Bermudagrass dies after 8 years…

mike – posted 16 March 2002 08:09

I was talking to my mother about my lawn project in progress. For those that havn’t read my eariler posts, I’m planning to sow bermudagrass. Anyway, she was telling me her bosses’ horror story. He had a bermudagrass lawn that was started from seed. He had it profesionally maintained by a company called Chem Lawn. Well, after 8 years the lawn just died. She wasn’t able to provide any details beyond that. I was just wondering if anyone had a clue as to what might have happened. She passed this story to me because she didn’t want me to experience the same thing with my bermudagrass lawn.

Thanks,

Mike

jselbee – posted 26 May 2002 07:20

My guess is Chemlawn. I have had their service for two years and my lawn has never looked worse. I have bermuda. I am cancelling Chemlawn in three days. They don’t feed the lawn enough.

bp/spraytech – posted 12 June 2002 17:32

It depends on when in the year it died but it could have been fried by MSMA. a bad spray tech and a day without water the msma could very easily kill it

bermudamatt – posted 18 June 2002 11:50

Bermuda needs more than chemicals, infact, chemicals are the least of concerns. I have found that simple 28-3-3 store bought fertilzer does just fine. What you really need to keep your bermuda healthy is the right equpiment. You need a reel mower, a de-thatcher (or top cutter) and an aerator. You must dethatch and use an aerator often. Bermuda creates a good amount of thatch that has to be removed so that water and nutrients can penetrate to the roots. I have seen totally dead bermuda lawns come back to life in just 2 weeks after a good dethatching and aeration. Chem lawn really should have known this.

southern lawns tech – posted 12 July 2002 18:39

if your seeding bermuda that’s your first mistake. most berm seeds are from the common variety(low grade).they’re not thick enough to choke out weeds,very thin.you’ll have problem for life.sodding tifton419bermuda or simiar is your best bet.second best bet is stay clear of chem lawn.we us msma every year on berm if done right it will not harm berm.if they killed it with that the tech waaaaaay oversrayed or over mixed.it sounds like they may have used round up,which i promise i’ve seen them do here in the middle of june=death to any grass.

Skastafari – posted 24 October 2002 06:03

I disagree with Southern Lawns Tech about seeded bermuda. The trick to having nice thick seeded bermuda is to use about 3 times the amount of seed recomended on most labels, and to use a good seeded variety like princess or riviera. According to NTEP (National Turfgrass Evaluation Program) princess seeded bermuda is comparable to most tif series in quality. Also, if you seed bermuda, you have to keep seeding it… twice a year(overseeding.) You can not keep cutting off seeheads, and expect it to stay nice and thick on its own. The seeded varieties do not spread as rapidly from stolons and rhizomes, which is probably why they produce so much seed. Alot of people ignore the overseeding aspect of maintaining a seeded bermuda lawn, then they complain because their lawn is so thin.

However, I agree with him on the round-up issue. My fear is that it is not the lawn tech, but a nasty neighbor spraying it. If neighbors don’t also have bermuda you might find yourself in a war. It sounds funny, but alot of people really hate bermuda grass and will go through great lenghts to rid themselves of it. If your mom’s boss is a bossy neighbor, watch out.

Brandon Romines – posted 13 December 2002 12:44

It’s not always good to seed your bermuda. But if you want a hy yeild of grass look at sprigging World feeder or Ozarka Bermudagrass. If I am correct you will be vary happy with this type of Bermuda and you can find it on the web. And if you see could wether this grass can handle the stress. Look to the people of world feeder thy will help you.