Ryan B – posted 29 August 2010 19:36
Hi. I currently have a fescue yard and crab grass pretty much 95% took over in the hot summer this year. I have an irrigation system, but still the fescue went from looking really good in May to horrible by August. I put down crabgrass preemergent (halts by scotts) but still it just took over.
This is actually the second year I’ve tried to start over. Two years ago I killed everything with roundup, tilled up all up and re-seeded and it looked pretty decent. But every summer the crab grass takes over and water bill is insane. So I feel like I spent a lot of money and time for nothing.
I’ve concluded that I’d rather just go bermuda because the fescue will always need a lot of water and I see people with bermuda that water very little and it seems to fight off the weeds well. I figure it’s only disadvantages are the runners and the brown in winter. I figure I can counter these with a good edger and overseeding with rye once it is established.
Plus some common/wild bermuda has already started to come into parts of the yard.
Ideally I’d like to have a 100% hybrid bermuda yard.
But it is now end of August. I’ve killed off the crabgrass with roundup. and I’m preparing to till up the yard to make it ready for seed.
But I see that it is probably best to seed in late spring for Bermuda and not late summer/early fall?
Should I just not worry about it now and till it all up in April? Should I kill off the common bermuda with round up also? Kill off all the fescue? When should I do this?
I’m in mid TN area. Thanks for any tips.
Ryan B – posted 29 August 2010 19:39
by the way I had also considered other hot weather grasses like zoysia, but thought bermuda may be the easiest way to go. Neighborhood is mostly fescue, but a few people have bermuda. The neighbors on either side of me don’t maintain their yard that good so I’m not concerned about overtaking their fescue/crabgrass yard with bermuda. It could only help.
jtyrie – posted 30 August 2010 07:48
Hi Ryan, I hope you get some better responses than mine. I just wanted to point out that hybrid bermuda does not come in seed form. It is sold as sod only. I have also read on other forums that tilling up your lawn prior to reseeding or sodding is a no no. When you till, you expose all kinds of weed seeds that otherwise would have stayed buried. I don’t know the seeding or sodding schedule for your area. Good luck.
Ryan B – posted 30 August 2010 09:19
thanks for the response.
what you are saying about the tilling it up could be right. It looks like I seeded crabgrass after the last time I tilled it up.
But on the other hand, I don’t see how I can make the soil suitable for seed if I just leave all the dead crabgrass everywhere. I guess I could truck in some new soil, but that seems a bit expensive.
My thought was that the bermuda would be so tough in the summer when the crabgrass grows that it will eventually win whereas the fescue cannot compete in the summer.
I was thinking of maybe a princess 77 or something which as I understand it can be seeded and looks fine texture. I’m looking for cheapest option for a fine texture bermuda. The common stuff I have is a bit coarse and fluffy (not close enough to the ground).
I’m planning to get a reel mower and keep it really short, which I think will further promote the bermuda and prevent the weeds.
TarponDeb – posted 27 January 2011 11:54
Did you ever end up planting? I’m also considering the princess 77. We are in central west florida and have a sandy lawn with full sun. Bermuda seems best to tolerate these conditions. Would like to know what decision you made. Regarding tilling the soil, I’m not a big fan of round up and would rather spend an entire day plucking weeds out than using roundup. This was my intention, but do you think it will generate all the crabgrass seeds that appeared when you tilled? My plan is to yank my entire lawn out by the roots, lay down some good topsoil and reseed. It is a small enough lawn. Any suggestions? Thanks!