Need help with Bermuda lawn

8 years ago

Hi. I live in 93314 - Bakersfield, CA. We bought a new house in 2014 with Bermuda lawn. I have been trying to take care of our lawn since the beginning but it is just getting worse and worse every year go by. I am starting to feel like maybe I should just give up?

1. Not knowing anything about grass nor lawn last year, I threw down Fescue seed from Scotts in the middle of summer of 2015. I believe all the fescue grass is coming up now from the nice weather, between 70 ~ 80.

2. I switched to manual reel mower starting this year, March, thinking it will be better for the grass than Craftsman Rotary mower. I used to cut the grass around 2"+, last year, but this year after dormant, I start to cut my lawn at 1".

3. Last week, 4/4/2016, I gave Milorganite, double the recommended amount from the bag.

4. We have lots of ladybugs in the lawn, if that matters.

5. During the winter, January, I sprayed round-up to my grass because there was either rye or fescue coming up when the bermuda was dormant.

So. At this point, do I need to just wait until the weather gets much warmer? Or should I be doing something else? I am worrying that maybe the bermuda grass wasn't fully dormant when I sprayed the round-up and I killed half of my grass? Should I rake all the dead grass up?

Lastly, sorry about my grammar.

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User

8 years ago

FYI

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Comments (13)

reeljake
8 years ago
Unfortunately yes you will have to rake out a bunch of dead stems (almost) every year, just one of the joys of Bermuda grass! You didn't kill it with roundup, but maybe you made it angry. When the temps hit 90, it should come alive big time.
Jae Hong thanked reeljake
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Jae Hong
Original Author
8 years ago
@reeljake - I was worried that using steel rake will kill everything that I have. Should I do anything else other than raking? Do I need to apply pre-emergent after raking again?
reeljake
8 years ago
No, you won't need to reapply preM, your handheld rake won't break the "shield". Raking might damage a few spots as you pull up thatch, but they will come back. Try not to pull up roots or healthy green blades, but uts no big deal if you do on accident. Bermuda is extremely resilient & actually thrives on mechanical disruption like slicing, coring, thatching & fraising. When was the lawn installed? If this is 2 or 3 year old Bermuda on a sandy soil base, it may just need another year to really start spreading. If it's old mature Bermuda, I might recommend some sod plugs to fill the bad spots, but it will spread, just be patient & wait for the heat.
Jae Hong thanked reeljake
reeljake
8 years ago
The green spots in your pic look very healthy by the way!
Jae Hong thanked reeljake
Jae Hong
Original Author
8 years ago
@reeljake - thank you so much for he comments. This seems like a dumb question but should I use one of those steel bow rake? Or leaf rake will be ok?
Jae Hong
Original Author
8 years ago
@reeljake - Also, the sod was laid down in 2014 with newly built home.
reeljake
8 years ago
I use a $150 electric dethatcher on my small yard, but an actual thatch rake from Lowe's ($30?) will do just fine. It has rigid metal teeth to dig a bit deeper. The bow rake will work, but it's tough to get enough bite into the thatch with those. Makes the work a lot harder.
Jae Hong thanked reeljake
dchall_san_antonio
8 years ago
See if you can rent a verticutter. It's a tool that rotates with blades that slice down into the grass like a rake would. Bermuda has stolons that creep over the ground. The verticutter (or power rake) slices through those causing the bermuda to send out more stolons. This tool is used on golf courses to improve the density of the sod.
Jae Hong thanked dchall_san_antonio
Jae Hong
Original Author
8 years ago
@dchall_san_antonio - Thanks for the advice. I went bought dethatching rake yesterday, and dethatched entire lawn this morning. It took about 4 hours I think. Now I can't even walk. Should I apply any fertilizer again? I applied Milorganite last week.
reeljake
8 years ago
No on fertilizer for now, but some compost or worm castings will help it hold water
Jae Hong thanked reeljake
Jae Hong
Original Author
8 years ago
@reeljake - Thanks for the comments. Where would I get these stuff?
reeljake
8 years ago
Probably a real nursery or soil yard. The big box stores don't carry much of that stuff.