# Sprigging Bermuda - How To?



## randy (Jun 29, 2018)

@Tellycoleman is always talking about sprigging bermuda. I tried to transplant some long massive runners from a garden bed into my lawn by burying the ends. The sprigs just turned brown and died. What did I do wrong? Do I need to burry a piece that has tap roots?

My assumption is that sprigging is different than plugging (i'm not asking about plugging). My desire is to transplant those long runners from my concrete and garden beds to my lawn.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Did you keep them wet, 24x7, for the next two weeks?


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## randy (Jun 29, 2018)

Nope 



Movingshrub said:


> Did you keep them wet, 24x7, for the next two weeks?


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## viva_oldtrafford (Apr 4, 2018)

Disc them in or find a way to topdress the sprigs. Water them frequently.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

randy said:


> Nope
> 
> 
> 
> ...


There is your answer. They have no root system and if they dry out they die.


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## erdons (Apr 3, 2018)

randy said:


> @Tellycoleman is always talking about sprigging bermuda. I tried to transplant some long massive runners from a garden bed into my lawn by burying the ends. The sprigs just turned brown and died. What did I do wrong? Do I need to burry a piece that has tap roots?
> 
> My assumption is that sprigging is different than plugging (i'm not asking about plugging). My desire is to transplant those long runners from my concrete and garden beds to my lawn.


You do have to top dress them and water them often, they will usually turn yellow and look dead, but as long as you keep watering them, they will spring back to life.


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## raldridge2315 (Jul 1, 2017)

You can also push a screwdriver in the ground to make a hole. Put the sprig in the hole. Use the screwdriver to help push it in. Leave a little bit stick out. Step on it. Keep it wet. Space them about six inches apart.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Everyone should be noticing a theme here - water.

You don't have to topdress but it does help.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Oh yeah, and if you don't push it into ground, it's called stolonizing, rather than sprigging.


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## randy (Jun 29, 2018)

How does stolonizing work? Can it actually succeed without being pushed into the ground?


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## viva_oldtrafford (Apr 4, 2018)

randy said:


> How does stolonizing work? Can it actually succeed without being pushed into the ground?


You're taking the individual plant and its growing point and transplanting it. You can disc them, but topdressing works well too. I've sprigged over 10 acres with both discs and topdressing being used as a means of holding the plant in place. Putting greens are almost always topdressed following the sprigging.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

randy said:


> How does stolonizing work? Can it actually succeed without being pushed into the ground?


According to my 7000sqft backyard, 1500sqft side yard, and 300sqft sidewalk strip, yes.

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=421


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## RandyMan (May 17, 2018)

What I do and been very successful is dig a small hole, throw the runners into the hole and cover them back up.Try to keep the roots downward.You do have to water them in. Like someone else mentioned, I have had them turn yellow and look dead and the turn back green.My succfes rate is probaly like 98% lol..Its one tough grass!!People say do not smoother it with to much soil..But I dont think you can smoother bermuda.If you cover it to much it will just turn from a stolon into a rhizome.Heres a few pictures


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## Guest (Jul 8, 2018)

Here's a quick and to the point how to on sprigging. Seems like sprigging or stolonizing are pretty similar. According to this article sprigging places them in a hole and stolonizing just pushes them into the ground mechanically. If watering is an issue you may want to try plugs. You can grab sod and make your own plugs and they'll still have their roots.

https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/W160-D.pdf


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## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

Yep to everything. All my sprigging I have ever done turned brown and looked dead by day 3-4. By day 7 -9 of continuous watering it would green up.


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## Lawn_newbie (Jun 19, 2018)

When you are watering... keeping wet 24x7... Exactly how much water are you using?

Do you water ever few hours just to keep the ground continuously moist or are you water an inch every day?


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Lawn_newbie said:


> Do you water ever few hours just to keep the ground continuously moist


This.

It doesn't matter if the ground is moist 2" below the surface if the sprig on the surface dries out and dies.


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## JRS 9572 (May 28, 2018)

https://youtu.be/r6EjLccGhS8


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

This was an irrigation schedule for a friend of mine establishing an ultradwarf putting green in Atlanta.

Week 1 0.05" every half hours/ 0.05" every hour at night
Week 2 0.05" every hour/ none at night
Week 3 0.05" every two hours between 9am and dark
Week 4 0.22" at 9am

For my sidewalk sprigging project, I eye balled the moisture over a weekend so I could determine if I needed to run the system longer.
I can't run the system for less than one minute, no matter how much the involves, so all I can control is the frequency.

Week 1 - one minute (It pains me to give a time measurement rather than depth of irrigation), every hour, from 6am-8pm, with irrigation on the half hour during the hottest part of the day; as an example: 
0300,0600,0700,0800,0900,1000,1100,1200,1230,1300,1330,1400,1430,1500 1530,1600,1630,1700,1800,1900, 2000, 2300
Week 2 - one minute every hour from 6am-8pm
Week 3 - every other hour from 6am-8pm
Week 4 - TBD

When I sprigged my back yard, the run time was a bit longer, depending on the zones (3-4minutes)

These aren't set in stone and can all be adjusted based on weather - cloudy? overcast? super hot? rainy? I'm sure you get the idea.

@dpainter68


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Any know the name for this piece of equipment?


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Or this one. Cultipacker? Stolondisc?


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## raldridge2315 (Jul 1, 2017)

Movingshrub said:


> Any know the name for this piece of equipment?


I may be wrong, but I believe it's called a cultipcker. This is the first time I have seen one with a roller behind it.


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## RandyMan (May 17, 2018)

Go with the pro plugger.I paid $49.99 for it..Ive been sprigging the last 3-4 yrs and got one 2 months ago, all i got to say is wow..Really works great! When I first used it, I plugged about 50 bermuda plugs..The next 2-3 days they turned brown and looked bad.Fast forward to 4-5 weeks later and they are really taking off and spreading!!I wish I got one of these 3-4 yrs ago..Would have saved me alot of extra hard work, the pro plugger is so much easier on the body


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## cglarsen (Dec 28, 2018)

Movingshrub said:


> randy said:
> 
> 
> > How does stolonizing work? Can it actually succeed without being pushed into the ground?
> ...


Looking to power rake a pallet of Tiftuf for sprigging material for about 7,000 SF of my own. Any reason this wouldn't give me enough material? I assume that the remaining sod roots and dirt will still be ok as long as they are kept properly moist. Thoughts?


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

One should do it. If it doesn't look like enough, get another pallet. Tiftuf establishes very fast.


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## Buffalolawny (Nov 24, 2018)

Same concept as when i did my buffalo grass.

Soak any sprigs for at least 24hr in a bucket of water with a splash of liquid kelp mixed in.

Keep them moist. 3 or 4 times a day for 5 to 10mins like seeding a new lawn


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## southernbuckeye (Sep 29, 2019)

I'm trying to get a TifTuf sprigging project going but have hit a few roadblocks based on my research of other posts.

1. I've seen the tool in the above post in a few pictures--is that what people refer to when they say "discing it in"? We have a tractor with a 3-pt we could also use (seen the above tool mounted on a tractor as well). I was also assuming I'd topdress it. Does one either disc it in OR topdress?

2. Our local sod dealer (SuperSod) does not sell sprigs. Does anyone know of a place in South Carolina (or Georgia) that sells TifTuf springs?

3. To make your own sprigs, I've seen people use a metal rake or a verticutter. Doing it by hand seems beyond me for the size of this project (around 5,000 sq ft). If I went the verticutter route, would renting something like this: https://www.homedepot.com/tool-truck-rental/Verticut-Power-Rake/12928/index.html do the job for me?

4. Lastly, if I verticut my Bermuda to get the sprigs, what impact will that have on my existing stand of grass? Would it be better to buy a pallet of sod then verticut it to get the sprigs and spread them? If one goes this route, do you simply lay the sod in the bare area then run the verticutter over top of it, then collect the sprigs and lay them out?

Thanks! This is an intriguing alternative to plugging which was my previous plan. Seems if one is able to keep it moist you can establish a larger area much faster than using plugs.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

1. Your objective is to maximize soil/sprig contact and to reduce the change of the sprigs drying out.
If you disc them in with a cultipacker AND top dress, you will likely have the best results. With that said, you don't have to do both. I've never used a cultipacker. I've used sand to top dress. Compost is also a serious contender for top dressing.

2. I got nothing on this one.
3. I've used a verticutter twice to make sprigs from my own stand of TifTuf, I used a 7000 sqft area of Tiftuf to sprig a 4500 sqft area.
4. The source area looked GREAT after it came roaring back. You can also get a pallet of sod and put it in a wood chipper.
I've never tried using a verticutter on sod.

I'll take sprigs over plugs every day of the week. Also, plan on using a pre-em that rhymes with zonbar.


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## andymac7 (Oct 30, 2018)

How to sprig bermuda? Rip up big handfuls, throw them down on some dirt, stomp on them and keep watered .

No but seriously, it's very easy, and it's all about the NODES. The areas in between the "stem" part of a runner, where you'll see a clump of leaf blades. If you make sure at least a couple of those are covered with soil and kept moist, you're good.


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## southernbuckeye (Sep 29, 2019)

I'm thinking of getting my area prepped and then just buying a pallet of sod and using this on it: 
https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/detail/1462/0390045/small-chipper-mulcher/

I'm assuming that'd probably tear it up well. Just a little hesitant on how badly it may damage the grass.

This really seems the pro's way to do it--and a hell of a lot easier and cheaper honestly than buy tons of pallets of sod and breaking your back laying them!


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## FO876 (Jan 31, 2020)

Hey guys, hoping I can get an answer, last year I purchased one of those pro pluggers and want to get an early start this season on filling some empty patches. My Bermuda doesn't seem to be completely awaken just yet, what's the earliest you think I could safely start plugging???

TIA!


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

I would think once you're mowing twice a week is a good time to start plugging.


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## FO876 (Jan 31, 2020)

Redtwin said:


> I would think once you're mowing twice a week is a good time to start plugging.


Thank you!!! :thumbup:


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

People lay dormant sod. I would think plugs could be installed while the grass is dormant as well.


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## Chadwicktr (May 26, 2020)

Did you end up doing this?



southernbuckeye said:


> I'm thinking of getting my area prepped and then just buying a pallet of sod and using this on it:
> https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/detail/1462/0390045/small-chipper-mulcher/
> 
> I'm assuming that'd probably tear it up well. Just a little hesitant on how badly it may damage the grass.
> ...


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## Chadwicktr (May 26, 2020)

@southernbuckeye, did you end up doing this?



southernbuckeye said:


> I'm thinking of getting my area prepped and then just buying a pallet of sod and using this on it:
> https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/detail/1462/0390045/small-chipper-mulcher/
> 
> I'm assuming that'd probably tear it up well. Just a little hesitant on how badly it may damage the grass.
> ...


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## southernbuckeye (Sep 29, 2019)

Nope. Ended up getting a set of verticut reels and sprigging that way. Worked great.


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## CLT49er (Jun 19, 2020)

Possible to get sprigs from the verticutter on SunJoe machine?


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## Sleepy (Oct 29, 2020)

I have an area behind my shed that I call my "bermuda farm" it grows in the gravel and pulls up easy with roots and all. Drop them in a bare spot and they're good to go with water. Never pulled the trigger on a pro plugger since I'm moving soon.


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## SouthernTiftuf (12 mo ago)

How soon can you sprig bermuda? I am having sod laid in March and am wondering if it needs a full growing season and I should sprig next year or if sometime this summer is viable? Also the verticutting I am sure will stress out my existing lawn in the summer heat in middle Georgia so I am considering that as well.


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