It's perfectly normal. Bermuda's worst enemy is SHADE. If you had the grass hight adjusted, even by "stair stepped down" process, is going to lose its green color. Bermuda can't stand its own shade, so the taller the grass, the less sunlight will reach the lower part of the grass blades.

The good news is you don't have to do anything to fix it, just keep mowing it very often at the new hight and it will turn green again. The trick is to keep it at the same hight and will always be green providing that the weather is conducive (temperatures, water, etc)

As far as fertilizer, you can fertilze your lawn, but ONLY if you are going to water. If you're not, then don't.

Where are you located? And what type of bermuda did you get?

I think a little yellow tint might be normal when bringing down you HOC. I'm curious how many mowings between lowering the HOC. As well as when you went from 2 1/2 to 2 did you wait the 3 to 4 days? This time of year in 3 or 4 days the grass could have grown from 2 1/2 to 3 or more inches by then. That would have been too much to cut at once.

If the bermuda doesn't work try fescue. Several people on this site think bermuda is for " brown thumbs " if I recall on posting on a different thread. Let's see others say it's worthless because of it being brown most of the year. What else? Oh bermuda is a Nitrogen hog.

I'll grow any grass you give me so that's not my opinion on bermuda.

Stephen lighten up a bit, not everyone is anti-Bermuda, just the Yankeesº I am a sod farmer and got more Burmuda than you can shake a stick at.

Anyway back to the question at hand. First comment on the fertilizer; what you applied was neither right nor wrong, so forget about it. If you bought it from a reputable sod farm it was fertilized with what it needed just before it was cut. However if it was laid in May, and you have not fertilized since it was late, you are overdue at least one application if not 2. For now find you a good source of a straight urea slow release fertilizer like 29-0-0-0 and apply it at a rate of 3-pounds per 1000/ft2 repeat every 30 to 45 days right up to 30-days before your first frost.

There are two approaches you can take with the height problem First I assume your Bermuda is well rooted. The end result is you want to get to 1-inch

1. Is the extreme fast approach. Just chop it down to 1-inch and bag the clippings. It will look like chit of nothing but sticks and stems. Don¡¦t panic, just keep it watered, mowed and fertilized, and in two weeks you will have a bright healthy green yard again.
2. Or you can continue the long slow painful approach, and it may be late in the season to ever get it down where you want. But it will be yellow until it gets to your target height

Just follow the three keys steps and the Bermuda will work its magic, Water, fertilizer and now properly.

The sodded bermuda is TiftSport and I live in north metro Atlanta. I cut the grass about 4 times at 2 1/2 inches before going to 2 inches. Also the same number of times before going from 3 inches to 2 1/2. Also it had been 3 days before I cut the last time at 2 1/2 before I went to 2 inches. Will the grass be OK if it doesn't get any fertilizer till the end of August or there abouts?

Texas-weed. I agree that it has been a slow painful approach to stair-step the grass down but that was what was suggested for me to do. I had been told not to cut more than 1/3 of the grass at a single mowing and to go several mowings at the same height before lowering the blade. Also the sod was laid the last of May and is well rooted. BTW what is urea based fertilizer? Thanks.

sorry texas weed just seems like bermuda is getting a bad rap.

On to the question at hand. Bermuda you can be more aggressive because of the toughness of bermuda. The rule of thumb is removing 1/3 at a time but you could bite the bullet and do it all at once. As mentioned it will look nasty and about for 2 weeks at that but it's fine.

It's impossible to kill bermuda. Just take TW's extreme way- cut down all the way to 1 inch and mow. Sure it will look bad but they will grow back quickly as long as they get enough N and H20. I've done this before. No big deal.

Usually the only people that are against bermuda are the ones that have it in an area like North Atlanta Metro and want to plant something more suitable for the climate.
Tifsport does perform very well though compared to the others. I'm curious to know where the OP got their tifsport sod and what it cost.

I would just dive right in and cut it at the height you want to maintain at. You can't kill bermuda and if Stephen 9 is suggeting that I said fescue is for brownthumbs, he's got that the other way around. Bermuda is pretty easy it just requires a lot of fertilizer. Fertlizer with a high first number. If you can get to a lesco, that would be something like 46-0-0

*** Warning, the above comments may have more than one thought per sentence****

Steamside,

Tifsport is a very high-end Bermuda grass, thus requires very high-end maintenance. It is just one-step short of a golf green quality. It can be used as a golf green in lower end courses. Its main use is as fairways, tee-boxes, sports fields, museums, commercial properties, and high-end residential

Tifsport needs to be kept between 5/16 and ¾ inches using a reel mower. It is such a dense grass going any higher will cause it to thin and yellow. Sound familiar? So it needs to be mowed three times a week just like a golf course. You can stair-step it down if you wish, but get aggressive about it.

Another source of the yellowing is you are starving the grass to death. Tifsport is a very aggressive feeder and almost impossible to over fertilize. If you laid it in May, have not fertilized, you are behind 2 or 3 applications already. So waiting to the end of August is just asking for terrible looking grass and weeds.

You have a few options for fertilizing:

Apply ¼ application of fast release every week.

Apply ½ application rate of fast release every 2-weeks.

Apply full application of slow release every 30 days using what is called 75% sow release, 25% fast release.

OK here is what the slow/fast urea and nitrate mean. Commercial fertilizers are made from two sources, Urea and Ammonia Nitrate. Fast release formulas can be either Urea or Ammonia Nitrate. Most professionals prefer Urea because it is an organic compound and does not contribute to salinity of the soil like nitrate does.

Slow release formulas are mostly formulated from urea by coating it with sulfur compounds to slow down the release of nitrogen dissolving with water. So when I say 75/25 or some other ratio I mean 75% slow release and 25% fast release. The fast release works as soon as water is applied and last about a week, while the slow release carries you though for a few more weeks.

Since you live in Atlanta, locate your nearest Lesco dealer. Lesco is a professional lawn care chain that carries fertilizers custom blended for your specific area. Right now you want to be using a nitrogen only product like 000777 (29-0-0). Cone either this fall or next spring you will want to use a complete fertilizer like 15-5-10 or 20-5-10 for one application only each year..

Welcome to high-end lawn care, hope you know what you got yourself into.

Wow, TifSport. That is a nice Bermuda. Do like TW said and CUT IT SHORT (at least 3/4 "). To do this you may need a reel mower. Make sure the lawn is very level with no dips or humps to keep from scalping the grass.

Is there much shade in your yard? If so you may want to consider having some take out or thin out some of your trees. As I can attest, Bermuda hates shade. My wife wanted Bradford Pears in our yard. As they grow so do the beds around them.

Texas-weed. Thanks for the information. I posted a new post on fertilizing before I read your last post so I didn't have your latest information. I NEVER dreamed that the Tiftsport was so high maintenance and didn't need to get such high maintenace grass at my age. I was looking for just the opposite. You heard the expression "live and learn" but just should have learned at an earlier age lol. The big concern I have is fertilizing and burning the lawn due to my lack of knowledge. Thanks for the help.

If you put "bermuda bible" into the search box, you should get a great primer on bermuda care.

A really condensed version - mow often, mow low (an inch or under for hybrids), water deeply but infrequently, fertilize every 4-6 weeks.

If it is still an off color after fertilizing and reaching a final mowing height, you should get a soil test to confirm that the PH is ok and the micronutrient levels are reasonable. Most of the eastern half of the country has acidic soil which can lead to poor nutrient absorption.

"...didn't need to get such high maintenace grass at my age. I was looking for just the opposite."

At this point I think you should consider removal of this grass while you still have an opportunity to do so and plant something that is more reasonable to care for. You may be able to put it on craigslist or ebay since that sod is often desired by unsuspecting victims.

Although I will add that a nearby commercial property uses tifsport and it holds it's color for a solid 6 months of the year. Longer than any other type of bermuda I've seen in this area. It's professionally fertilized by King Green and reel cut once a week at a little over an inch. (Much to my surprise but that's what the owner of the lawn service said it was cut at.)

Texas-Weed

Do you have info regarding salt index on urea and other nitrogen compounds? I came across one website staying that urea has a tad too much salt that will ruin soil biology a bit. I think the salt index was 74 for urea and the cut off point for salt index where they contain enough salt to cause damage is at 69. Just wondered if that's what you got as well.

I NEVER dreamed that the Tiftsport was so high maintenance and didn't need to get such high maintenace grass at my age. I was looking for just the opposite.

Wow, what can I say? In that case Centiped was what you were looking for. What you got is one of the highest input grasses on the market. I agree with Quirky, if you do not have the physical ability or means to maintain it, might consider ripping it out now while you still can at reasonable cost.

Lou, check other sources. This one shows SI of 46-0-0 of 26.7 from the following table:

Salt Index of Some Fertilizer Materials
Material Salt Index
________________________________________________________________________
ammonium sulfate (21% N) 53.7
ammonium nitrate (35% N) 49.3
muriate of potash (50% K) 31.9
urea (46% N) 26.7
sulfate of potash (45% K) 14.1
anhydrous ammonia (82% N) 9.4
diammonium phosphate (21% N, 23% P) 7.5
monoammonium phosphate (12% N, 27% P) 6.7
superphosphate (9% P) 6.4
superphosphate (21% P) 3.5

Texas- Weed

Check the website out - http://www.sanjacorganic.com/resource/highsalt.html

I looked at other websites about salt index but I didn't see where the info about the minimum index needed to cause damage to the soil.