This is a strange spring with all the clouds and rain. I suspect once the sunlight hits it for longer than 5 days in a row it will begin to green up. Thus far it has been like growing bermuda under a shady cloud canopy.

If you're looking for something else to do, you could applying organic like corn meal at the same time as monthly chem fert app. I doubt it will change the color over where it would otherwise be in a month, but it always helps the soil biology.

I wish we could get sun for five days in a row. I think the longest the sun has shone here is a couple of hours. We haven't had a full day of sun in at least a month.

So here we are as of today. Just got back from a long weekend and the yard had gotten a little tall. I'd been mowing it at 1.25", but raised the deck to 1.5" to keep from scalping it.

The color is much better and the grass has thickened up considerably and is somewhat filling the bare spots, though not as quickly as I like. I do have a couple questions though. I'm following the bermuda bible, but is there something I can do to encourage the grass to fill in the bare spots quicker? Also, Ive been mowing on my mower's lowest setting all season (1.25"), but after every mowing the grass shows a slight scalped appearance. I mow three times a week and always take off less than 1/3 of the total height. Is this just the nature of the beast or am I doing something wrong?

Is the surface bumpy or is it p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y smooth? If it is not perfectly smooth, it will scalp as the wheels of the mower fall into holes in the surface.

I've heard of people fiddling with mowing height and watering frequency to try and get grass to spread. I'm not sure there's any reliable advice to give. With St Augustine spreading seems to be temperature related, meaning that it only spreads when temps are in the 70s. That explains why it spreads in the mid spring and mid fall.

my 2 cents on getting it to spread quicker. I have had some luck with a greens grade fert (Lebanon Turf 16-4-8 1% Iron, i believe) that I used a couple of years ago with mowing twice a week. It is expensive stuff. I was lucky to get a bag free. Best chemical fert. have used thus far. I have given up on trying to feed my lawn with that. Other things you can try is by keeping the bare areas as wet as possible (will have to deal with weeds). Another trick is to vertical mow, which cuts the runners and starts a new plant. I vertical mowed with a seeder last year when I was reseeding some bare areas. Now since my spots are minimal, I will go out in those areas and take a pair of scissors and cut runners by hand. Yes, it is a little mundane, but I do it every once in awhile when I am on the patio cooking or watching the kids play.

No the yard isn't perfectly level and it obviously scalps it in the rougher spots. The smoother areas still take on a scalped appearance. I mow with a 54" zero turn. Leveling the yard is out of the question. We live in black clay soils that are constantly shrinking and expanding. They say every 30 years or so, our soil completely turns over. I guess my only option is to raise the mower deck a notch or two, but I hate to do that to Bermuda grass.

If you think you have black clay soil, then you need a soil test. Why? Because you're living in fear of your soil. It can almost always be managed. Now I'm thinking of examples in San Antonio where I'm not so sure it could be managed, but only a soil test would help. Logan Labs is the place to go. Why? I'm sure you've read some of the posts regarding Logan Labs.

I guess what's frustrating me the most is the color of my lawn. All spring I've been mowing 3 times a week at 1 1/4" height and it continues to stay a tan/yellow hue. I was beginning to think I maybe had an iron problem. But when I had gotten home from my weekend away, and the grass got a little taller than I normally let it (probably 2"+), it was the most beautiful deep green you could imagine for a bermuda yard. That's why I mowed it down to only an inch and a half, so as not to take too much off. When I did that, I lost the deep green color and am back to the yellow/tan. What gives?

These are pics of an are of the yard that is just common bermuda. Close up and far away of the same location.

These are pics of an area that was sodded in a hybrid. Probably tif 419, but I'm not sure. The guy I bought the house from said it was the most expensive bermuda that you could buy at the time (around 2004).

As you can see, the common is more affected than the hybrid. Can it not tolerate a 1 1/4" mow height? Do my blades need sharpening? Lawn mower was bought brand new in April. I haven't sharpened them yet. Any help is appreciated.

Here's my 2 cents for what it's worth. I think your best bet is to mow it low (lower then you want to maintain it) and then raise it up a quarter or a half an inch. I experienced the same thing you did with going out of town and coming back to a taller but deep green lawn. I tried to mow it back down and lost the deep green. I believe it's because you're mowing down to grass that has been shaded so it's not getting enough light.

I would try that and see what happens.

Here's some pictures of what I mentioned above

That is when I returned home from being out of town and tried to cut my grass at the same height I had been cutting it. You can see the brown on the left. I raised my mower and continued cutting and you can see how green it was.

This is what it looked like before I went out of town.

This is what it looked like after I cut it at the higher setting. It was "shaggy" and laid over when I walked on it but it was sooooo green and lush.

It's definitely clay. Houston black clay to be exact. I have thought about a soil test, but my yard is an acre and a half and I'm not sure I want to spend that much money on bringing that much soil up to snuff. I do have access to bulk fertilizer though, as I am in the farming and ranching business. And bulk fertilizer is way, way, way, way, way cheaper than the bagged stuff at the store.

Ok. I lied. Most of the ground I farm is houston black clay. My yard is lewisville silty clay loam. Right on the edge of the black clay.

Aaaa HA! Caught you!! Seriously, do a jar test.

So here is my jar test after 2 hours. Please tell me what I have. There was no delineation after 2 minutes, so no sand.

As far as I can tell, there is still no settling. I remember reading a thread a couple weeks ago where morph recommended adding something to the soil/water mixture because he suspected high calcium carbonate?? I know for a fact that the soils around here are highly calcareous. Is this something I should do, and what was it that he added? I can't find the thread anymore. Also, the jar was half full of dirt and half full of water.

Pour off half the water and replace with vinegar. Shake well with your hand over the top. Do Not Put The Top Back On After Doing This. The pressure will blow the glass if you have excess calcium.

Could you take the photo at 2 minutes anyway and post it? Also, a higher resolution image would help; your soil is a bit hard to read due to the color.

Sure. Will a photo at 2 minutes after I add the vinegar work, or should I get a photo before I do the vinegar?

Should I redo the jar test completely or can I just shake it well and pour half the slurry off, therby reducing the amount of dirt in the jar by half?

Also, I've got a sample ready to send to Logan labs. When I get the results, I'll just post them in this thread to keep from cluttering the forums with new threads.

Here's the jar after vinegar and 2 minutes. I drew a line on the jar at the level of sand. I don't know how accurate it will be, when I added the vinegar, it boiled over. By the way, what did the vinegar do to allow the sand to fall?

Here's the jar after 2 hours with the silt marked with a line.

Note the extremely cloudy water. I'll report back on the clay content in a couple of days. Right now I'm guessing clay loam, but it'll be right on the line between a clay loam and a clay soil.

If you look at the very top of the jar, it looks like there is a line. Is the soil in the jar completely dissolved? I had to stir mine several times to get the vinegar to completely loosen everything up. Each stir produced more fizzing.

The fizzing is caused by limestone. I'm not surprised about that. What's interesting to me is the remaining cloudy water at 2 days.

Dc-hall: That's at 2 hours.

Wes: that line at the top of the jar is the organic material floating on top. The clay is still in suspension.

Here's the jar after 24 hours. I think it's done. Works out to 70% clay, 15% silt, and 15% sand.

Yep, you have a light clay soil. From the photos, I would have given it a slightly different read, but I wasn't there and the lines are difficult to see in photos.

Yep. In that photo, it almost looks like the silt line is right under the wording on the jar. Must be the way the light is hitting it because in person, it's obvious where the lines are drawn on the jar.

Here's some before and after photos to show what I've been working on.

May 22

July 2

May 20

July 2

I'm still not as far along as I'd like to be, but I guess Rome wasn't built in a day. I can't wait to get the soil test back so I can really get my yard kicked into high gear.

Here is my front yard as of tonight. It's come a long way. I'm still waiting to get my soil test results back.

That's actually the front.

Finally got my soil test results back. I was hoping it would be better than it is, but I kind of expected it.

I have access to bulk agricultural fertilizers, and will be using those rather than bagged fertilizers. So when making recommendations, instead of telling me bag rate, just let me know the pounds of P and K per thousand that we will be targeting. Thanks.

>>So when making recommendations, instead of telling me bag rate, just let me know the pounds of P and K per thousand that we will be targeting.

You'd think that would make my life easier, but I actually have all the translations hard-wired in my head. :-) Still, no problem!

Overall, it's not that bad and roughly what I'd expect for your locale.

EC 20.4: Over-inflated by your excessive calcium levels. I'm turning my recommendations down to an EC of 15.

pH 7.9: Way high, but still not a barrier to a great lawn. We simply compensate to account for resource locking since we can't realistically turn this downward very much. Still, given the choice between a neutral chemical or an acidic one, use the acidic.

OM 2.6%: In the Fair range. While I'd always mulch mow and mow leaves and think about organic feeding, there's no real need to go insane with it given your already high EC and known sand-light soil. Still, OM will work to lighten and automatically aerate clays, so I wouldn't ignore this.

Sulfur 19: Sulfate-based chemistry will be fine for all of this, you have tons of margin.

Phosphorus 64: Our target is 300 pounds per acre or a bit higher, so we'll want to add about 45 pounds of elemental P per acre per month to raise this.

Calcium 87%: Extremely high, and dominating the soil profile, but not an issue in terms of lawn health. Which is good as there's not much we're going to be able to do about this...

Magnesium: 5.5%: Low. Although not as low as it looks like (the adjusted percentage being around 8), it does need a bit of a kick. All told, I'd like to add about 200 pounds per acre.

Potassium 3.4%: At the low end of workable, and again, not so low as it looks like. Still, I'd like to add 85 pounds per acre total.

Sodium 0.78%: Normal range, there's no need to dispel sodium (although some of the below will do so anyway, which is always a good thing).

Minor Elements: Boron is just a hair low and adjustment is optional. Iron is very low for your pH. The others are fine, although your high pH indicates that some adjustments would be a good idea--I'm going to table those until post your next test as so many major adjustments are going that the minor ones risk being dispelled.

Boron: 0.25 pound of elemental boron per acre would be a good idea--right around 0.006 pounds (a touch under a tenth of an ounce) per thousand square feet. Don't exceed the 0.25 pound per acre, your shortfall is extremely minor.

Iron 43: Very low for your pH and definitely not producing good color. Raising this is a good idea, although I don't really have a specific target in mind. Let's give an initial target of 300 to start, figuring it'll go up. 260 PPM rise in a soil equates to 13 pounds of elemental iron per thousand square feet, about 550 pounds per acre. This is not a task you'll finish in a year, nor do you want to--adding more than 400 PPA iron sulfate monohydrate is not recommended in a single year and that has to be split.

Iron can be applied at up to 1 pound elemental iron per thousand square feet (45 pounds per acre) per month with the elemental P if you like. If using Milorganite or a similar product, you can apply at any time.

Recommendations:

August 1: 1 pound of elemental P per thousand square feet.

August 15: 2 pounds of elemental Mg per thousand square feet.

September 1: 1 pound of elemental P per thousand square feet. 0.006 pounds elemental boron per thousand square feet (0.25 pound per acre).

September 15: 2 pounds of elemental K per thousand square feet.

October 1: 1 pound of elemental P per thousand square feet.

October 15: 2 pounds of elemental Mg per thousand square feet.

May 1, 2016: 1 pound of elemental P per thousand square feet.

May 15: 1 pound of elemental Mg per thousand square feet.

June 1: 1 pound of elemental P per thousand square feet.

July 1: 1 pound of elemental P per thousand square feet.

Thanks morph. When I apply the P I will be using an 18-46-0 fertilizer. This will give me .4# N/1000. Should I make up the difference in N to get to 1# per month or call it good until I get the soil built up? Also, I have the ability to blend fertilizers. Is it neccesary to wait 2 weeks between the P and K and Mg apps, or can I blend those with the P and put them out in one application?

I can also get K mag fertilizer. The analysis of it is 0-0-22-11Mg-22S. Can I use that as well? It doesn't align with your 2# of K and Mg reccomendation as it is a 2:1 ratio.

Finally, I know from a commercial production standpoint, in highly calcareous and alkaline soils, iron deficiencies are really difficult and expensive to treat. Is your iron reccomendation prefaced upon building iron levels in the soil, or just providing a foliar feeding to the lawn to produce the green color? In high pH soils the ferrous form of iron(which is what plants like) is readily oxidized to the ferric form and is quickly precipitated out of the soil. Therefore, a chelated iron must be used. They are much more stable in a high pH environment, but are generally only used for foliar feedings.

In this case, given the grass, I'd make up the extra 0.6# of N somehow. 0.4# is very, very low for Bermuda and you want it to spread.

2.1 pounds per thousand of 18-46-0 won't give you 1 pound of elemental P as that number is the amount of phosphorus pentoxide equivalent (historical reasons on that one, even though nobody uses P2O5 as a fertilizer). It'll actually work out to 0.83 pounds of elemental P per thousand square feet.

Which is actually fine and I wouldn't go any higher on that, just slide in an extra P feeding if you want to before re-testing. Or just re-test, the first shot is pretty rough anyway and towards the low side, although P measurements will tend to soar and then adjust slowly downward toward the target as the P leaches deeper.

The same is true of Mg and K sources, with K being one of the worst (boron is actually the worst with 11% elemental boron per unit weight of 20 Mule Team Borax, but boron is a very light and fairly reactive element).

Because most phosphorus sources are acidic, while we're also trying to get the Mg and K to soil bond, separate them. Otherwise the acids can (and will) strip the Mg and K. If they're going to strip anything, I want to give them a good shot at the excess calcium in the soil.

Thanks again. I edited my last post before I saw your response. I added a couple more questions. What say you?

And on the phosphate, the 18-46-0 is diammonium phosphate. I can also get 11-52-0 which is mono ammonium phosphate. Prolly doesn't change the amount of elemental P though.

Both phosphates are standardized to P2O5 in the numbers, so it works out the same; a 0.83 ratio to elemental phosphorus. But like I said, it doesn't matter very much as the first year we're just looking for "in the ballpark somewhere."

Personally, I'd use whichever phosphorus source is cheapest per pound of phosphorus per thousand square feet, then fill in the necessary extra nitrogen to bring it to 1.00.

>>I can also get K mag fertilizer. The analysis of it is 0-0-22-11Mg-22S. Can I use that as well? It doesn't align with your 2# of K and Mg reccomendation as it is a 2:1 ratio.

SulPoMag has some advantages, but I can't get the numbers to balance very well using it. In this case, I think I'd use purer chemistry in each to give you a better application rate.

>>Finally, I know from a commercial production standpoint, in highly calcareous and alkaline soils, iron deficiencies are really difficult and expensive to treat. Is your iron reccomendation prefaced upon building iron levels in the soil, or just providing a foliar feeding to the lawn to produce the green color?

In this case, build the soil iron, realizing it's going to undergo some losses.

>>In high pH soils the ferrous form of iron(which is what plants like) is readily oxidized to the ferric form and is quickly precipitated out of the soil.

Raising your OM levels will reduce precipitation and increase availability quite apart from your pH (there's a limit, and you're technically over it, but it'll still help). That's why I tend to recommend Milorganite regardless of soil pH; it's helpful even in more acidic soils where the precipitate doesn't happen and iron is much more easily available.

>>Therefore, a chelated iron must be used. They are much more stable in a high pH environment, but are generally only used for foliar feedings.

Again, hence the Milo. Iron humate is easy to make (I sometimes add some ferrous sulfate to my compost to end up with some of this) and Milo automatically becomes this over time.

Is it perfect? Not even close as pH rises, but it's better than nothing.

We've never paid much mind to magnesium levels is our crop production. What does it contribute to in a lawn?

Magnesium is the central atom in the chlorophyll molecule, so low amounts mean less green (overly high amounts don't mean extra green, though). That's the heavy hitter, although it finds a home in many enzymes, and helps metabolize carbohydrates as well.

Very high amounts can tighten up a soil and make it impenetrable. Hence we adjust things to around 12-15% saturation.

Am I reading this right? 1 pound of iron per 1000? That seems like a lot and is going to be awfully expensive.

That's correct, but there's no time limit on it. Do it whenever and to whatever extent the budget allows.

Edited to add: It's not like your number indicates deficiency, it doesn't. This is mostly to enhance the color of the lawn to the maximum you can. Theoretically, you can skip it completely.

Using, say, Milorganite at bag rate is 14.4 pounds of product per thousand, or 0.58 pounds of iron (I'm not sure if they measure that by elemental iron or by ferrous sulfate pentahydrate amount. If by pentahydrate, it's 0.11 pounds of iron). Evidence leans toward it's elemental; the green-up is rather extreme for 0.11 pounds of iron.

Ferrous sulfate monohydrate is safe at 3 pounds per thousand at a time, or 0.9 pounds of elemental iron per thousand at a time. But I'd back that up with an organic to help bind it a little bit.

Ok. Thanks. That monthly rate of ferrous sulfate was going to cost me $250 bucks or so.

$250 bucks! Kinda makes you reevaluate your lawn hobby, doesn't it.

Okay here's my thoughts: CRIMINY! You, sir, are a 1 percenter. You actually have clay. Tell him what he won, Johnny!

I don't think there's any prize. You did catch us off guard, though. As a fellow Texan it's going to be every interesting to see how the grass in this calcium based soil responds to morph's suggestions. Please keep us informed.

You have a lot of grass. If you would like to see my long list of alternatives to grass on large lots, just ask. It was written for larger lots, but you never know.

Clays are interesting soils. They hold by far the largest amount of water, but release only modest amounts to the plants (the rest binds rather tightly to the particles). Silt's actually got the best plant available water characteristics.

During spring, it tends to be soaking wet, low oxygen, and sticky. During summer, dry, higher oxygen, and given to runoff. Fall varies, but tends to be more like summer than spring.

It has the least air penetration, so root systems tend to be no great shakes. Combine that with the lesser water availability and you have a problem. That can be ameliorated with plenty of OM and plenty of soil life. Earthworms will happily dig down several feet to make their homes (the primary species here can go six feet down easily).

Clay tightens up and deflocculates if you look at it funny. Fortunately, there's enough calcium here that it's unlikely to happen, but I'd still use shampoo once a year if it were me. That'll help with water and air penetration as well.

All things considered? I'd rather deal with pure sand than heavy clay, but you get what you get.

I've been making my living off of this heavy clay all my life, and let me tell you, it's a tough way to make a living.

Dchall, I've seen your list of alternatives, and some of those things are in the works. I've decided to focus on the 16,000 feet immediately surrounding the house. The rest I'll continue to fertilize with N, but won't do the other stuff or irrigate. We will see where it goes.

There are also prairie grass alternatives which need much less care.

This just showed up in my front yard today. I just fertilized with 5.5# of 18-46-0 per 1000 ft. I watered it in immediately and didn't notice any clumps of fertilizer anywhere. I also mowed the day before so maybe the mower leaked a spot of diesel? It doesn't appear fungal to me. Anyone else have any ideas?

Do you have a dog? Also, I have a buddy that has a fair amount of cottontails around and he swears they their pee is burning his lawn.

Edit: Okay, so I just worked my way a little further down in the forums and came across this post: Rabbits harming bermuda in Phx. What to do? I guess my buddy may be on to something.