Bermuda Sod

12 years ago

I am leaning towards replacing my meticulously maintained fescue yard with a warm season grass. Botton line...despite my best efforts, I have lost my battle with common bermuda and do not have enough shade to keep my fescue strong enought to fight it off. That being said, I have some questions.

1. I am thinking about Tifsport as a hybrid choice. Is this a good choice for a homeowner? I see that it is popular as an athletic field choice. How about an improved common from seed?

2. I have a rotary mower..riding lawnmower. How do I cut this stuff? I have a larger yard, so a walk behind reel mower seems impractical.

3. And...can I put sod down over my existing lawn? Simply kill off the fescue, cut it down, punch the soil and lay the sod?

4. Will I continue to fight the common bermuda? Or will the sod eventually choke it out??

Thanks for any and all ideas.

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Comments (8)

crcash2
Original Author
12 years ago
Any takers?
racernhra
12 years ago
I was in EXACTLY the same spot as you a year ago and gave up trying to fight common out of my fescue. In south Kansas, the heat was just too much for my fescue. So, starting in October I began my research into Bermuda.

I selected Patriot as it was an excellent choice for my location. Better looking than common and had one of the best cold tolerances, self-repair, AGGRESSIVE growth, appearance and hardiness of all bermudas. Plus, it was readily available.

I just laid my sod a week ago and am VERY happy with the choice I made.

I cannot speak for what would be the best hybrid or seeded bermuda in your area.

I have an 11,000 sq. ft. lawn and I went with a John Deere 22 inch self propelled reel, although I have yet to use it. A rotary will work but to take full advantage of the beauty of bermuda a reel will do a better job. I bought mine on EBAY in the winter so I paid a very low price for it. I plan to mow mine at about an inch or less if I can get away with it. I do have irrigation so I can control the water applications, which will help.

As for choking out the common. I researched this and could never get a definitive answer until I emailed a Professor that actually was instrumental in creating Patriot. According to him, no bermuda will out compete the other entirely. They will merely coexist to a varying degree. In my case, the Patriot will be given proper water and nutrients and will be mowed lower than what the common really thrives under. In this case, my best hope is to achieve the results that the Professor had which was to displace common in favor of the Patriot due to its aggressive growth habit.

Not all bermudas grow as aggressively as the other so this is something you will want to consider in your own research.

I hope this helps!
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Agree. I'm 99.9999999999% sure you have Tif 419. It is the most affordable turf in the industry and is used by contractors and landscapers all over the South. I'd change the watering to 10 minutes. About all you have to do is keep the top inch cool - not saturated by any means. Once the sod has knit into the soil below, you're off to the races. Don't judge anything until you have that accomplished, you start backing way off on water, and get some fertilizer down. Eventually you'll be watering about an inch all at one time. Measure that with cat food or tuna cans to find out how long it takes your sprinkler system to put out that much water. Some do it in 20 minutes and some take 8 hours. You need to know that. In the cool months you'll only need to water once a month. In the warm months you'll be watering weekly. Drop your mower one notch every week and mow it every other day. After a week drop it one more notch. You will scalp just a little off each time. Bermuda grows blades out from stems. When you mow down below the stems, it looks scalped. But it IS bermuda. It comes right back. By the time you get to the bottom notch, it will have cooled off enough that the lowest setting is the one to keep. If you want it to look much nicer, get a reel type mower and set that down to 1/2 inch. At that point it no longer grows stemmy. It takes on a completely different growth habit called prostrate. At that point it becomes the coolest carpet of grass ever. Picture a putting green. I would wait to fertilize with chemicals until you have the grass mowed down all the way. Why? No real reason other than to give it that extra time to knit into the soil. In the mean time you can use organic fertilizer. Which ever one you choose, start at about 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Then in a month you can up that to 20 pounds and then up to 30 or more if you like and can afford it. Bermuda can take 50 pounds per month if you can do that. Most people opt for chemical fertilizers to simplify the fertilizing.
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Did they roll it down to ensure good contact between the bottom of the sod and the top of the soil? If not and they did not promise to do that, you can either rent a roller or walk it yourself. Grab all your neighbors and line up. Everyone walk in baby steps over the entire surface to press the sod down against the soil. Even children can help with this. The weight per square inch of foot surface is just right for doing this. Water for a few minutes (5-15 depending on your sprinkler), 3x per day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) for the next 2 weeks or until it is knit down. The idea is to keep the surface of the underlying soil moist, NOT SOGGY, until the roots grow down. If, after you water it, the sod sinks down into the soil when walked on, then you watered waaaaaay too much. After it seems to be knit down, then mow it down in increments over a weeks time until you get to the mower's lowest setting. You might scalp it every time you mow, but that's fine. It is bermuda after all. If you don't already have a good soil test telling you otherwise, then fertilize with a starter fert at the bag rate after the second time you mow. You want to make sure the roots are working before you fertilize. On a small scale you can start sanding any time. Over the next few weeks some of the soil stuck to the bottom of the sod will melt down and onto the soil underneath. That will take you into late April. I might wait and evaluate where the low spots really are until May. You can pre locate them with sprinkler flags (wire things with flags on them) so you can find them later. You can use topsoil for small scale leveling and filling holes. The problem with topsoil for large scale leveling is dragging the clods around with the drag. For filling holes you will use a lot more sand or soil than you might think. It needs to feather out to match the grade of the surrounding soil. Holes do not look like a putting green hole. They gradually slope down and up taking up more volume than it seems.
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They will both spread at a pretty decent rate. If you do sod you can get a hybrid variety that you cannot get with seed. The hybrids can be cut shorter, do better in shade, or be more drought tolerant depending on the variety. If you have shady areas either from the house or trees no Bermuda will thrive there but celebration (and one other I can't remember the name right now) will do better. Hybrids do best cut below 1 1/2" and common/seeded Bermuda can be cut a little taller. There are many different varieties and it depends a lot on your situation.
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texas_weed
12 years ago
1. I am thinking about Tifsport as a hybrid choice. Is this a good choice for a homeowner? I see that it is popular as an athletic field choice. How about an improved common from seed?
2. I have a rotary mower..riding lawnmower. How do I cut this stuff? I have a larger yard, so a walk behind reel mower seems impractical.

Tifsport is an excellent hybrid. It is a semi-dwarf Bermuda, is very aggressive that repairs itself from damage very quickly like you see on sports field. In addition it is the most cold tolerant of all the Bermuda.

That brings us your lawn mower challenge. TifSport is has been bred to grow very low, well below 1-inch, and form a very tight dense turf. A riding rotary or any rotary lawn mower is not capable of cutting below 1-1/2 inches or so. If you are going to use TifSport you will need a reel mower, and you will need to mow just about every day when it gets hot.

4. Will I continue to fight the common bermuda? Or will the sod eventually choke it out??

If you lay sod you will have a pretty high percentage of pure stock. With seed there will be more contamination. But it is no big deal and will not be noticeable for several years. However all Bermuda lawns become contaminated with wild or common Bermuda. Wind, rain and birds will carry it in. This is why you see a lot of golf courses resod the course every 10 to 15 years. But for a home owner it is not of much concern.

And...can I put sod down over my existing lawn? Simply kill off the fescue, cut it down, punch the soil and lay the sod?

Not a very good plan. Minimum is spray the existing lawn, wait a week, scalp it as low as you can go, remove all debris, and sugar coat with a top-dressing.

As for using a seeded common types, there are some excellent varieties to choose from. But you have a problem, it is too late to seed right now in your area as you only have a few short weeks of hot weather left. If you go with seed it will have to wait until next May or June
crcash2
Original Author
12 years ago
Great input. Thanks a lot! What hybrids will lend themselves to a rotary mower? I have too much grass to mow on a daily basis with a reel mower even though that would be ideal. Correct my lowest setting is 1, 1 1/2 inches. I know bermuda is designed to be cut lower but what can I get away with using a rotary lower? Seeded hybrids maybe? Or just improved common?
texas_weed
12 years ago
Well I will answer your question with a question. What varieties do your local sod farms offer? That will help me help you if I know what is available.

I am certain if TifSport is available then Tifway-I (aka 419) is also available. You can grow Tifway-I at 1.5 without to many consequences. It just will not be as thick and dense as it would cut at .5 inches.

As for medium maintenance common seeded Bermuda grass I would look at:

LaPrima Blend
Mohawk
Triangle Blend
Pyramid
ShangriLa
Mirage
Sunstar
Blackjack
Sundance
SunDevil
crcash2
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks,
I have glanced at your Bermuda Bible, and it's definatley comprehensive. I have both tifsport and 419 available as well as tifgrand. Of the zoysia varieites, I've got empire, jamur, and zeon. Would zoysia lose the battle with common bermuda, as that its invasion into fescue is one of the motiviations for abandoning my cool season grass. I've read that zoysia can be cut higher.
texas_weed
12 years ago
Would zoysia lose the battle with common bermuda, as that its invasion into fescue is one of the motiviations for abandoning my cool season grass. I've read that zoysia can be cut higher.

Hybrid Bermuda grass will out-compete with common Bermuda grass because it is a much denser and finer texture.

However common Bermuda grass needs exterminated before going in with Zoysia. When common is mixed with Zousia, assuming full sun and proper maintenance, Bermuda is just more aggressive, than Zoysia.

Here is a good White Paper from UGA on the subject. UGA is the patent holder of many Bermuda Grass Hybrids, (any of them with Tif in the name), and a couple of Zoysia varieties.

http://commodities.caes.uga.edu/turfgrass/georgiaturf/WeedMngt/weedcontrol/bermzoy.htm

If you can get Tifway, have full sun, it can be maintained at 1.5 inches. If you have some shade issues then TifGrand or Celebrity would be a good choice.
dchall_san_antonio
12 years ago
I agree with TW about the zoysia/bermuda face off. I have an area with both. I was letting them battle it out. This year the zoysia never came in so the bermuda is unchallenged. Zoysia is temperamental. Once it goes dormant for whatever reason, it seems to remain dormant for the rest of the season. Bermuda will recover from dormancy quickly when whatever stress it has stops.

Bermuda Sod

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