To overseed Bermuda or not to............

16 years ago

Our house is on the market. Of course all of this is assuming it doesn't sell before winter. As we all know a nice green lawn looks much better than the dormant Bwermuda I will have this winter.

I have read where some say you should never overseed Bermuda and some say it is perfectly fine. I would use just annual rye to do this. What do the lawn experts here think?

If it is OK, here are some other questions....

1) What rate per 1000 sq ft?

2) When is the earliest I can overseed in SE Coastal NC so I can still use pre-emergent to stop POA germination? I usually put out the pre-emergent in mid September. Could I wait a little longer on that to allow more time for seeding?

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Comments (4)

quirkyquercus
16 years ago
Why bother.
Annual rye is ugly as sin. And I can think of other reasons not to do it if you need them. In fact I wouldn't even recommend it if you planning on staying there since I advocate total eradication of bermuda.
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auteck
16 years ago
Agree with quirky, annual rye is fugly. Instead, you can use Turf-type Perennial Ryegrass. It produces a beautiful turf. However, you must keep in mind that perennial ryegrass will not completely die next summer in your neck of woods. But then, you are probably not going to be there anyway.

I would do it for sure. Overseed at a heavy rate, about 15lbs per 1,000. I will wait until mid October before overseeding the bermuda. Even if your house does not sell within the next 6 to 8 months, you are going to have a beautiful dark green lawn.

Think of it as Bermuda/PR MIX rather than winter overseeding.
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1) I assume you're just going to round up the weeds? If so, you can seed the next day. 2) Lime whenever you want. It takes months to fully work its way into the soil, so it doesn't really matter. If the tests call for more than 40 lbs per 1000 sq ft though, you'll want to break it up into multiple applications. 3) When seeding, you should use a starter fertilizer or an equivalently balance fertilizer. Any box store will carry this. It is definitely important to fertilize properly to get the grass off to a good start. Bermuda is a nitrogen hog, so make sure to fertilizer every month or so. 4) Bermuda seed is small, so you don't want to bury it too deeply. You can use peatmoss if you want, but just sprinkle a very thin layer. Many people just sprinkle some straw on top to keep some of the moisture in. Also, it is generally a good idea to break up the soil with a hard raking before you seed. Sports fields can get quite compacted. This is especially important if the bare soil is currently crusted over.
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I agree that it is very popular in desert communities. Why? So the lawn care companies can make their boat payments all year long. In the north the lawn companies just switch over to snow blowing. Certainly it can be done. It does not help that the golf courses and football fields do it. Those multimillion dollar sports businesses make it easy for Scott's and others to advertise their products at the wrong time of year. The big sports complexes have the training and chemicals needed to kill the rye in the early spring so the bermuda can come back naturally. In San Antonio it is possible to have a green bermuda or St Augustine lawn all winter long by continuing with weekly watering and fertilizer. Last winter was unusually cold and I don't remember any lawns remaining green all winter, but most winters it's not that hard. You should be able to do it in Pho.
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Ok now with Bermuda, but why not wait a few months till November when you have to reseed again. By the way, next week is supposed to dip down to a chilly sub 100 possibly. Get out your turtlenecks and overcoats! Actually I always loved a lawn, but the best thing I ever did was get rid of it. I don't have to mow it every week. Don't have to reseed it, dump fertilizer all over it, water it and have way less mosquitoes. I don't necessarily have all native plants but have many that survive here on less water and still have a lush look. But it's a free country, so do what you want. This post was edited by toucan on Sun, Aug 10, 14 at 17:52
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texas_weed
16 years ago
Heelsfan first let me say good luck trying to sell a house, you are going to need it, as the Bear housing Market has only just begun and is going to get a whole lot worse for the next year or two. Even those who want to buy are going to have a lot of trouble even finding a mortgage unless they have extremely good credit and 20% cash up front to put down.

Anyway onto your answering your question in part. I am from the camp homeowners should not over seed their Bermuda with anything unless you can afford a professional to do it right or now how to do it yourself.

Here is the deal. If you over seed in the fall and do not kill it early in the spring, it will delay your Bermuda green up, weaken it, and significantly shorten your Bermuda growing season. When the summer heat finally kills off the cool season grass, it opens up holes allowing a weed invasion. In addition the cool season grass robs the Bermuda of nutrient, sun, and water weakening it. Instead of having a nice thick lush Bermuda lawn in April or May, it will be June or July before it starts to recover. Then one or two months later it is time to over seed again and starts the cycle of decline again until eventually you have nothing but a yard full of weeds and thin sick Bermuda.

So what do the pros know and do that you do not. Well I wonÂt give away all the secrets but give you just enough to make you dangerous. Fist we donÂt use Rye; we use a specific blend of Fescue and annual Rye. Then in early spring just when the Bermuda starts to wake up, we spray a specific herbicide to kill off the cool season variety, and fertilize the crap out of the Bermuda to give it a jump start.

In your case, use a good quality annual rye just after the cooler and wetter weather arrives with a starter fertilizer at a rate of 10-pounds per 1000/ft2. Then pray to God your house sells before next summer, or else you are going to have a crappy looking lawn next summer during the transition; right in the middle of prime market season for house selling.

Good Luck

TW
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Billl
16 years ago
As a general practice, I wouldn't encourage overseeding with rye, but this isn't a general practice. If you think overseeding can net you an quicker offer or more $$$, go for it. Rye can be seeded as soon as temps drop below 80 degrees or so.

Below is a link to some research articles about golf course "secret" treatments. About half-way down is a research paper about what chemicals work best at speeding the spring transition to bermuda. I don't know if you will be able to get your hands on them though.

Here is a link that might be useful: killing rye
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To overseed Bermuda or not to............

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quirkyquercus

auteck

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