Bermuda Seed Suggestions

Bermuda, St. Augustine, Zoysia, Centipede, Bahia, Paspalum, etc
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escondidogardener2
Posts: 29
Joined: July 30th, 2019, 4:23 pm
Location: Escondido California
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Some Experience

Bermuda Seed Suggestions

Post by escondidogardener2 » April 18th, 2020, 12:05 pm

Good Morning -

After getting some excellent help from Andy on my second year soil test: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=25707, it's time for me to renovate my front yard.

My budget limit is $200 and I have 1500 sqft to renovate. Half the lawn is is dirt and the other half is a mix of common bermude mixed with fescue. Right now the whole lawn is covered in annual ryegrass. Here is a photo:

B = Common Beruda
F = Fescue
D = Dirt

Image

My plan is to rent a tiller and then seed with Bermuda. I have looked for reviews on Bermuda seed but can't find any. When i check online stores I am overwhelmed by all the options and some are really expensive. I am also wondering if I can overseed the Bermuda into this lawn without tilling? The ryegrass will completely die off in about 2 weeks which should be enough time for bermuda germination and the lawn help retain moisture.

I really appreciate feedback from people who have tilled and seeded a lawn and anyone who has used Bermuda seed. My options range from Home Depot Scotts Bermuda at $32 for 5lb to Seedland Maya at $60 for 5lb.

Thank-you in advance!

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Dchall_San_Antonio
Posts: 3339
Joined: December 17th, 2008, 1:53 am
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Grass Type: St Augustine
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Advanced

Re: Bermuda Seed Suggestions

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » May 3rd, 2020, 1:06 pm

Hope you have not done ANYTHING yet. Everything you have planned is wrong. Before I get started, it looks like your soil level is higher than the concrete driveway and entry path. That's a problem. If that is the case you would want to scrape away the soil until it matches the height of the paved area. This is a problem caused by people who want to "topdress 1/4 inch every year". Don't do that. If you have a problem, it can be fixed without topdressing. Also I would thin out that tree. Bermuda will have problems growing under any tree. You might need St Augustine or Marathon fescue under the tree. You should be close enough to the beach to do Marathon, but my preference is St Augustine. The problem there is the St Augustine will stomp all over the bermuda giving you a full St Augustine lawn in a few years.

On to the seeding approach: Firstly it is at least a month too early to do this. Bermuda seed needs HOT summer soil, not warm spring soil. Wait until June 1st to start prepping the area and put the seed down in the middle of the month.

Plus rototilling will completely ruin the project. Rototilling fluffs up the soil unpredictably. You might think you're tilling at exactly 4 inches deep, but in fact the tiller hits hard spots like roots, rock, clods, pipes, etc., and bucks up out of the ground leaving a high spot of untilled soil underneath. Then it will hit a soft spot of sand or slightly more saturated soil and it will dig in down to 6 inches or more. What you end up with is a rolling surface under the fluffy soil on top. That means that after you level off the top, you'll have 4 inches of fluffy soil in place and more like 6 inches elsewhere. When all that fluff settles it settles to the contour of the underlying hard, untilled soil. That means you'll have a bumpy surface from now on. It gets bumpier and bumpier for the next three years as the soil completely settles.

First you need to find a good seed. A friend of mine has installed the POSTCARD brand Bermudagrass Blend from Arizona Seeds. Call them for availability first. If they don't have it, try Seedland. He likes it because it stayed green longer in the fall/winter and it greened up much earlier than his neighbors. It sprouted in 3 days (July in Phoenix - hot soil), established in about 10 days, and he just loves it.

Second you need to prep the area. Spray everything with RoundUp and start watering. Water as if you had just planted new seed (3x per day for 5 minutes just to moisten the surface but not enough to make it soggy). Water like that for a week and spray the RU again to kill off all the new weed seedlings that sprouted. Continue watering for another week because some weeds take two weeks to germinate. Spot spray the RoundUp again to take care of those weeds. After this you can put your grass seed out without worry of starting a field of weeds along with your new grass. Rake off all the dead grass to get down to the soil surface.

Level the surface as best you can. Ideally you did not rototill so the soil has a relatively ideal structure. Level with sand or topsoil ONLY to fill the low spots. Scrape off any high spots. Water the loose soil on top to settle it and see if there are still low spots. Let the new soil/sand dry and walk on it to press it down firmly. Check again for low spots. These low and high spots will be the bane of your mowing existence if you don't get rid of them at the start.

Now you can spread the seed and go back to the watering 3x per day just enough to keep the seed moist. You do not need any top dressing. Scatter the seed and walk on the seed to press it down into the surface of the soil. The only reason for doing this is so the seed is pressed in and not buried. This will help keep the seed moist while it is germinating. If the soil was hot enough, it should germinate quickly and weed free (except for any weed seeds that might be in the topsoil you used).

When you get 80% germination you can start to back off on the watering frequency and go up on the duration. Deep and infrequent is the mantra for established turfgrass. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Infrequent means no more than once a week with temps in the 90s. In your area I don't think you get into the 100s with the possible exception of the brief periods of Santa Ana Winds. Not a problem for bermuda. Use that as a guide. In no case should you ever water every day once the grass becomes established. California and Florida are the worst offenders for violating the deep and infrequent rule.

Set your mower for 2 inches and mow when it gets up to 3.

After you mow for the second time, you can start fertilizing with a high N fast release type fertilizer. Or you can start with organics any time you want. I buy raw materials at the feed store to fertilize. Try Vitagold first. They seem like a real feed store and not a pet store. I buy alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow) and apply at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. With bermuda you can do that every month throughout the growing season. Ask what they have in 50-pound bags. You need a meal or pellet form. If they have deer corn, don't get it. Any complete seed like that will sprout and give you a field of crops. So alfalfa meal or pellets, cornmeal is good, soybean meal, cottonseed meal, etc. These are all the basic ingredients to the good organic fertilizers.

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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: Bermuda Seed Suggestions

Post by ECUPirate » May 4th, 2020, 11:47 am

Very solid info from dchall.

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