I've always felt that I needed the good mechanical pull that a budding rubber provides, and to keep it from drying out I think it needs to be sealed with parafilm or wax. Parafilm is my first choice because it breathes a little. But it's not enough by itself to make me feel secure! I used the Ace rubber tape this year on clefts and felt like it worked really well. Rubber tape or bands or rubbers all seem good to me. I think that if you use the wide budding rubbers or tape and overlap thoroughly then the parafilm/wax precaution is probably redundant, but it's cheap redundancy and I do it. I use wide and long rubbers also because it's easier to wrap them off- you have so much to work with, and they're cheap enough that you can afford to cut off excess. Like MiHiGirl I'm in the Rockies, but not at a mile high! We're at 3200 ft, give or take a couple of feet. But it's definitely an arid environment: we get about 12-13 inches total precip per year.

I hope you figure it out! I, too, bought a "Belle of Georgia" from Lowes 3 years ago and it had its first peaches this year. Guess what color? Yep, yellow! They sounded a lot like you described yours to be, so they could be the same, though mine seemed to have more red than most peaches. At least mine were delicious, so its not the end of the world. But come on....is it really that hard to lable correctly? Mine had both the fancy, larger tag with a photo AND the single banded lable and both said Georgia belle. I know big box stores aren't the best place to buy trees, but proper labeling seems like a small thing to ask for. Oh well.

The images are a tad small to see all the details. That said, a number of the leaves have aphids on them.

Where do you live? Nashville Is there shade falling on the thin areas? No, close to full sun in most areas. What is your watering plan? How often do you water and for how long? I haven't started regularly watering the grass yet. As I mentioned, the grass floods when we get rain. How high/low do you mow? I use the highest setting. When were the last two times you fertilized and what did you use? I fertilized with a locally-blended mix last Fall (don't know the percentages, but it was mixed for my specific soil type) I do believe the brown strands to be thin bermuda, as you say. They have never really greened up, thickened and reached skyward. The rest of the grass turns green and doesn't really get too long, even if I don't cut it for a few weeks. Really, the weeds are what give me the indication that I need to cut it. How do I get this 'thin bermuda' to thicken. Would aeration help with the drainage? Should I overseed with bermuda, or perhaps use another grass? Thanks! Jared