It's too late for a warm season grasses. Frost will kill it. I seeded one year on Labor Day and it did not survive and I'm further south.

I sort of thought that myself. I know this yard needs dethatching and there is an large area I need to add about 6" of topsoil.

Maybe early next Summer- do I dethatch and spread bermuda seed OR do I kill off everything in the area and spread bermuda seed, or do I do work now(early Fall), sow fescue/rye followed by bermuda next year?

I am unclear how quickly and agressively bermuda seed gets established.

The most cost effective thing to do is do nothing now, wait til early summer next year and seed. When you do seed, try to kill off only the fescue areas, mow as long as possible, then seed. No need to detach unless you're sure you have a thatch problem.

No there is still time to do SOMETHING. Change your lawn care to favor Bermuda grass for the rest of the season. Then next season you can do the rest.

Start mowing 2 to 3 times a week to maintain 1-1/2 inch height.

Fertilize now with a 39-0-0 fertilizer at a rate of 3lbs/ft2, again in 30 days. Apply fertilizer every 30 days up until 30 days before you average first frost date.

Halloween apply a good pre-mergence fertilizer.

Xmas apply another treatment of pre-mergence.

March another round of pre-mergence.

If interested we will talk more. In the meantime find and read the BERMUDA BIBLE

Correction on the fertilizer rate. 3 pounds of 39-0-0 per 1000/ft2. My bad, got in a hurry typing.

Thanks for the tips. I will follow and read more. Sounds like I can still get prepared for next year.

Oh heck yes. Treat it correctly right now and it will take care of itself. Fescue and most weeds cannot compete with Bermuda if you maintain it as a Bermuda lawn by keeping it cut short, fed, and watered. Next summer with the high nitrogen levels, hot weather, mowing short will cook Fescue.

It is next year. I just completed the dethatching and application of pre-emergent crabgrass killer. I wanted to follow up with spreading bermuda seed, but I read I have to wait months before it is safe to seed. If I wait too long it will be in to the Tennessee hot summer months. I doubt I will have success getting something to grow.

Do I have to wait until next year?

You cannot get bermuda seed to germinate right now, it's too early. I suspect you will not get bermuda seed to germinate until mid June at the earliest. The hot summer months is when bermuda grows and thrives. Follow the advice of texas weed (TW) when it comes to bermuda.

The Tennessee hot summer months is EXACTLY what you are waiting for. Bermuda is beyond a warm season grass. It is a HOT season grass. We go through this every spring on this forum and others. Someone will grab onto the idea that they will get a jump on seeding bermuda and start too early. What they end up with is a lawn full of crabgrass and no bermuda at all. PLEASE wait until at least mid June to reconsider seeding. Quite often by that time your lush bermuda lawn will be laughing at your for even thinking about seeding.

Take care of the weeds on a weed by weed basis. First fertilize. You can do that now since you are just interested in the weeds. Then in 2 weeks, spot spray the broadleaf weeds (like oxalis, clover, spurge, and dollar weed) with Weed-B-Gone. You can carefully spot spray grassy weeds with Grass-B-Gone but it will affect the bermuda, so be a little careful. It will not wipe out the bermuda but it might yellow it for a few weeks. The reason to fertilize now and spray weeds later is that the weeds take up the poison much better when they are healthy and well fed. It is possible to spray some sickly weeds and see no effect.

Mulch mow at your mower's lowest setting for bermuda. Bermuda looks best when mowed twice a week. Fertilize heavily every month. Bermuda can take all the fertilizer you can give it. Water once a week but water deeply.

If you follow those suggestions, you should have a great looking bermuda lawn certainly by June. Then you can reevaluate whether to seed or not. And yes, look for texas-weed to reply. And look for the Bermuda Bible on the Internet. He wrote it.

In addition to what was said about temperature, you said you spread a preemergence herbicide for crabgrass recently. Unless it's Tupersan, most preemergents won't allow your Bermuda seed to germinate until its effects wear off. What did you use as a preemergent?

Oh gosh you should have read the Bible. You have committed two sins.

1. You de-thatched way too early in the year. You have to wait until the Bermuda is actively growing. In addition when you de-thatch is an excellent time to seed with Bermuda.

2. Here is the big or cardinal sin for which there is no forgiveness, you applied a pre-emergence herbicide before seeding. What were you thinking?

1- Dethatching now may have been a mistake, but what I read was do not dethatch after applying pre-emergent.

2- Preemergent crabgrass killer stated must be applied just before the crabgrass germinates. I called the county extension service and the reply was NOW. Other readings on the Net agreed.

From Bermuda Bible (which I had already saved on my HDD),

"Depending on your location apply pre-emergence herbicides to control crabgrass, goose grass,
foxtail, warm season annuals, etc when you see Bradford Pear, Dogwood, or Forsythia
blooming." My location said NOW.

I am certainly not arguing. I came to you guys for help and appreciate it. It seems I got my signals crossed as to what to do and when.

1- Dethatching now may have been a mistake, but what I read was do not dethatch after applying pre-emergent.

2- Preemergent crabgrass killer stated must be applied just before the crabgrass germinates. I called the county extension service and the reply was NOW. Other readings on the Net agreed.

From Bermuda Bible (which I had already saved on my HDD),

"Depending on your location apply pre-emergence herbicides to control crabgrass, goose grass,
foxtail, warm season annuals, etc when you see Bradford Pear, Dogwood, or Forsythia
blooming." My location said NOW.

I am certainly not arguing. I came to you guys for help and appreciate it. It seems I got my signals crossed as to what to do and when.

To sjmaye: I would say that at this stage you are doing just fine. Let the pre-emergent do its job for now, and by the time you are ready to put down bermuda seed in June/July, the pre-emerge barrier will have dissipated. That is, of course, if you even need to put down seed. Let's see how your bermuda progresses in the next 60 days.

What pre-emerge product did you use and at what rate? This would be helpful information.

sjmaye

The caveat is the Bible did not address starting from seed or re-seeding. The county agent told you correctly based on the information they had. If they or I had known you planned to re-seed, pre-emergence is out of the question.

Now do not worry too much for now. Even if the Bermuda is thin, it can be rejuvenated by just proper maintenance.

What pre-emergence did you use? Some have long half life, and some have long half life.

The stuff I used? I could not find what worked so well for me before, a liquid by Ortho. I ended up buy Sta-Green from Lowes. It is here http://www.lowes.com/pd_296981-303-489115_4294857261_4294937087_?productId=3308066&Ns=p_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr:0::p_product_quantity_sold:1&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_Crabgrass%2BControl_4294857261_4294937087_%3FNs%3Dp_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr%7C0%7C%7Cp_product_quantity_sold%7C1

It does not show what the active ingredient is.

The active ingredient in the Sta-Green product you used is dithiopyr 0.20% ai. It should be listed in the lower left corner on the front of the bag. Dithiopyr is the active ingredient in Dimension herbicide. If you applied this product evenly at the correct rate, you should get excellent control of crabgrass for about 60-75 days.

"you should get excellent control of crabgrass for about 60-75 days"

I thought this kept crabgrass from germinating at all, thus no crabgrass. So I need to reapply in a 2-3 months?

Will I need to do this every year?

Around the first week of June, you will need to make a decision. Do you want to re-seed areas of your lawn with bermuda, or do you want to try and develop the existing bermuda without any additional seed? If you decide not to use additional bermuda seed, then you will need to re-apply a pre-emerge herbicide such as dithiopyr (Dimension) or prodiamine (Barricade). If you decide to use additional bermuda seed, then you will not be able to use a pre-emerge herbicide at the time of seeding, and you will probably have crabgrass germinating along with your bermuda.

One of the mistakes many homeowners make is thinking they can control crabgrass with only one application of a pre-emerge herbicide in early spring. Then in August, they wonder why they have crabgrass. It's not their fault, they simply don't know. That's why they come to this forum looking for answers.

Interesting nearandwest. Seems the better choice is to control the crabgrass and let the bermuda do its thing and spread out.

Does the pre-emergent crabgrass killer control more than just crabgrass?

Yes, the pre-emergent crabgrass killer also controls goosegrass and poa annua if applied prior to weed seed germination. At this point, I would make two recommendations: 1. Continue to follow the advice of TW and dchall as previously stated. 2. Sometime during the week after Memorial Day, apply prodiamine (Barricade) at 1.0 lb ai/Acre. This rate will provide control of weed seed germination through the summer and into the fall.

"apply prodiamine (Barricade) "

Where do you find this and is it in liquid or granular form?

In your area I wouldn't know who sells it retail, but it is distributed by Greenview, Scotts, and Lesco/JDL. It is sold as a liquid, and as a weed and feed granular product.