First stop any pre-emergence now if you plan to seed Bermuda this year.

Second April is way too early to seed Bermuda in your area. Think late May early June. Soil temps need to be at 70 or above for good Bermuda germination.

Third, concede to th efact you are going to have to put up with weeds and a crappy looking lawn this year, and will not look good until fall once the new Bermuda has a chance to fill in. You are not going to be able to use any pre or post emergence this year, well at least until late August or Spetember.

Also remember since you are considering a seeded variety of Bermuda, the quality will not be as high as the sod varieties available to you. You are also going to beed a good reliable water source for a month or two until th eBermuda gets established, and GA is not in good shape right now for that. May improve once spring arrives, but not looking good now.

Have you looked into FINE fescue? It might be better choice. Unless you don't have trees, no plant beds, garden, etc, avoid bermuda. Someone from GA tried growing FINE fescue and it did pretty well with little watering. Worth a try to look into it rather than deal with bermuda's invasiveness and it will stay brown from November to May/June while FINE fescue will stay green round year..... Maybe QuirkyQuercus could chime in and give his experiences on growing FINE fescue since he lives in Atlanta area.

I don't know if you know what you're getting yourself into growing bermuda...

It requires monthly fertilization to stay dark green.
It requires 2-3 times mowing at 1 inch or less to look decent/good.
It pretty much takes over everything including plant beds, garden ,etc. Once they get there, they're there forever. Nearly impossible to get rid of.
It needs sun all day long to thrive so that means no large trees to keep your house cool.

I have about 5 acres, but only a little more than an acre I consider my lawn. I have few trees and all my shrub beds are separated away from the lawn. I am on top of a small hill that gets alot of hot sun all day, which is part of the problem I have experienced with my fescue. My biggest concern right now is that weeds have taken over. I have patches of bermuda that have begun to choke out some of my fescue and, to be honest, I prefer the look of bermuda to fescue - it is alot easier for me to identify the weeds and remove them in bermuda.

It always amazes me when I hear about someone *intentionally* planting a lawn with Bermuda grass. For me, it's the bane of my gardening existence. It comes creeping over from the next door neighbor's yard, tunneling under the fence, crawling over edging, springing up everywhere and is virtually impossible to get rid of. There seems to be no way to control it. If you have any garden beds, it'll most likely soon be completely taken over, forever. At least, that's been my experience.

I've even heard professionals say that bermuda is impossible to get rid of, yet I did it last summer. I have a driveway "paved" in small stones. There is no asphalt or concrete. The underlying limestone rock ranges from protruding from the ground to 4 inches under the backfill. Since it is a driveway with no protection, bermuda got started many years ago. During wet years the St Augustine would invade and take over in areas. During the drought St Augustine would die out and the bermuda would fill. Last year we had finished construction on an addition adjacent to the driveway. The bermuda had completely filled in the area. Fortunately for me the construction left the drainage all messed up and I had to bring in up to six inches of fill. I spread six inches of sand up against the house and tapered it off out into the driveway area. Then we covered that sand with two inches of shredded juniper mulch. There were a couple sprigs of bermuda that tried to pop through but they were easily plucked. Now, having said that, most people with bermuda problems do not have my situation. Bermuda is a very aggressive invading type of grass. If you are trying to get rid of it when mixed in with other grasses, you have to have just the right conditions of moisture or shade to crowd out bermuda. The only grass I know of that will dominate bermuda is St Augustine mowed high, and then only under irrigation.

Back to jddawg37, I agree with texas-weed, you can't seed until the ground gets warm. I was going to say July, but maybe June. And resign yourself to a weedy lawn this season knowing that it will be MUCH better next year.

Now, about the size of your lawn...and this is obviously my opinion (like everything else I write), so you can ignore it if you like, but to me there is nothing less interesting than a field of grass. If you pick any issue of Better Homes and Gardens or Southern Living, you will virtually never seed a field of grass being highlighted in their magazine. With 5 acres you have an opportunity to build a shrine to gardening. If you start with a plan and work every year toward the plan (as it evolves), you can really make a lot less work for yourself and enjoy the area. Think in terms of statue gardens, decks, patios, barbecue facilities, gazebos, paved (or mulched) trails, orchards, topiary, ponds, picnic tables, rock gardens, flower gardens, hedges, windbreaks, walls, fences, arbors, and even turf grass. There are some ornamental grasses that look interesting, even when not mowed (Dutch white clover, creeping red fescue and clumping zoysias come to mind).