Brown Bermuda grass

jfperkins3 – posted 08 August 2003 09:33

I live in Tucson, AZ, where the temperature has hovered around 100 degrees for the last month. I let my grass, which is both winter rye and bermuda tiff, get too long. When I cut it with a gas mower it left an unrecognizable expanse of green, but mostly yellow/brown (it was cut about 1.5 inches high). Now the yellow has turned brown, and it gives the appearance of a dead lawn. I’ve been watering it a lot, and it seems to be coming back. One person suggested that I might have grubs (and there were a lot of birds pecking at the lawn), so I put down a fertilizer/grub killer. Someone else said the fastest way to get the greeen back is with ammonium sulfate (nitrate?) or some unadulterated fertilizer. What do you suggest?

Will-PCB – posted 08 August 2003 13:38

Dude man down the street from me has the SAME combination in his front yard. We been in the 90’s here for the most part. He let his yard grow too tall, and scalped it the very same way.

His yard looked so damn bad, the whole neighborhood thought he was spraying chemicals on it to kill it in preparation for switching out his lawn.

Anyway, about 3-4 weeks later, his mess is all green again, and he is currently learning to practice better mowing practices.

P.S. – he didnt do anything to it other than let it recover. Your lawn is stressed enough already, dont add chemicals.

jfperkins3 – posted 09 August 2003 10:17

Thanks, man. That’s good news. No chemicals, just patience and water.