My New Bermuda is completely Brown

lowcountry7 – posted 07 September 2009 19:14

In May I had 5100 sq ft of sod put in along with a irrigation system. I went with Bermuda because my backyard gets full sun and I have kids. When the sod was laid I water it each day in the morning (5am) for 45 mins (3 zones). I live in Charleston, SC and have very sandy soil. We are not in drought conditions as it rains pretty frequently (my irrigation system will cut off due to rain). By mid June my lawn was looking very green and healthy. I also decided to use a lawn service Tru Green to help my new grass. I cut my lawn anywhere from 2-2.5inches twice a week. By July began noticing a lot of crabgrass in lawn. I cut back my watering to about 3-4 times a week. At the end of July my Tru Green tech aggressively treated for the weeds. That is where my problems began. I started to notice the grass browning on the baseline of my yard. At first I thought it was due to a little bit of shade that I have on the outer ends of my yard. Each time I mowed my lawn the browning seemed to move further into the yard. I started to have a mole problem on one side of my yard but I contained it. I went to Lowe’s and bought some grub killer and treated the yard 3 times (June-Aug). I called the tech out and he was confused and stated he would try to shock the grass back and it should green back up. Well it’s Sept and my bermuda is totally brown as if it is Jan. The only green in the yard are weeds. I think the tech overly treated for crabgrass. Because there is no crabgrass in site. The tech wants me to still mow at 2 inches (eventhough it is not growing much) and water 3 times a week for 20 minutes each zone. It appears that my lawn is completely dead. Will it come back or did I just flush a ton of money down the drain? I went from having the best yard in the neighborhood to the worst.

turfgrass – posted 07 September 2009 20:46

have you checked for armyworms?if not, water+dish detergent and go flush a few areasarmyworms have been terrible this yearif you have them, TruGreen should have caught it

tommy – posted 07 September 2009 20:53

Most crabgrass killers will damage turf if too much is applied in hot weather. Apply a mild fertilizer, (such as ‘Scotts starter fertilizer), and continue your current water schedule. The turf is probably not completely dead!

lowcountry7 – posted 16 September 2009 10:33

I have spoken to the Tru Green guy and he states that he treats for army worms. I have not seen any case of them. In regards to the Scott’s-Tru Green just treated the lawn on 9/2 with Talstar(bifenthrin), Dismiss (sulfentrazone), TruPower 2 (2,4-D, mecoprop, dicamba), potassium chloride and iron. Should I just go with that or put the Scott’s on it. At this point Tru Green and I are going back and back. They commented that we will just have to wait until next spring for the lawn to come back.

quote:Originally posted by tommy:Most crabgrass killers will damage turf if too much is applied in hot weather. Apply a mild fertilizer, (such as ‘Scotts starter fertilizer), and continue your current water schedule. The turf is probably not completely dead!

GSU Eagle – posted 28 October 2009 13:18

When I treat lawns for crabgrass it will turn a yellow/green tint, but never brown…Brown can only mean dormancy, disease or death.I am concerned your lawn was treated before the roots had acclimated to the new conditions, and now may need re-sodding. No chemicals on newly laid sod for at least 3-4 months will keep these disasters to a minumum.

saltcedar – posted 01 November 2009 07:58

Get rid of the Lawn Care Company. They are infamous for killing lawns. Their bottom line is making money and their technicians are typically low paid, unskilled workers. If you can find an all organic company they might be ok. Key thing to look for is them telling you not to do something. If you see that their bottom line is the care of your lawn.

sdowney717 – posted 05 September 2010 06:07

“my lawn is completely dead”

yes sir the chem lawn people killed it.And bermuda is hard to kill. Perhaps sprayed something else on it that they thought.

Have a friend signed up with chemlawn. He had a really nice grassy yard. One time the chemlawn made a mistake and killed it all, every bit is dead.