Bermuda lawns for winter-Texas

Shake n’ Seed – posted 10 November 2003 21:21

How do I treat a new sod in Texas for winter? Parts of the yard has roots and the other half is new. With winter nearly here, I would like to get the roots stable. Also, how much water?Any info will help!

ted – posted 11 November 2003 08:47

need some more info. Texas is a big state. How old is the sod?

Shake n’ Seed – posted 11 November 2003 21:06

We live around the Dallas area. The sod is about 3 weeks old.

ted – posted 12 November 2003 10:08

pretty late to be sodding a warm weather grass, even in Dallas. you can help it by continuing to water it every day 2-3 times, and using a starter fertilizer, like a 6-24-24 ratio or the equivalent. i wouldn’t put any high nitrogen fert. down now. normally i would say you could put some rye seed down to help have a green lawn for the winter, but i don’t know exactly what condition your new sod is in. my approach would have been to overseed the bare dirt with rye seed, have a great green winter lawn, then sod in the spring when the bermuda sod has a better chance of establishing.

Shake n’ Seed – posted 12 November 2003 18:10

Thank you! However, we just had our house built and that is the grass that the contractor uses. Is “Miracle Grow” something good to use on the lawn or bad? The contractor said to use that but, I feel that it would “fry” the yard.

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 17 November 2003 09:43

Sod virtually always is overfed with nitrogen from the git-go. New sod is always on the hairy edge of getting a fungal disease. Therefore I always suggest applying 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet of ordinary corn meal to prevent the fungal diseases from striking. Corn meal makes a good organic sod fertilizer, too, so it’s hard to miss with this material.

ted – posted 18 November 2003 09:20

if your contractor said to use miracle grow, then that’s the same reason you’re having problems with your lawn! no pros use store bought products. don’t use anything this time of year with a high first number on the bag of fertilizer no matter who the manufacturer is. wait until spring to juice the lawn with a high nitrogen fertilizer