Lawn Fertilizer / Lime Recommendations Help

tafische – posted 12 August 2004 08:24

Hey guys…first of all…great forum…I have learned quite a bit reading over it.

I am trying to get my lawn in shape…it has been just going along for a while and I have been struggling to get it looking good. It is a Bermuda lawn in western Tennessee. In the last few years it has been getting thinner and less green. I took the advice here and started working it shorter. It was over 3” (which I wrongly thought would help it thicken), now to between 1.5 and 2”. I now need to get the soil right.

I had a soil test and these are the results:

Lawn Size: 13,000 sq ft

Water PH: 6Buffer Value: 7.7P: 24 (Medium)K: 32 (Low)

They are telling me to use 34-0-0 now (well late July, but I missed that) at 3.5 lbs per 1,000

Then

About 8lbs of 13-13-13 per 1,000 in Sept.

Plus

80 lbs of lime per 1,000 (Does this sound right? That is like 26 – 40lbs bags!)

Ok — so please help me verify my plans and that I am reading it right:

1. This weekend I am going to put down a couple bags of 34-0-0 to get it greening up.2. In mid Sept I am going to put down about 3 (40lb) bags of 13-13-133. In late Sept / Early Oct I am going to put down 26 (gulp) bags of Lime4. In Early Oct I am going to put down pre-emerg to help stop the winter weeds.

THANKS ALL!

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 03 September 2004 11:02

Geeze it’s been awhile hasn’t it?

I’m not sure I would use any lime on soil buffered to a pH of 7.7.

Had you fertilized it at all before it started going south? Bermuda can use a little fertilizer every month. Are you bagging the clippings? They will recycle and lower your fertilizer needs if you don’t bag them. And had you been watering, or did you get regular rain before it thinned out?

Preemergent now helps stop the spring weeds, not the winter ones. Well, maybe some winter ones. But by and large there are a lot of spring plants, commonly called wildflowers, which sprout now and overwinter as extremely tiny plants until the spring when they suddenly pop up and flower.

ted – posted 05 September 2004 20:03

man, i wish i could have caught this guy… your problem is that you have a bermuda lawn in western tennessee! this area is designed more for fescue, with the possible exception of memphis. who did this test? a county extension agent right? the 34-0-0 advice is horrible- poor quality fertilizer, you don’t use pre-ems in the fall in your market, and what’s this about the “water” ph being 6?- need more info.

ted – posted 05 September 2004 20:05

oops, missed 2 other things- you don’t use 13-13-13 on bermuda that late in the season!- too much nitrogen going into dormancy. also don’t recommend using 80 pounds of lime at one time- you need another soil test- send it to clc labs in westerville oh- they’re on the web, i think- they’re turfgrass guys that give quality results.

tafische – posted 06 September 2004 22:31

Thanks for all the info.

Actually I do live in Memphis area. About 98% of the homes here have Bermuda.

My test was done by the state of TN, so I would assume they are fairly acurate. I can not tell you any more on the Ph that what they have given me.

I did go ahead and put down the 34-0-0 right after I posted the first note. What a difference it has made. I also started cutting my lawn much shorter instead of the 3 to 3 1/2 I was cutting it.

It is now much greener and started to fill in in several places. I put down 1/2 of the lime now, and then plan to put down the other 1/2 in October or November.

I think you are right about the 13-13-13. I really hate to put that down late in the year. They have some low nitrogen stuff to get the other two values up at the local hardware store. I think I will try that when I lime as well.

As far as the pre-emerg, I am hoping that will stop some of the po-anna (sp?). It is already starting to come out when we had a cool spell a week or two ago. I really hate that stuff.

Again – thanks all for the info.