New to Site w/pics of Grass

[Will P.C.]

Greetings BestLawn,

I am extremely excited to be here. The past 2-3 months I have been wanting to switch to Organics and I have been looking for a forum to educate myself.

I live south of Atlanta and have Bermuda 419 sod. I have about 7500 square feet and cut with a John Deere La135 and will use a Mclane Reel when not being lazy. A majority of the time I cut with the JD. I use all Stihl (trimmer, edger, blower, backpack sprayer) I also have 20 roses of sundry types.

My fert regimen consists of
Scotts Southern Turf Builder
Milorganite
Black Hen Chicken Poop
Mushroom Compost

It is a good start, but I would like to start using some of the products that yall use on here. I just do not know where to start.

[andy10917]

Will:

First of all, Welcome!

Do you also go into Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a bunch of cups? Geez, dude, your first posting is "I have pictures of grass?".

Quite unfair.

[cactus]

Welcome, and nice lawn!

How large is the turf area of your lawn? What are your expectations for your lawn in terms of maintenance, appearance, inputs, etc? Do you currently use any synthetic (chemical) herbicides or insecticides on a regular basis?

[southerncalpal]

thats a pimp lawn. run some poop through that, and you'll be styling.

[Michael Wise]

What height do you cut your Bermuda grass?

Looks awesome!

I hope to have mine in that nice a shape next year.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Will P.C.]

I love looking at other lawn pics, so I am being courteous and showing pics.

I cut it at 2inches. In the beginning of the season, I go lower like 1.5. Right now due to the heat, I am at 2.5

Cactus,
I have 7,000 square feet of actual turf. Maintenance is something I love so I have no problem putting in the time. I mow every 4-5 days and try to put some fert down once a month. I am ready to throw down and take this to the next level. Next season, I would like to use 0 synthetics.
I use pre em from the golf course. I buy those guys a case of beer and they come by and spray my yard. My understanding is that I will not need to do this if I use Organics??
For insecticides, I just put out a bag of Othro in the beginning of the season.

I would like to make the "full on' switch to organics. I started a compost trashcan today and am reading up on the rot cycle.

Thank you for the replies yall

[southerncalpal]

soil test time..

[cactus]

I cut it at 2inches. In the beginning of the season, I go lower like 1.5. Right now due to the heat, I am at 2.5

Your turf looks really nice and tight for cutting it that high.

[andy10917]

soil test time..

Agreed - the only thing lawnatics like better than pictures is soil test results.

[bpgreen]

"I use pre em from the golf course. I buy those guys a case of beer and they come by and spray my yard. My understanding is that I will not need to do this if I use Organics??"

There's nothing about organics per se that will stop weeds from germinating, so if you have weed germination problems now, you'll have them in the future. If you've got a thick healthy lawn, the grass should choke out the weeds (in large part, anyway), but this is true whether you use organics or synthetics. If you want to be organic and still use pre-m, you can use Corn Gluten Meal (CGM), which is also a good organic source of N. From what I've read, it takes several years of use for CGM to start showing much effectiveness.

[Will P.C.]

The weeds do not concern me too much. They usually get choked out after 1-2 months of the season. I am willing to deal with the few weeds that pop up. This season, I decided not to do the Pre ems just to see where I stood and I was happy with the results.

[Josh]

Can we get a close up pic? Ive been wondering how thick a bermuda lawn can really be when mowed that high.

[Will P.C.]

Hey Josh,

I will get you a pic when I mow in the afternoon on Saturday. I am cutting it at 2.5 right now due to the extreme heat in Georgia and lack of rain this season.

I will put a golf ball on the lawn so you have some frame of reference.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Nice lawn.

Generally you are mowing an inch too high. You can bring it down by mowing twice as often at the same height and then lowering it a notch. Mow it twice at the new height and lower it again. That would be twice or 3x per week. Ideally you would mow lower than 1 inch to get it to take on a horizontal growth habit like this...



This low growth is the form that give bermuda the most dense coverage over the soil. I believe the grass in the picture is mowed at 5/8 inch.

As for organics on bermuda, bermuda is a nitrogen HOG. Unfortunately there is not much in the way of high nitrogen feeds. There is one exception but hardly anyone uses blood meal. I'm not sure why. If you can find it at a feed store in 50-pound bags it should be reasonably priced. One problem with it is the...aroma. It decomposes fast and that means stink. Most people to try to keep bermuda on an organic program use soy bean meal. It has the highest protein (nitrogen) value of all the organic feeds. They use it heavily on a monthly schedule for the entire season. Heavily means 30-40+ pounds per 1,000 square feet for every application.

Compost is nice but it won't do what real fertilizer will do. Compost is best at providing microbes to the soil. Next it is best at saving moisture in the soil. Next it is good at absorbing the stink from when protein decomposes. But it is not a fertilizer like soy bean meal is. Make all you can and spread it around.

[andy10917]

Slightly off-topic, but David, how much does a 50-lb Blood Meal cost down there? I love using Blood Meal but it has gotten prohibitively expensive up here. I've cut back to using it only for Hosta, Azaleas, and Rhodo's. I think the stuff is wonderful.

[MorpheusPA]

Slightly off-topic, but David, how much does a 50-lb Blood Meal cost down there? I love using Blood Meal but it has gotten prohibitively expensive up here. I've cut back to using it only for Hosta, Azaleas, and Rhodo's. I think the stuff is wonderful.

Ditto, and I'd use it more if it didn't cost the moons of the Solar System on a diamond chain.

Per bag.

I've removed it from my organic recommendations for that reason as I didn't think it was all that much cheaper anywhere else...but now that I think about it, you're in slaugherhouse country.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

I can't find a 50. I can find Espoma 18-pound bag for $30.

They used to feed it to cattle as a protein supplement but I think the health people stopped that. Don't know what the slaughter houses do now, but I see what I can find out.