Sahara Bermuda looks Funny

Turf Waz – posted 02 July 2004 13:23

I planted Sahara Bermuda about two months ago. I was impressed by its quick germination time. The seeds started out looking the way I pictured Bermuda would look. It has since grown rather broad leaf and very light green. I would almost think this was a type of crab grass or weed if I didn’t know any better but since it is everywhere, it looks like it came from the seed. It is very compact but does not look like bermuda. Also, when spot seeding some areas that didn’t take, I noticed the germination started quick but then my seedlings turned dark purple and have appeared to stop growing. I have kept seeds moist and am not sure what to do. Does anyone have any ideas on the above two conditions?

Thx….

ted – posted 02 July 2004 18:51

2 of the many reasons we don’t seed warm weather grasses….post some pics.

duanetjt – posted 02 July 2004 19:46

I had that same problem after purchasing a 15lb bag of Sahara bermudagrass seeds (at a very popular home center) and broadcasting it over my year old Mohawk bermudagrass lawn. Sometime later, I noticed some very tightly growing light-green grass that seemed to be everywhere I broadcasted the seed. Imagine my surprize when a neighbor identified the grass growing in my yard as CRABGRASS!!! Pictures I pulled from the Internet confirmed his suspicion.

This occurred a few months ago, and I am still dealing with this annoying problem. MSMA seems to work, but the crabgrass is everywhere, probably being spreaded by my mower!!! It’s so frustrating!! I just put a pre-emergent down, so hopefully I won’t have to deal with this annoying problem after the last growth of plants die off.

The Sahara seeds were broadcast as overseed for a yard that was covered with beautiful dark-green bermudagrass. I just wanted thicker, greener grass. I don’t want to openly blame the seed company because I didn’t put down a pre-emergent for crabgrass in Feb/Mar, but if you and I are speaking of the same distributor…I’ll be more cautious before purchasing anymore of their products!

All that to say, try MSMA. It’s cheap, and it works well for getting rid of crabgrass which somehow is out competing my bermudagrass.

Turf Waz – posted 03 July 2004 04:26

quote:Originally posted by ted:2 of the many reasons we don’t seed warm weather grasses….post some pics.

Thanks Ted, I will try to get some pictures on here in the next couple of days.

Turf Waz – posted 03 July 2004 04:39

quote:Originally posted by duanetjt:I had that same problem after purchasing a 15lb bag of Sahara bermudagrass seeds (at a very popular home center) and broadcasting it over my year old Mohawk bermudagrass lawn. Sometime later, I noticed some very tightly growing light-green grass that seemed to be everywhere I broadcasted the seed. Imagine my surprize when a neighbor identified the grass growing in my yard as CRABGRASS!!! Pictures I pulled from the Internet confirmed his suspicion.

This occurred a few months ago, and I am still dealing with this annoying problem. MSMA seems to work, but the crabgrass is everywhere, probably being spreaded by my mower!!! It’s so frustrating!! I just put a pre-emergent down, so hopefully I won’t have to deal with this annoying problem after the last growth of plants die off.

The Sahara seeds were broadcast as overseed for a yard that was covered with beautiful dark-green bermudagrass. I just wanted thicker, greener grass. I don’t want to openly blame the seed company because I didn’t put down a pre-emergent for crabgrass in Feb/Mar, but if you and I are speaking of the same distributor…I’ll be more cautious before purchasing anymore of their products!

All that to say, try MSMA. It’s cheap, and it works well for getting rid of crabgrass which somehow is out competing my bermudagrass.

Duane – Sorry to hear you are going through the same thing. It sounds like both you and I used the same seed (starts with a P). I have a neighbor who has sodded Centipede, my lawn looks exactly like his. I am going to try and post some pictures in the next couple of days.

I tilled and seeded an area on the other side of my driveway with Sahara about two weeks ago. This is coming up the way I would expect Bermuda to look (although my other grass did the same thing at first). I guess time will tell….

duanetjt – posted 04 July 2004 10:14

Sorry to jump the gun and assume that you were dealing with a crabgrass problem. It could be centipede, and…yes, we’re talking about the same company.

I should have just left well enough alone. I can’t wait to see the pics.

JamesnDallas – posted 06 July 2004 21:08

I sowed 15 lbs of the “P” brand sahara bermuda in the backyard this spring and I have no complaints though I’m not much of an expert. Does look a hell of a lot better than the bermuda sod in the front yard.

I’m happy with it.

duanetjt – posted 07 July 2004 17:42

James,

I’m happy to hear that your exprience was not mine. Maybe we received bad batchs of seeds?

I’m a STRICT do-it-yourselfer and up until this incident was extremely proud of the work I did to rennovate my 3/4 acre lot. That’s right, I killed the existing vegitation, took PH samples, rototilled and added amendments until the soil was prime for planting bermudagrass. My yard looked great until this happened! I can’t tell you how many offers I received from my neighbors for me to do the same with their lots. Now, my wife and I joke about how the yard looks like the skin of a green leopard! (MSMA discolored the bermudagrass, but this effect is temporary.) Anyway I didn’t want to seem as if I’m bashing the “P” company, but I put a lot of work into my yard last year only to watch helpless as this…this weed quickly overtook everything I worked so hard to cultivate! (It’s same pit in my stomach feeling I get when I check to see how my 401k is doing.)

Seriously, I’ll just let the existing rhizomes and stolons do their thing,… and NO MORE OVERSEEDING for me!

tgrfn – posted 09 October 2006 19:38

I planted P*** Sahara Bermuda. I’m not sure what it is supposed to look like. It doesn’t look like common bermuda. I do like what I got. I have a lot of crab grass and dalis grass in other parts of my yard. This is not either. It more resembles centipede than anything else I’ve seen. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I like it and plan to plant more next summer.

thanatos – posted 17 December 2006 21:37

My entire neighborhood has common bermuda. It’s probably very old. It’s not very attractive & it seems to create thick stems that turn white, making certain areas look bad.

I overseeded my lawn with sahara bermuda a month or two ago because it was cheap and because the weeds were begining to take over. Now, I can clearly see where the Sahara is growing & it sticks straight up rather than the wiry, spread out look that the common bermuda has here. It looks more like Seashore Paspalum than common bermuda at this stage.

rdaystrom – posted 04 January 2007 07:03

I seeded about 80 lbs of Sahara over parts of 3 acres with excellent results. It is drought tollerant and beautiful. I mow it at 1 inch and it’s so thick you have to dig hard with your finger to find the dirt. It loves nitrogen by the way.