I'm going to go ahead and resurrect this old post so hopefully someone can learn and hear from a different perspective from a professional. I would first like to mention, TexasWeed, I know who you are, I've read many of your post, and you have some knowledge. With all due respect, I respectively disagree with you in many aspects though. One of the paint points I disagree with you on, is you suggesting a SLOW RELEASE FERTILIZER in the original posters situation. While slow release fertilizers can be great in many areas, and especially in particular times of the year. This was not a great suggestion for the poster in my honest and fair opinion. Why? The poster is growing a lawn on sand. We know what that means. Lower CEC levels, and little nutrient holding power. Nutrients will never last as long in Sand. The same PPSCU, XCU, and Sulfur coated fertilizers that may claim 2-3 months, is not near the case for turf growing on Sand. Even for lawns growing on Clay such as myself here in Central Texas, many people fail to understand how "Slow Release" products work. Knowing the growth characteristics will put you far ahead of the game. Many PPSCU and various other slow release products contain coatings which are dependent on various factors. If you study these factors, most of these coatings are designed to be broken down with the main factor being "TEMPERATURE." Slow to release nutrients when cool, and they literally dump nutrients when soil temperatures are very warm. In Texas, this is the majority of the time, so what you get left with, is an over-priced bag of "Slow Release" that's dumping much quicker then "SLOW" due to high temperatures being exhibited. My approach, especially on dealing with "SAND" such as the poster is SPOON FEEDING quick release fertilizers. Bermuda especially, needs to be supplied adequate nitrogen for outstanding turf quality, density, and color. The goal is to feed the turf what it needs as it uses it. By doing so, the turf will continue to be fed, and the sandy soils that don't hold nutrients will continue to be ideal for the turf. The original poster had great improvements from doing 1/2 applications from Ammonia Sulfate every few weeks and this supports exactly what I'm saying. However, to the original poster, you are forgetting many important nutrients. A soil test will be MANDATORY for the perfect lawn. Without a soil test, I can't recommend phosphorus, I see enough of it around my parts of Texas. The problem is much of the phosphorus isn't available. Same with Potassium, except I consider this CRUCIAL. Your lawn needs potassium to aid in extreme temperatures and disease pressure such as what we have here in Texas. Potassium is a luxury consumption nutrient, meaning you put it down, the turf is going to use it, if in available form. Much of our potassium in our soils is NOT AVAILABLE when comparing from my recent soil test, to actual TISSUE TEST. Also, using 21-0-0 provides lots of Sulfur that will aid in bringing Texas's natural high pH down and will also aid in uptake up other nutrients, including our long lost Iron. If you've ever applied Iron in Texas, you'll notice, there might or might not be a response, if you get a response, it doesn't last. This is pH related and calls for using only CHLEATED IRON products which is much more usable and available to the turf in our area. If you want a usable mix, trust my word on this, try it, and come back to me and tell me you have the best lawn in the neighborhood after half a growing season. (You might have to source these products), but they are all available in Texas. Depending on your work schedule and free time you can adjust your rates and applications, but you need to apply in adequate water to avoid burn potential. Most likely, you will have to go with the lower spray rates and more often unless you have a high volume sprayer like we use that holds hundreds of gallons. Bermuda: Weekly Fertilizer Mix: .25N per 1,000 Sq. Feet (From Ammonia Sulfate 21-0-0) .25 (SOP) per 1,000 Sq. Feet (Potassium Sulfate) .50 ounces per 1,000 Sq. Feet (Micro nutrients with chleated Iron and mg and mn. The micro nutrient product is really important and will aid in giving your turf the color you are looking for. I (HIGHLY) suggest either using (FeATURE 6-0-0) by loveland products or Main Event Chleated Micro nutrients If you don't have the time to spoon feed your lawn weekly, you can adjust the rates, either double for bi-weekly, or multiply x 4 for monthly. Don't go longer then month long applications. The only catch is, 21-0-0 has burn potential. You will need at (MINIMUM) of 1 gallon of water per 8 ounces of 21-0-0 in your mix to avoid burn potential. Do not adjust the rates above, this mix is tried and true on Texas Turf and will leave you with the greenest lawn in the neighborhood. If you don't have a large enough sprayer with capability of putting out enough water volume, you're better sticking with granular fertilizers. We use 200+ gallon tanks, with walking booms for an even application. Nozzles on the sprayer are also important. We use TeeJet Air Induction and FloodJet tips to reduce drift, depending on the water needed for the application.

I believe that is one of bic9's golf greens. That is nice!! Modern organic fertilizers have no salt. Bic9 may be under the influence of the old style (Rodale school) of fertilizers made from composted cattle dung or even uncomposted cattle dung. That's not the case anymore, except for the Rodalians still clinging to compost. Modern bagged commercial organic fertilizer is practically salt free. If you buy raw ground grains at the feed store, those might have salt added to make it palatable to livestock, but not enough to make a difference. A few years ago morpheuspa tried to overdose his lawn with organic fertilizer by applying, if I'm not mistaken, 50 pounds per 1,000 square feet every week for the entire growing season. He has not mentioned any salt build up during that time, but it would be an interesting question to ask him. Definitely time to mow the tall bermuda. You'll scalp it at first, but that's okay. Take it down gradually, one notch lower every 3-4 days until you're at the bottom notch. Then raise it up one notch. Shampoo is used to soften hard soil. Core aeration is also used to soften hard soil. The difference is that core aeration seldom works, but shampoo seems to work every time. It works by breaking the surface tension of the water allowing it to soak in deeper and faster into the soil. The deeper moisture extends the time for evaporation which keeps the soil a little cooler over a longer time. That cooler and moister soil is the perfect environment for the beneficial fungi which do the work of softening your soil. It takes them a few weeks to repopulate the soil, but when they do, they redevelop your soil structure opening up bazillions of microscopic pores for air and water to penetrate. They swell when moist to push the soil particles apart. They shrink when dry to allow air and water in more easily. You asked, so sorry for the biology discussion. Shampoo is not a trick. Surfactants have been used for generations only on sports fields, because the only surfactants thought to work were very expensive. Well, when you boil it all down, shampoo is a surfactant almost identical to the expensive ones. Shampoo only costs you a few cents to try it. The rate is 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Use any shampoo you can see through. Apply the shampoo and follow up with 1/2 to 1 inch of water. If it is not soft the next time it rains or you water deeply, apply it again. I applied to my lawn twice in 2011 and it still gets almost too soft to walk on after it rains. If you want to check how hard or soft your soil is, try sticking a screwdriver into it now, before you spray, and a couple weeks after you spray. If you do that before and after core aeration you'll find no difference, but with shampoo you'll definitely see a difference.

Hopefully that price for corn meal is a mistake. It should be less than half that amount. I'm not sure how you could lose a lawn in Austin in May of this year unless it got flooded and diseased. The St Aug at my new house in Bandera grew from about 10 square feet to around 300 square feet since I moved in (summer 2014). The rain was amazingly helpful. There might be someone, somewhere who advocates using compost every holiday, but I've never seen that. I do advocate using organic fertilizer every holiday, but please don't confuse compost with organic fertilizer. Compost is comprised of depleted fertilizers. 99% of the nutritional value of the ingredients is long gone in compost. So I'm not a fan of compost as a fertilizer. Similarly I am not a big fan of corn gluten meal as a preemergent weed controller. It is the best organic fertilizer you can get, but really is poor as a weed control. As for your future fertilizer schedule, if you want to follow generally what I do, apply on Thanksgiving, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. I use these because they are easy to remember. The application rate is 15-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. If you've been using that along with corn meal, you're good to go. Put something down in November and forget about it until late winter. I would not use any chemical fertilizer in the spring, but it sounds like you'll never use them anyway. St Augustine practically establishes itself. All you have to do is water deeply and infrequently, mow at the mower's highest setting, and fertilize 3-? times per year. For this new sod I would be watering lightly 2x per week, not deeply twice a week. With the cooler evening temps I have backed off on watering to once every 2-3 weeks. You'll get there, but with new grass you need to baby it a little at first. Soil activator is sort of a key-word term in South Texas. You're likely referring to Medina Soil Activator. What did your soil test say about your magnesium levels? Medina Soil Activator is magnesium chloride and should only be used where the magnesium is deficient. Since you characterize your soil as clay, and there is almost no clay in Texas (with a few exceptions), you likely already have too much magnesium in the soil. So keep backing off on your watering as the temps fall, mow high every week or two/three, and fertilize with corn gluten meal as often as you can afford. Your lawn will thrive on that care. You don't need top dressing, compost, aeration, or anything else. If you're listening to John Dromgoole, Bob Webster, or Howard Garrett on the weekend radio shows, just turn down the commercials. Those guys are selling Medina liquids and compost products that I firmly believe are unnecessary and lead you to buying still more stuff you don't need. I've seen many MANY a lawn killed by too much compost, and Bob Webster, for example, advocates too much compost. The Medina dry lawn fertilizer is excellent; however, so I can't just make a blanket statement about their products. Dromgoole's Lady Bug brand dry products are also excellent. They're just too expensive for me. Since this is a new lawn, did you happen to rototill the soil before putting the sod down either this time or previous?

How much sun does the Bermuda get during its active months? It will likely struggle anywhere it's getting less than 6, maybe 7, hours of full sun per day. Some newer cultivars claim to get by with less, but they're unlikely to be what's growing in your yard. Just checking, because Bermuda lawns declining once the trees get big is a very common pattern. You will not be able to rehab it well in any spots it gets too much shade from trees or buildings. Virtually all of the original Bermuda lawns on our ~50 year old tree-lined neighborhood streets have been converted to St. Augustine and shade tolerant groundcovers. The lawn care schedules posted by the Wells Brothers Farm Store folks in Plano are pretty good starting outlines for north Texas. They address both synthetic and organic/all-natural programs.