sdmou – posted 18 September 2009 16:57
I have Bermuda grass and I noticed this year and last that my yard is starting to go dormant now. Anyone know why? It has only been in the upper 60’s at night and upper 80’s during the day? However we did get about 9 inches of rain in the last week. Can a yard get too much water? I think I am mowing to high about 3″ and everywhere I read I am supppose to be mowing .5 to 2″? Can mowing too high cause this? Seems that the top of the grass stays real green and the stalks are always brown. Do i need to scalp my yard next spring and begin mowing lower like maybe 1.5″?
GreatGuy – posted 04 October 2009 19:09
9″ of rain is alot, but unless your lawn is diseased it shouldn’t be brown across the board. I am not sure of all the different types of Bermuda and their suggested mowing heights, but 2″ seems like a good number. You should plan on scalping your bermuda every spring. Mow it about 1″ for scalping. make sure that you scalp it after the last frost. Scalping before the last frost can increase chances of winter injury. I am not sure if you should mow any shorter this season,(that is relative on where you live)but winter is approaching soon. if your brown areas are spotty or patchy try going to http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/diseaseID/ to try and figure out what the disease is. NCU shows good pictures of different diseases.
KerryS – posted 05 October 2009 07:05
I am in Central Florida and my lawn is starting to go dormant too. ARGH! I was hoping it would last a little longer, but we had two days last week where the temperature dropped down into the high 50’s, so I am wondering if that was enough to trigger the dormancy.
Where are you??
sdmou – posted 06 October 2009 20:28
Thanks for all the info. I live in Texas around Dallas. Next spring I am going to scalp my grass and mow it about 2″ and see if the same issue pops up next year.
Turfguy_UF – posted 09 October 2009 13:28
One to two days of relative cold temperatures should not cause full dormancy. Are you starting to see green up now? or is it still looking like dormancy?
If it is I live in Florida, and I am up in Gainesville and the temperatures now are staying around the low 90s to high 80s every day. That is still normal growing conditions for Bermuda.
So if it is not dieases related it could be bug related. We recently had an out break of Fall Army worms on our practice green. Those can cause a good amount of damage and cause the Bermuda to look like it has gone dormant.
A simple way to check this would be to do a soap flush of your lawn. Simply get a 1 gallon jug, or what ever you can find close to that, and add one to two tablespoons of Dawn or some hand dishwasher detergent, and mix that up. Spread that over your lawn on about a 1×1 or 2×2 area. Allow that to soak in for about 20-30 seconds, and then look very closely for very small worms, or any other bugs. Army worms look brown, and are very small. About 1 cm long. Have to look very close. If you see them I would apply some broad spectrum insecticide, and maybe a selective insecticide for Army worms.
Hope that helps.TurfGuy
sdmou – posted 09 October 2009 15:09
Army worms are horrible they ate up almost everyone’s yard around mine. At first sight of the worms I did spray and it kept them off as far as I know. I will try the soapy water and see if any are hiding. The only thing that puzzles me is that it did the same thing last year too and we had no fall army worms at least that I saw. The grass is green where I walk when mowing and where the wheels of the mower make the rows in the lawn in between the rows is where it is starting to turn. I did notice that the stalks of all the grass are brown. Is that normal or should they be green like the blades? What is the recommended height that bermuda grass should be mowed at I keep reading different measurements?
Turfguy_UF – posted 09 October 2009 16:03
First thing I would like to know is do you park your mower near gasoline or possible herbicides?
Reason being is clear. Gasoline will burn your grass, and herbicides could damage your turf. I have seen it to often on golf courses were a worker will spray roundup on weeds in the rough and then walk out onto the fairway and you can see his foot prints all over it.
Other than that it would be hard for me to understand exactly why this is happening at the tire marks. Your also using a walk mower, and those wont leave heavy wheel tracks so compaction shouldn’t be an issue.
How ever, Bermuda is known to thatch even common Bermuda. So I would consider possibly airifcation next spring. That might help.
As for the stalks, I am assuming you are talking about the Stolons? Or stems located closer to ground level. Yes in Bermuda those tend to take on a woody like appearance especially if it is allowed to get tall. That should not be a problem as long as your not seeing spots of brown on the stolons, stems, or leaves. That could be disease.
As for mowing height there will be a lot of recommendations for Bermuda. There are a bunch of cultivars available now. The trick is to determine what type you had.
If you seeded your lawn it is most likely Common Bermuda, or Princes. Prince however is marketed as a ultra dwarf, and should be mowed at green heights (I am assuming you didnt use this type ). So if it is common I would still mow it at 2″ and not let it get higher than 3″.
If you know it is a different cultivar then let me know. My first guess would be Tifway 419 as that is the most common sodded Bermuda. That can be mowed down to 1/2 and sometimes lower. I would still only mow that at 2″ the highest and 1″ the lowest for home lawns.
Hope that helps, and look forward to hearing back from you.
TurfGuy