Tiffway Sport 419 HELP!!

9 years ago

I had Tiffway Sport sod installed in May 2013. Lawn looked great last year. We had a very cold winter for Virginia Beach this year, not sure if this has created some of my issues. In April I set the mower to an inch and cut and bagged clippings. I fertilized and used pre emergent for weeds. There are areas along side of my house that the Bermuda looks dead. The main lawn in front of the house has a lot of bare spots. I have continued to cut every 5 days at an inch hoping it will spread horizontally to fill in dead spots. In the beginning of May I took a soil sample and put down the necessary fertilizers. Yesterday, I placed 1 pound/ 1,000 SF of slow release nitrogen and placed a thin layer of compost over the bare spots.

What do I need to do to fix the bare spots? Is the lawn on the sides of the house dead? Will my lawn look like last year again? I do need to do a sand leveling to the lawn but not sure how to do it, it needs to be leveled up to allow me to continue cutting it at 1 inch with a rotary mower.

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Comments (9)

dellonb
Original Author
9 years ago
Lawn last year
dellonb
Original Author
9 years ago
Side of house looks dead
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This year you will likely be fine. When the bermuda comes out of dormancy next spring, the grass in the shade of the oak will not come out. That opens up all that area to some bad boy weeds. Among the weeds to watch for are clover, black medic (looks like clover), dichondra, and horse herb. They are innocuous looking at first, but become prolific. As they spread quickly into the shade-weakened bermuda, they will continue to spread into the dense bermuda shading it out as it goes. By the judicious use of Weed-B-Gone next spring, you can hold off the weeds until the rest of the bermuda comes out. Worst case is if you get crabgrass started in there, but that is unlikely because it is a sun loving plant, too. Dallis grass is another possibility. It has no trouble on the fringe of shade and sun. One thing that we're seeing happen is owners get anxious for their bermuda to come out in the spring. Just about the time the grass is starting to pop, they will drop bermuda seed. Or if they waited long enough to see it pop, they will see a weak spot (like I'm expecting in yours) in a hybrid bermuda and toss some bermuda seed in to build it up. The problem with that is the seeded varieties of bermuda are all common bermuda and not nearly the same quality of grass as the hybrid Tiff grasses. Even the Tif 419 variety of hybrid is not the same quality as your sports model bermuda. In the long run, the only turf grass that will survive under a southern live oak tree is St Augustine.
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Well I have not read through all the replies but as a Sod Farmer myself I am going to give your installation contractor the benefit of a doubt and say BOTH are Tifway-I (aka 419). Your contractor has no motivation or reason to lie to you about the grass. Tifway-I not only is one of the finest quality Bermuda varieties available, it is the least expensive of all of them because it has been around a very long time and supplies are huge. All the other substitute varieties like Tifway-II or TifSport would be more expensive than 419. Color variation is quite normal and expected on large orders, orders months apart. Heck the contractor might of even purchased the sod from a different farm. The color is mainly determined by the mineral content in the soil. So with all that said find the Bible and read it. Then consider trying this. Apply a Chelated Iron product, and/or use a slow release fertilizer with 2 to 5% iron in it.
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I've been trying to mow about twice a week. If there is one thing I've learned over the past couple of months it's that waiting too long between mowing is one of the worst things you can do with bermuda. Most of my neighbors pay people to mow their yards, so it's always done at most once a week, or once every two weeks so their yards always look scalped and brown. I'm really looking forward to the leveling next year because I know that the lower I mow the thicker the grass will become. I was talking to my next door neighbor a few weeks ago and he said that the guy who lived in my house before it foreclosed hardly ever mowed the grass and never did any kind of lawn maintenance. This would explain why the grass was so patchy and thin and also why there were two large areas in the yard that had no grass which resulted in serious erosion of the top layer of clay/soil and I have a brown driveway to show for it. BTW samlawn, I noticed that we live in the same part of Cobb Co. :)
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At 13,000 SF, you're talking about 1/4 acre, which is doable with a walk behind machine. I also think you're also talking apples to oranges using a $7500 Toro Greensmaster as a comparative machine. You should be looking at either a Tru-Cut 25" Front Throw reel mower, or a Trimmer (Eastman) 25" Front Throw. Both are about $1900 to $2000. They are normally fitted with a Honda GX160 at 5.5hp. Neither will produce a putting green surface like to Toro, but will cut closer and more smoothly than any rotary in this application. You can use a Honda or other rotary, but the cut quality will be nowhere near a properly set up Tru-Cut or Trimmer. Your decision.
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wrager
9 years ago
Looks like you have some winter kill in the front. Can you buy a few pieces of sod to cut up and use as plugs for that area? The side looks bad, something going on there. Was the soil from there included in your test? It may simply be too shady fro TifSport. For leveling, get about 5 yards of sand and a push broom and spread it around. I did it this weekend.
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff260/wrager46/photo11_zps2cb12e2b.jpg

This post was edited by wrager on Tue, May 27, 14 at 9:44
dellonb
Original Author
9 years ago
Looks like you have some winter kill in the front. Can you buy a few pieces of sod to cut up and use as plugs for that area? The side looks bad, something going on there. Was the soil from there included in your test? It may simply be too shady fro TifSport. For leveling, get about 5 yards of sand and a push broom and spread it around. I did it this weekend.

I will buy a few pieces of sod and try to patch the areas in the front. The soil tests I referenced were only on the sides where the grass was struggling. I fear the sides are not getting enough sunlight, not sure what to do. I may extend my concrete driveway and not worry about grass on the sides of the house. What type of sand did you use? I assume you aerated first? Have you done this before and if so, were the results positive?
iriasj2009
9 years ago
I agree with plugging the front yard. The side of the house seems to have a shade issues. How many hours of full sun does that side receive? From the pic you provided I would conclude that its taking the Bermuda a bit longer to take off/wake up + maybe winter kill. I'm sure once the weather heats up your front yard will be just fine.

Search this forum for leveling projects.
texas_weed
9 years ago
OK to start with there is no such thing as Tiffway Sport 419. My guess is you either have TifSport or Tifway-I (aka 419). OK enough of that as it makes no difference which one it is,

What does matter is you are suffering from Winker Kill plain and simple. In the front yard where there is more sun and better established is minor and no reason for concern as it will repair itself and looks like it is well on its way.

Side yard is another story and unknown. With less sun the Bermuda did not establish itself with as deep roots as the front did. That could mean the ground froze below the root level of the grass and wiped it out. Real easy to tell, just pull up on it. If it pulls right up brown and crunchy it is dead. If dead I would resod with Zoysia because it looks like low light between the houses

On the other hand if it is well rooted, and the stolons and rhizomes are pliable, wet, and green inside they are alive and well. If that is the case like all across the USA Bermuda is stunned from global warming. You probable got tired of shoveling it off you drive and sidewalk last winter. With it being between houses will be slow to recover and it maybe Late June early July before it fully recovers.

If your front and back yard are on the north and south side of the house, you are going to have trouble with th egrass on the east and west sides between the houses from low light. Bermuda does not tolerate much shade. TifGrand, Celebration, or a low light Zoysia maybe a better choice on the sides and is a decent match for Tif-Whatever you have.
dellonb
Original Author
9 years ago
Texas-weed:

Forgive my ignorance, the sod was TifSport. If the front is merely winter kill, I will be patient, Im still educating myself on Bermuda. I was worried that after spending the money on new sod last year I had some issues. The sides of the house are on the north and south. This being said, If I replant low light Zoysia or TifGrand on the sides, will it crepe into the TifSport and create issues?

Thanks!
texas_weed
9 years ago
OK first is there is nothing to forgive. You made a honest mistake confusing and TifSport and Tifway. So no worries friend I knew what you meant and just wanted to to clear your confusion up.

If by now you have not seen any green up in the side portions of you yard, chances are it is dead. If I were in your shoes I would go back in with TifGrand. It is a shade tolerant Bermuda and will blend in nicely with Tifsport.

Tifsport is one heck of a Bermuda grass. It is a semi-dwarf type specifically designed for sports fields and golf course fairways. Of it attributes which some are cursed it is extremely aggressive and spreads real fast engineered to repair itself very quickly from damage like gold divots and heavy traffic from football and soccer. In addition it is also one of the most cold tolerant of all the Bermuda grasses. Its one downfall is it has very little tolerance for shade.

TifGrand and Celebration Bermuda are both engineered to be somewhat shade tolerant. Not quite as fine textured as TifSport, but should look OK against TifSport. Either one will find the equaliberiam against TifSport via shade. Maintenace practices are identical in your application. Only real difference is no concern for you, but TifSport can be cut really short and maintained around 1/4, but will do just fine at 3/4 to 1.25 inches.

So cheer up and examine your options. Everything will be OK.
yardtractor1
9 years ago
And THAT is how a question should be answered!

Tiffway Sport 419 HELP!!

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Tiffway Sport 419 HELP!!

Comments (9)

dellonbOriginal Author

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dellonb
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