For me, it seems like 2 or 3 frosts do the trick. You soil is probably warmer so, maybe 4 to 6 cold nights before the Bermuda goes to sleep.

It will take a frost to trigger it.

mine went dormant after the 2nd hard frost we had, but the last week or so it has been waking back up!

Oh so I guess that means you will never post those pictures of the 3 foot tall bermuda then. I'll stop holding my breath.

mScott, I don't believe your bermuda will go dormant there. It takes cool soil temps to get it to go dormant. A few chilly nights here and there isn't going to do it.

That would be nice...I can handle mowing once a week in the winter. Sure beats every other day in the summer. (I keep it at 3/4")

Mowing every other day to keep it at 3/4" sounds unnecessary. I know you have much different soil and growing conditions than there but even at 0.625" which is .125" less than what you are cutting at, I had only mowed once or twice a week.
This was with monthly synthetic high nitrogen fertilization and bimonthly irrigation. Scalping was never an issue. Are you finding that you will get scalping if you go longer between mowings?

No, I let my grass go for a week one time when I reseeded, and it was around 2.5". (of course it was being watered like crazy also) When I first planted the grass in the summer, I realized that to get my grass cut that short I needed a reel mower of course. Well, with St. A being the primary grass down here it was nearly impossible to find a power reel mower, so I was forced to go with an old school American manual reel. I modified it, so it would get down to 3/4", but it doesn't mulch mow of course. So, I found that when I go to long, it left big piles of grass clipping all over the lawn. Then I had to either spread them out or rake them up. Which was a pain. To eliminate the huge piles I just mowed every other day, third day max.

I realize they make a bag catcher for the manual reels, but I like to leave the clippings for all that extra nitro.

My yard is only about 2500sq/ft, and to be honest I like pushing the manual mower better than my gas mower I use on the front lawn. (which is still St. A) If it wasn't so nice I would switch it too!

Your Bermuda will be mostly dormant by January if the winter is "normal" and temperatures hover in the mid 30 and 40s range. Bermuda needs soil temps of 50 or higher to get going again. Last year I sprayed my Bermuda with Roundup in January to get rid of all the unwanted winter weeds and early Spring weeds. The Bermuda was dormant and unaffected by the herbicide. I repeated the application in February for other weeds that came up and the Bermuda came out earlier and more vigorously than usual because of the lack of weeds to compete against.
As for mowing frequency in the growing season. I was maintaining a Bermuda putting green in my backyard last year and it required mowing everyday. If I skipped a day you could forget putting on it as the grass was too high. Bermuda likes to be cut frequently when it's growing fast or it will appear scalped and brown if cut infrequently. Once a week would yield a solid brown yard that would take three weeks to recover.
Mowing Bermuda every other day isn't as bad as it sounds. Bermuda is easy to mow at reasonable heights and you can buzz it quickly with little effort or mess. Bermuda that is fertilized frequently and mowed frequently will stay deep green and appear as smooth as a carpet because of it's fine texture.
It is a myth that Bermuda has a short growing season. If Bermuda is fertilized frequently and watered when needed it will be green until several hard frosts hit in the winter. In my area my Bermuda is mostly dormant as of Mid December (this week) but was a beautiful solid green just before Thanksgiving. Even in mid December I still have a few areas of deep green. Generally the Bermuda yards that go dormant too early are suffering from a lack of fertilizer and water.

In the area that OP is in, the average high temp last January was 67° and the avg low was 46°
I predict a slow down but not dormancy. No siree bob.

As for the mower, ALm makes a 5 blade that is rebranded and sold at sears and it cuts down to .625" That is what I use. There is also a 7 blade that supposedly cuts down to half inch that someone here said they saw at home depot about a year ago but I have only found it on online. Right around that time I got a snapper rotary that cuts down to a half inch and have been using that with very acceptable results. I go in about once a month with that and the rest of the month I just touch it up with the reel mower.

Yes, sears has a craftsman that cuts to 5/8", and the depot carries a Great States that cuts down to 1/2". Both are 16" cutting width. The one I have was given to me, so I just replaced the back wheels with a single roller to bring it down to 3/4". When my wife and I move into our new house I plan on making a small putting green in my back yard. So, at that time I will probably go with the GS from HD.

The bermuda I have is Princess 77, but I was told it isn't the type of grass for putting greens. What type of warm season grass is typically used for the greens?

If you want a high quality grass for greens that you can easily obtain by seed is called Seashore Paspalum. There are some seeded varieties that are lower maintenance but will be a better quality putting surface. Rose agriseed has it.

If you're using it for a green you'll probably want a greens mower. There are some manual greens mowers out there. (Think grass tennis courts)

What type of warm season grass is typically used for the greens?

I can help you with that, but I need to ask you a question first.

How much are you willing to pay?

Seashore pap is a bad choice for a putting green, in your area you want a dwarf bermuda. But let me warn you first, you will need a very high-end reel mower called a greens mower.

Another note here Pricess is one of the least cold tolerant Bermuda grasses around, so it will go dormant before most of the hybrids.

For the green type grass you are going to want a hybride dwarf type, and they are very expensive. Of the varieties available to you are:
Tifdwarf
Tifgreen
Tifeagle (top choice of modern golf course)

You can use some of the others including Princess as long as you realize you will not get to cut them down as low nor have the density and action you may be looking for. For a budget, just get a few yards worth of Tifeagle and cut plugs, but remember the dwarf types are very high maintenance and require a special greens mower.

Well, two things, I was really hoping it was something I could start from seed. I really enjoyed my princess experience over the summer.

Seeing as the cheapest quality greens mower on ebay is going for over a grand, I may just buy the Great States mower from HD, modify it to bring it down from 1/2" to 1/4", and try that out. I know I will be top dressing like crazy, but I don't plan on making it that big.

It won't exactly be TPC at Sawgrass worthy, but hopefully amateurs like myself won't notice that it's cut kind of high.

So, TW, what seed do you recommend? If any.

The difference between the manual greens mowers is that they have a lot more blades. And also may be a gear drive or something because just with an ordinary reel mower cutting dense sod can be challenging.

I encourage you to look into seashore paspalum. Even though a sod dealer replied and said no, the species is native to your area and will perform better with the maintenance level that a homeowner can give it.

QQ, sorry didnÂt mean to put you down with the Seashore Pap suggestion, but to my knowledge it is just not capable of doing the job.

mscottw2
If you are set on a seeded variety, then Princess is as good as it gets. What you need to be aware of it will not even come close to the performance you might be expecting. The lowest you can go with it is ¼ of an inch and that is way too high for a putting green. It will be very slow, bumpy, and the roll, if that is what you want to call it, will not be true. OK? To get course quality you are speaking down to 5/64

I get this question a lot from customers, and I always try to discourage them. Once they realize the cost and work it is just not worth it. However, what I do suggest is an artificial putting green. There are some really good ones out there, and if you DIT will cost you about the same as a reel mower.

Call around to a few golf courses and see what varieties are available in your area. I bet it is Tifeagle as this is now the standard hybrid used for putting greens. Then calla sod farm that handles it and be prepared for sticker shock of $500 to $1000 per pallet (500.ft2). One type that you might still find could be less expensive called U-325. But keep in mind before you do something like this you will need to excavate the site and backfill with a soilless mix of sand, peat, or sand-peat mix, and irrigation is a must. It gets very expensive very quickly.

Or another suggestion is a tradeoff between seeded and dwarf hybrid using a semi dwarf like Baby Bermuda or Tiffsport. Heck even good ole Tiway-I (aka-419) or Tifway-II is better than Princess. Not sure about your area and availability but these hybrids should be between $75 to $150 per pallet.. Like Princess you cannot take them down below ¼ inch, but they are much finer bladed and form denser turf. I have seen reasonable success using these. Not course quality, but good enough for home gamers for practice. I qualify it as pitching green quality.

Good Luck

TW

I guess we will find out this week as temps are supposed to drop below freezing on Wed. and Thurs. for a couple of hours each night.

Happy New Year!

Thought some of you may what to know that the grass did get "stunned" a couple of weeks ago when temps dropped down to 26. There was sparse patches of "yellowish" grass, but it has completely greened up since. I was hoping it would go into complete dormancy, so I could take care of those nasty winter annuals that have popped up. Oh well, maybe next month.

Even here where it regularly gets into the teens-30's for low temperatures during the winter, if there is a freak warm up for about a week, and there usually is where it may go into the 60's or 70's for high temps then the bermuda does green up some. So unless you can maintain cold temps all the time it will green up quickly.

Well, I guess It's safe to say since it hasn't gone dormant yet, it's probable not going to. It's just as green today as it was 3 months ago. I actually just put down down a bag of winterizer and some ucg. I figured, if it's still growing, then it's probably hungry. I haven't put down any nitrogen since November. It's nice to have green grass when everyone else's St. Augustine is patchy yellow.

My mom's st augustine is still fully green right now. My st augustine stayed green significantly longer than bermuda lawns around here. So whatever....

mscottw2

At this point It should be safe to go ahead and start your spring fertilizer application with a balanced blend of something like 20-5-10 or 15-5-10 slow release formula.

If you hear a cold snap coming just water it real good the day before the cold snap hits. But it would almost be impossible for it to get cold enough long enough to send Bermuda dormant in your area. Heck if I were you I would set out tomatoe plants now.

Lou, I wasn't trying to offend any St. A owners, or put down the grass. I actually still have it in my front lawn, and It's still way more green than most However, most of my neighbors lawns are yellowish brown. I think a lot depends on your shade situation, and irrigation.

That being said, the truth is, the Bermuda did out perform my St. A during the winter months.

TW, the winterizer I put down was something like 24-3-12. You say I can start my regular feeding cycle now, so is it OK to put down something like halts 1 first of March. Or is it too late for the crabgrass control? How about a weed and feed. Then I guess it's back to the Urea, CGM, and Blood Meal in April.

mscottw2

I did not catch the winterizer fertilizer part so disregard my balanced fertilizer recommendation from earlier. Just out of curiosity have you done a soil test recently? That would tell you if you need anything like P, K, and PH adjustment. My advice on those is apply once a year either in Fall for the last application, or the first Spring application.

OK you got me a little confused with your questions of when to start what because you mention Halts, Urea, CGM, and Blood Meal. So I will try to sort things out best as I can, but are you organic, semi-organic, or synthetic organic? I am confused.

If you want to do organic get the CGM down now as it is a pre-emergence and fertilizer. If you can afford it, just use CGM all year round as a fertilizer, I do on my personal lawn. That way you do not have to worry about timing of anything.

Not sure about pre-emergence timing in your area Z9, it may still be to early for chemical treatment. Do you have a means to take soil temperature? If you do you are looking for temp of 55 degrees, or if Forsythia grows in your area you can tell by it being in full bloom. So here is the deal if using chemical pre-emergence wait until the soil reaches 55 or you see Forsythia in full bloom , if using CGM it needs to go down about a week or two earlier as it takes time for it to work

One last word on pre-emergence. If you go the chemical route I would suggest looking for Dimension rather than Halts. Dimension last longer and targets a larger spectrum of weeds. Regardless of which you choose, make two applications spaced 8-weeks apart.

Finally a few words on fertilizers. Yes I think it is OK for you to start now. Officially there are 5 weeks of winter left, but not for your area. Its possible you might get a light frost, but doubtful. It wonÂt hurt the grass, like I said just water if you hear a cold snap is coming. Next either go organic or synthetic organic. Like I said earlier just use CGM all year round if you can afford it, and then just forget about pre-m. Or use CGM for the first two applications, then switch to Soy Bean Meal rather than Blood Meal.

For synthetic organic use a slow release urea product. Either start the year off or end the year off with a balanced urea like 20-5-10, and then use straight nitrogen for the rest of the growing season.

Hope that helps, but I was confused.