Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Bermuda, St. Augustine, Zoysia, Centipede, Bahia, Paspalum, etc
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Cptcameron
Posts: 29
Joined: May 7th, 2017, 9:39 pm
Location: Eastern North Carolina
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by Cptcameron » May 7th, 2017, 10:20 pm

Ok.. I am very inexperienced in the Grass growing science, so many of you will have a good laugh at this. I have just figured out that I have Bermuda grass, even though my neighbor insists that it is centipede.. I have spent the last hour reading up on TWs advice and the Bermuda Bible. Oh man I have done some crazy things to this lawn, and need to know what I should do next. Here is where the laughs will start, so here it goes on what I have done so far.
1. I sprayed the lawn with a broadleaf weed killer I bought at lowes. This killed a lot of weeds, but left me with a lot of weeds in the grass, primarily crabgrass.
2. So, I got with my neighbor who has a pull behind 30gal sprayer. He mixed some atrazine with another weed killer and sprayed the yard. This killed most of all the weeds except the crabgrass. I bought some some crabgrass killer (had an ingredient that was Quixote, or something like that)I could put in my pump sprayer. I manually sprayed the crabgrass. That seemed to work, but I ran out. I then used atrazine and continued to spray the individual spots of crabgrass.
3. I cut the grass after letting it sit for 2 weeks as low as I could. Now that the weeds are gone, there are some 10ft bear sections in a couple places in my yard with a little bit of Bermuda strands running through some places. Crabgrass still remained in a lot of areas.
4. I mixed more atrazine and water in my pump sprayer and continued to spray the crabgrass. Somewhere I must have sprayed something wrong or too much, as now I have the crabgrass dying, but it looks like I sprayed it with round up. I have dead brown spots all over the yard where the crabgrass was.
5. Yes, it continues.. lol.. I mixed 21-0-10 (I think) and 10-10-10 together and spread it on my yard.
6. Holes everywhere, what is this?? I found out I have grubs in my yard, because one was on the surface. Another trip to lowes for 24hr Grub killer. Spread that on the yard and grubs where everywhere this morning, birds had a good breakfast.

So, I have learned I should have read this forum before starting! Any advice on what I should do now that I have a brown spotty yard with 10ft beware spots in 3 different areas where only weeds use to inhabitate? Oh, my neighbors love me right now! Lol
I can supply picture if necessary, but it ain't pretty..

basokc
Posts: 69
Joined: June 11th, 2011, 10:42 am
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Grass Type: Bermudagrass
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by basokc » May 8th, 2017, 1:30 am

Quinclorac as a post-emergent herbicide will be your best friend when trying to control crabgrass. It's slow to see the results but it works. Dithiopyr as a pre-emergent for crabgrass control is also recommended.

Cptcameron
Posts: 29
Joined: May 7th, 2017, 9:39 pm
Location: Eastern North Carolina
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by Cptcameron » May 8th, 2017, 6:33 am

Here are some pictures of my situation. My plan now.. is to get a soul test and fertilize and water...

Image


Image

Cptcameron
Posts: 29
Joined: May 7th, 2017, 9:39 pm
Location: Eastern North Carolina
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by Cptcameron » May 8th, 2017, 7:34 am

Image

Image

Image

Cptcameron
Posts: 29
Joined: May 7th, 2017, 9:39 pm
Location: Eastern North Carolina
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by Cptcameron » May 8th, 2017, 8:29 am

Thanks basokc, I used Trimec crabgrass killer with Quinclorac with 2, 4-D dimethylamine salt. Should I stop trying to kill weeds and concentrate on growing now, as my yard is very spotty and patchy. Any advice on what to do now would be greatly appreciated.. Where is Texas Weeds when you need him?


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ECUPirate
Posts: 353
Joined: April 1st, 2014, 10:58 am
Location: Eastern NC
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Experienced

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by ECUPirate » May 8th, 2017, 11:21 am

I see quite a bit of centipede in that 3rd pic.

Have you had a soil test done? I'd recommend that before wasting your money on fertilizer that you may or may not need.

Cptcameron
Posts: 29
Joined: May 7th, 2017, 9:39 pm
Location: Eastern North Carolina
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by Cptcameron » May 8th, 2017, 12:52 pm

Thanks ECUPirate. I actually live in Greenville NC. Do you have a recommendation on a place that will test it locally?

User avatar
ECUPirate
Posts: 353
Joined: April 1st, 2014, 10:58 am
Location: Eastern NC
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Experienced

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by ECUPirate » May 8th, 2017, 3:11 pm

No one locally as I always send mine off to Logan Labs so the guys on here can interpret and make recommendations. You can use any NCSU AG extension but you'll have to go off of their recommendations and interpret their analysis yourself.

If it were me, as I've always done, I would send it to Logan Labs.

Cptcameron
Posts: 29
Joined: May 7th, 2017, 9:39 pm
Location: Eastern North Carolina
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by Cptcameron » May 8th, 2017, 9:58 pm

Soil sample taken and I am shipping it off tomorrow..

killerv
Posts: 145
Joined: September 28th, 2011, 1:07 pm
Location: Central Ga
Grass Type: Centipede/SA
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by killerv » May 9th, 2017, 1:08 pm

Ive never heard of atrazine killing crabgrass. Atrazine does have some preemergent qualities I here but its not gonna kill crabgrass unless you mix it strong as heck I would imagine, and that isn't good for your grass. I'm south of you and we won't start seeing crabgrass for another month or so. We are seeing dallisgrass starting up and a few others grassy weeds, but not crabgrass.

Use Vantage on Centipede for crabgrass whenever you and your neighbor decide what you have.

marshalltj
Posts: 45
Joined: April 20th, 2015, 11:31 am
Location: Memphis, TN
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by marshalltj » May 12th, 2017, 9:22 am

Couple of things, based on my experience:
1. Remember that sometimes less is more. Give your chemicals and fertilizers time to work.
2. Establish a good herbicide pyramid. Everyone here will recommend Celcius for bermuda. I also add an app of certainty in the spring and use Lesco Mansion as my basic broadleaf killer.
3. Mix and app rates are the most important thing. Know what chemical you are spraying and what the mix rate for your sprayer is. Invest in an ok sprayer with excellent tip (lot's of articles here).

Follow these steps, keep your mower sharp and low and your lawn will come around.

Cptcameron
Posts: 29
Joined: May 7th, 2017, 9:39 pm
Location: Eastern North Carolina
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by Cptcameron » May 13th, 2017, 9:41 am

Thank You MarshallTJ! I really appreciate the advice.. I am still waiting on my soul results. I need to work on the less is more philosophy, I believe that is where I went wrong. I need to work on my patience. I really appreciate the help. I am watering and cutting the grass as low as my mower will go, and I am not hitting of round or scalping. I am starting to see some weeds come back, as I have not applied pre-immergant down. I am just going to leave it alone and only cut and water until I get my results. With the bare spots, little weeds is helping the looks..

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wiredawg
Posts: 33
Joined: April 17th, 2014, 10:09 pm
Location: Kathleen, Ga
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Advice needed on Bermuda Grass

Post by wiredawg » May 13th, 2017, 5:42 pm

Cptcameron, just curious on how the lawn project is coming. And are you using the deep watering method (once a week about a inch of water is what you want (I take the natural rain into consideration). Also, don't put down in pre-emergent if you need to re-seed and from the looks of it you will need to re-seed. With that said you will have to water constantly into the germination and the roots take hold (a good 2 to 3 inches of top growth).

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