Wha’t has happened to my bermuda?

exec_search – posted 01 September 2002 08:45

At the start of the summer I had the best grass in the neighborhood…people were knocking on my door asking how I did it.

Now my grass turns brown everytime I mow. I kept the grass around 4-5 inches tall and it is green on top and brown below all the way to the ground. I fertilized a lot with heavy nitrogen over the last few months…is that the problem?

frenchman – posted 01 September 2002 21:41

Why is your yard 4to5 inches tall? Bermuda can be mowed from 2in or lower. Remember don’t take more than a 3rd of the clippings at a time or this will make your yard brown. Do it slowly.

need help – posted 11 October 2002 14:48

I have the same problem and I’ve kept my grass cut to around 2.5 inches all summer. Now when I cut it, 70% of the yard is brown. If you look at the grass only about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of the top is green.

Any suggestions??

George777 – posted 11 October 2002 18:46

It is best with Bermuda in the spring to scalp it down. This will help suck up thatch and promote a green turf. As the season progress I simply will raise the deck a little. By Sept I’m preparing the turf for winter. Most at this time are around 2”. This turf is a high maint grass that will require you to cut often. During the growing season with a proper fert schedule you may need to cut it every 3-4 days. If you are cutting every other week you will not be able to maintain it properly. The grass should be maintained short because this will aid in the turf getting denser. A dense turf will result in fewer weeds.

With cooler temps and the fact that the sunlight is less you will see turf starting to go dormant. When soil temp is 50 Bermuda will shut down. Do not nuke it with fert this late in the season. You don’t want the turf trying to grow when it should be trying to sleep.

DonBRuiz – posted 16 October 2002 15:43

quote:Originally posted by George777:It is best with Bermuda in the spring to scalp it down. This will help suck up thatch and promote a green turf. As the season progress I simply will raise the deck a little. By Sept I’m preparing the turf for winter. Most at this time are around 2”. This turf is a high maint grass that will require you to cut often. During the growing season with a proper fert schedule you may need to cut it every 3-4 days. If you are cutting every other week you will not be able to maintain it properly. The grass should be maintained short because this will aid in the turf getting denser. A dense turf will result in fewer weeds.

With cooler temps and the fact that the sunlight is less you will see turf starting to go dormant. When soil temp is 50 Bermuda will shut down. Do not nuke it with fert this late in the season. You don’t want the turf trying to grow when it should be trying to sleep.

You sound like you know what you’re talking about. I’m having the same problem. I notice that in Palm Spring, even with the heat and sun, for the last couple of weeks they are scalping the Bermuda lawns almost to the dirt, then overseeding with a winter rye. In June we laid the Bermuda GN-1 hybrid sod. It was beautiful for a while, but now there’s some green, but mostly brown & yellow looking areas. I’m think perhaps I should “scalp” it down at this time and overseed? What do you think? Thank you.

George777 – posted 19 October 2002 19:23

DonBRuiz, your situation could be a number of things.

How much water? Bermuda needs about 1” per week

Fertilizer program?

How often is it maintained?

What is the soil PH level?

How did they prep the site before putting down the turf? 90% of turf failure is due to impoper site prep.

Don, where I live over seeding Bermuda to me is more of a pain in the butt. Think about it during the spring transition you now have 2 grasses competing. Sure the heat will eventually toast the rye, but I have not been to impressed with the transition. It is also a fact that lawns that are over seeded with rye will have a latter green up.

I only give Bermuda one scalping and that is spring.

Emendija – posted 13 November 2002 10:11

I followed George77’s advise except for cutting a little at a time. My lawn is approx 7 month old Bermuda grass (triangle) and for the first few months I let it grow to 4-5 inches…it looked okay. Anyway, I set my lawn mower to the lowest it could go and proceeded to scalp my lawn. It horrified my wife and everyone who passed by. Living in Hawaii has its advantages because we don’t worry about anything going dormant, etc……. Within 2 weeks my lawn had “green’d up” again and is looking better than before. It’s been about a month and a half now and I can honestly say that it is much denser now and almost weed free! Thanks!

George777 – posted 13 November 2002 18:41

Emendija, I’m happy for you that your turf is getting back in tune. Try not to let it get away from you. Bermuda likes to be cut short. Keep your mower blade sharp and you will get a good clean cut.

Take tare and happy mowing.George

thanatos – posted 09 October 2006 03:54

quote:Originally posted by Emendija:I followed George77’s advise except for cutting a little at a time. My lawn is approx 7 month old Bermuda grass (triangle) and for the first few months I let it grow to 4-5 inches…it looked okay. Anyway, I set my lawn mower to the lowest it could go and proceeded to scalp my lawn. It horrified my wife and everyone who passed by. Living in Hawaii has its advantages because we don’t worry about anything going dormant, etc……. Within 2 weeks my lawn had “green’d up” again and is looking better than before. It’s been about a month and a half now and I can honestly say that it is much denser now and almost weed free! Thanks!

I live in Hawaii too, and don’t notice too many problems with wild (probably ‘common’) bermuda we have in our lawns. My neighbor actually uses a weed eater to cut his lawn down to almost nothing (his hand is very steady) and it never really looks bad. Nobody in our arealets their lawn grow more than a few inches anyway. Anything more than 2″ above the soil means time for a trim. Of course this means weekly or bi-monthly mowings most of the year.