Streamside, I think you might have mistaken advice for cool season grasses as opposed to warm season grasses as quirky suggested. Bermuda is a warm season grass and is a heavy nitrogen feeder. It is possible to burn Bermuda, but you really have to try to do it, or make a big mistake. Here are some specifics: Apply at 1-pound of nitrogen per 1000/ft2. For example if the numbers listed on the bag are 20-5-10, then you would apply 5-pounds of product per 1000/ft2. What you are looking for in the numbers is the first digit. In the preceding example it is "20", which means the fertilizer is 20% nitrogen by weight. So all you simple do to figure any fertilizer is 100/X=pounds of product per 1000/ft2. ie 100 / 20 = 5 Use slow release fertilizers with at least 50% slow release nitrogen. This will prevent any chance of fertilizer burn. Avoid the fast release with the numbers like 46-0-0 for urea formulation, or 33-0-0 for Ammonia Nitrate formulations. Always apply fertilizer to dry grass, never on wet grass. The reason is obvious because the water will cause the granules to stick to the blades of the grass increasing the chances of burn. Note some Weed-N-Feed products instruct to apply to damp grass so doesnÂt be confused, different product. Water in fertilizer within 24 hours. Hope that help.

Watered the heck out of it for 6 weeks. That's 4 weeks too long, but here we are. What do you mean by watered the heck out of it? Was that daily watering? 3x daily? How long each time? While you're thinking about the answers, to that, call you sod dealer to find out what varieties of fescue were in your mix. When you seed in the fall you want to use seed that will match. I'm not worried about the fertilizer. I'm more worried about disease induced by too much water.

Standing water is a tough one, glad you fixed it. Once you see rooting, I'd start with a dose of surfactant, we like baby shampoo because it's cheap, clean & easy to find. Apply that to the whole yard if you can, it helps to break down our high magnesium, super tight Houston soil. From there on, level & fill with some cheap all-purpose sand from Lowe's or HD or the local mulch yard to give yourself a nice firm surface that doesn't change your new drainage--The water will move right through the sand.

If you have gotten all your information from Scott's, then they have a problem. Bermuda is best grown at low cutting heights, not tall heights. When you mow at the mower's lowest setting, the grass will take on a horizontal growth habit. What you are mowing now are the stalks that the grass blades grow out of. You're mowing all the blades and much of the stalks. When you mow low, the stalks grow horizontally along the ground and only the grass blades grow upward. If you have a regular rotary mower, it might not go low enough to get this effect. Golf greens, for instance, are mowed every day at about 3/32 inch high with a reel type mower. Here's more general info about bermuda care. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. Mowing: Mulch mow at your mower's lowest setting 2x per week. At least once per week. Don't miss a week or you will be mowing the stalks again. If you see swirly circles after mowing with a rotary mower, then you have surface leveling issues. Let us know and we can help with that. Fertilizer: Bermuda can take as much high Nitrogen fertilizer as you can give it. If you have the budget for it, fertilize once a month throughout the growing season. Then when the grass stops growing in the fall, give it one more application of high N fertilizer. This dose will help it come out early in the following spring. Once or more a year, apply an organic fertilizer. This keeps the other fertilizer working at its best. Organic and chemical fertilizers work differently, so you can apply both at the same time or one instead of the other. The organic will not burn. Don't get tempted to overseed with rye or anything else in the winter. The oddball grass will delay the return of the bermuda by weeks or even months. If you see thin spots in the grass, don't be tempted to overseed with bermuda. Seeded bermuda is a different kind of grass than sodded bermuda. When mixed it looks weedy. Thin spots in bermuda are almost always caused by shade. Bermuda needs full sun. It will not do well on the north side of trees, shrubs, fences, or buildings. In fact it will not do too well up close to the east and west sides of buildings, fences, and shrubs. Bermuda is terrible in side yards between buildings or fences unless the sun follows right along the grass from east to west. The point here being that when those trees get up taller and more dense, the bermuda will fade out on the north side.