purchased a sun light meter (Light Scout DLI 100) to measure the Daily Light Integral (DLI) of my yard both in and out of the shade, per the recommendation of someone with Auburn University. I was advised that Bermudas need 20+DLIs, TifGrand and TifTuf could probably do with 18 DLI, Centipede and Zoysia - 15, and St Augustine and a few Zoysia variants maybe as low as 12 DLI.

Considering I want to plant TifTUF, I reached out to someone with UGA who advised me that TifTuf did very well under pine trees at 25DLI and under Dogwood shade at DLI of 13, looked acceptable but not great.

Using my DLI meter, it shows 35+ DLI (as high as the scale will go) for the areas in direct sun most of the day with very limited shade. I have been trying to measure the part of my yard with the most shade, but it's been challenging due to rain and/or extremely cloudy days. My goal is to get a measurement during a fully sunny day to get an idea whether I need to trim back additional limits prior to planting.

Furthermore, I used tracker dye when applying glyphosate so I could see where had been sprayed. I noticed almost all my monkey grass seemed to be glyphosate resistant. I plan to dig it all up by hand for good measure.



Next week I plan to install irrigation, bring in some sand and screened topsoil to fill in low areas, and use a power rake to remove all the dead foliage prior to planting.

I intend to broadcast stolinize 200 bushels of sprigs for an area about 9000 square feet. This will be my first time doing this, so fingers crossed I do not screw it up.

[Spammage]

Where are you getting the sprigs of Tiftuf?

[Movingshrub]

Where are you getting the sprigs of Tiftuf?

That part I'm still trying to work out. I contacted several sod farms in TN, AL, and GA that said they were good to supply, when I asked in October about Summer 2017. However, almost every place has backed out/changed their mind, doesn't have a sufficient quantity to harvest yet, or raised their pricing; $3.50/$4.00 a bushel was what I was quoted in October and just got quoted $15.00 a bushel this week. At that price, I'd be better off just buying sod. I may just buy pallets and see if I can get an alternate sod farm to turn that into sprigs. My other option, although I'm not sure how viable it is, would be to plant alternating rows of sod and then fill in the depth between rows with sand and topsoil.

[tellycoleman]

Sunlight is also my concern
A lot of people are saying it.
Most people never really look to see how much direct non filtered light you are getting until you start having problems.
I would really go out ad see. put a couple landscapping flags in your yard on a saturday or a day off. then every hour go out and look and see if its getting Direct sunlight not being filtered by trees. You have alot of trees and that concerns me on your choice of grass. If you arent getting at least 6 hours a day I would not do seed whatsoever. If its going to be a heavy traffic area then You need to have alot of sun. Zoysia is slower to recover from lawn damage compared to bermuda.
Again sunlight is my concern
Sunlight is my concern

[Movingshrub]

Sunlight is also my concern
A lot of people are saying it.
Most people never really look to see how much direct non filtered light you are getting until you start having problems.
I would really go out ad see. put a couple landscapping flags in your yard on a saturday or a day off. then every hour go out and look and see if its getting Direct sunlight not being filtered by trees. You have alot of trees and that concerns me on your choice of grass. If you arent getting at least 6 hours a day I would not do seed whatsoever. If its going to be a heavy traffic area then You need to have alot of sun. Zoysia is slower to recover from lawn damage compared to bermuda.
Again sunlight is my concern
Sunlight is my concern

Every house around me has Bermuda or Bermuda/Crabgrass/Dallisgrass/Poa Annua blended turf.

What would you suggest I plant if not TifTuf Bermuda?

To me the choices are TifTuf, Tifgrand, Celebration, or Emerald Zoysia.

My backyard now only has three trees. The one on the south side, I raised the canopy. The two on the north side are practically touching one another. My options there are, remove one of the trees and maybe raise/thin out the other one, pick a different turf grass, or put mulch in that area.

[mrigney]

movingshrub -- I also live in Huntsville. Just resodded 3k sq ft with Celebration sod. I had similar choices as you...Celebration, Tif419, Emerald Zoysia. Ended up going w/Celebration. Had to get it from Bham (Coshatt's Sod), though and it was a little bit of a pain. If you're interested in what I did, let me know and I can give more details. I'll also attach some pictures of what I did/am doing.

TopTurf Sod is the only place in HSV that I know that sells Emerald Zoysia

[Movingshrub]

Update -

I brought in several yards of river sand and screened topsoil to fill in areas of my front yard that were low from removing a previous flower bed and a tree.

I had previously ground the stumps after removing trees, but I did not get rid of the stump grinding debris. My plan was to spread it out over the entire yard and then till it in with a powered Harley rake. I ended up using a Toro TX525 tracked dingo and a powered Harley rake.

The dingo with the Harley power rake worked great. It took me a while to figure out to really use the equipment to accomplish what I wanted. I ended up going across the entire yard three times. Right to left, top to bottom, then right to left again. I had high spots to remove and this was the best method for the layout of my yard to smooth it out and minimize the amount of hand raking afterwards.

I operated the dingo and Harley power rake for about 5-6 hours of operational time. I was working with three different areas adding up to 9000 square feet. The spaces involved a lot of different angles and fences versus a wide open rectangle shaped lot.

After I hand raked and cleaned up the piles of soil and debris left at the end of the rows by the power rake, I rented a ditch trenching machine to being my irrigation installation.

Call before you dig! 811. Make sure to call almost a week before you plan to dig.

I started off with a Ditch Witch 1030 that was 11HP. It's rather heavy (900lb) and extremely challenging to maneuver. I spent almost a whole day trying to trench with it without making much progress. I ended up upgrading to the Ditch with C30X Also, I had a challenging time getting all of the necessary pipe fittings cause I am using 1 1/4" sized PVC; this is due to the number of tree roots and chipmunks in my area. I ended up having to piece together the 1 1/4" component between six different stores.

I had a rough idea where my sewer line was but I wasn't exactly correct. I managed to locate it with the trencher but stopped the machine before it did any damage. I was using the smaller trenching machine at the time. My sewer line happened to be only 18" below grade. I had expected it to be at least 24"+. Furthermore, I found the electrical line to my mailbox lamp. I wasn't too worried about hitting that electrical line since I plan to replace the mailbox in the near future anyways. My plan was to just install conduit in one of the irrigation trenches if I happened to cut the wire.

I've managed to install the pipe for the entire backyard and the side of my house.

I did all of the above starting on a Tuesday afternoon, worked dawn to dusk every day, and stopped on Sunday at dark.

Items remaining: install pipe in the front yard, build the valve manifold, connect to the irrigation meter, backfilling all of the trenches, and the setup, configuration. and installation of the sprinklers and controller.

Lesson learned -
Everything takes longer than you expect it too.

Get rid of the tree stump debris. Some of the stump debris was too large and didn't blend very well and I spent too much time raking and picking up the large pieces of debris by hand. It would've been easier I think to use the bucket on the dingo to more easily move the debris to a trailer for disposal.

I should have rented the biggest possible trench from the get-go.

Get all your materials in advance and plan to need extra due to mistakes or rerouting. I had to reroute around some stumps/roots that I couldn't dig/cut through. I am using approximately 1600 feet of SCH 40 PVC pipe; that stuff adds up fast.

Cost Breakdown
Screened Topsoil - $120 - 3 yards at $40/yard
River Sand - $40 - paid by the ton, about 2.5 yards worth
Harley Power Rake and Dingo - $250 for 8 hours of use
Large Ditch Witch Trencher - $200 for 8 hours of use; rented over a weekend
Gasoline and Diesel Fuel - $30
1600 feet of 1 1/4" SCH 40 PVC Pipe and Fittings - $1500
Rainbird Professional Sprinkler Components, including ESP-ME controller, for 5 zones and 52 sprinklers - $750

I would recommend coordinating people to help you rake up the debris and refill the trenches. This is a good time to hire high school kids in the neighborhood who want to make some money.

Beware the weather. My rented Harley rake broke, twice; once was a bearing and the replacement had a hydraulic coupling that was spraying fluid. Those delays combined with the slow pace of the smaller trencher and having to piece together materials from multiple stores ate away one full day of my time. As a result, it ended up raining multiple times before I was able to backfill the trenches.

The high temp and humidity definitely takes it's toll. I stocked up on water, Gatorade, and sunscreen and still was smoked from the work and heat.