# Bermuda grass gurus.....desperate for solutions!



## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

PROBLEM:
Check out the photos of my lawn. The previous owner that we bought the house from ran out of money and finished the house with what little he had when we signed the paperwork and moved in (this is a whole long story within itself closing on the property). He had the sod laid right before we signed and my husband and I didn't notice that he had ordered 2 shipments at 2 different times brought in and laid. Now that the grass has grown in........Well, you can DEFINITELY tell there are 2 different types of Bermuda laid in the FRONT LAWN.  I believe that the greener is 419 and the other is....I am not sure. It looks like a weird quilt. The lighter side goes to seed while the other side stays that beautiful emerald green color that I LOVE! What do you guys suggest I do to make things look better?





This is 3/4 acre of newly laid (<1 yr) Bermuda grass. This is the first time that I have ever had to maintain a lawn and want to dominate my neighbors. I am obsessed with looking at some of your lawns. They are so beautiful! I am turning to this forum for guidance. I have read TxWeed's Bermuda Bible and am following it. I eventually will want to level with some sand and get the grounds looking like a golf course for that low and tight cut. It's just ALOT OF LAND........

Maintenance:
Right now I have a professional company mowing my lawn every other week while I take my 18" Fiskars StaySharp mower to it for touchup's in between. I like to consider it a little of a workout :roll:

So far I have put down Milorganite and plan to level both the front and the back with sand in the spring after core aeration. Am I on the right track? Budget concerns have me limited on what I can purchase to get things going in the right direction to remedy this catastrophe.

What do you think that I should do about the patching?


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Well, unfortunately it appears to be a mix of tif419 (the darker and more desirable grass) and common. With proper maintenance and fertilization, they can both make nice lawns, but the color and texture difference will always be apparent. The only real solution would be to kill off one and replace it with the other.


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## slomo (Jun 22, 2017)

If money was no object, I would doze the top foot of soil, cinder blocks, bricks from the home build, concrete truck spillage, nails and so on off. Truck in rich top mix soil and an irrigation system. Level it all with a laser beam LOL. Sod as you prefer.

slomo


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

slomo said:


> If money was no object, I would doze the top foot of soil, cinder blocks, bricks from the home build, concrete truck spillage, nails and so on off. Truck in rich top mix soil and an irrigation system. Level it all with a laser beam LOL. Sod as you prefer.
> 
> slomo


You make it sound so simple. :lol:


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

Spammage said:


> Well, unfortunately it appears to be a mix of tif419 (the darker and more desirable grass) and common. With proper maintenance and fertilization, they can both make nice lawns, but the color and texture difference will always be apparent. The only real solution would be to kill off one and replace it with the other.


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :shock:


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

Seriously, this is very embarrassing. I am sure all the neighbors are drawing their curtains on the sides of their houses that have to face mine.


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

The good news is bermuda spreads fast and the cheapest sod.

Cheapest solution to a consistant lawn would be (after a kill) to put pieces down in a checkerboard pattern to make your pallet go farther. My money would be on it filling in entirely by summers end.

There is always the complete sodding option of course.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Do you know where the sod came from and if it came from different sod farms? How old is the sod actually?


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

Mightyquinn said:


> Do you know where the sod came from and if it came from different sod farms? How old is the sod actually?


I am not quite sure what farm the sod came from but it was laid down in the front in March of this year (2017).

The sod in my backyard was from a farm in Houston and that was laid in June of this year (2017)


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## Txmx583 (Jun 8, 2017)

If you have a way to find out if it all came from the same place or not I would try that first, if it's all from the same place then I would get on the horn and give them an ear full, they will prob come cut the old sod out and replace it with tif 419 to match. If that's not an option then the best real option is to replace the common with tif by renting a sod cutter and ordering new sod... You'll get another free workout but you'll be happy with the outcome haha


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Is the only fertilizer you have put down on the lawn so far is Milorganite? If so, what rate did you apply it and when?

You said that the sod in the front was laid down at 2 different times in the front lawn, that is why I am curious if they used 2 different sod farms which may explain why the grass is 2 different colors. Is the backyard the same as the front lawn?

I am thinking that if they used 2 different sod farms for your grass in the front lawn that it may just be because of 2 different native soils in the sod causing the color difference and until you start fertilizing and caring for the lawn the same way, it may even out a little bit and not look so bad.


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## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

Can you take a few closer pictures of the lighter color grass for us? Maybe even pull a plant from the ground and take a picture of that too.


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

Closeup of the line between the two grasses.



Here are the sprigs pulled from each individual side.



I would like to state for the record for those that say that you can't tell that much of a difference between Bermuda sod...... "Please rethink your opinion".


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

On another note, how beautiful it is to see the different varieties side-by-side!


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

Sorry, this was a double post.


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

Txmx583 said:


> If you have a way to find out if it all came from the same place or not I would try that first, if it's all from the same place then I would get on the horn and give them an ear full, they will prob come cut the old sod out and replace it with tif 419 to match. If that's not an option then the best real option is to replace the common with tif by renting a sod cutter and ordering new sod... You'll get another free workout but you'll be happy with the outcome haha


Okay, so a response from the guy who built the house told me that it came from A1 grass in Cedar Hill, Texas. So I should try to contact them to see if they can correct this mistake? What if I am not the one that ordered and laid it.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

A1 sells both tif419 and common, and the photos appear to confirm what I (and subsequently you) feared. You can certainly call A1, but my gut is that since all they did was sell what someone else requested, they probably won't want to help. If they totally shut you down, you might consider asking them if they will discount any replacement turf given the obvious color/texture differences.


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

That is what I thought. I am not one of those people that can get what they want all the time. Actually, I feel like when it comes to contractors on this house, that they just walk all over me and I just have to take it. I don't know enough when it comes to lawns to fight for what is right. I will come back on here to let you guys know how it goes.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Good luck!!


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

A1 Grass, Sand & Stone has been amazing with their customer service so far. I contacted them this morning and they are already on top of trying to help me remedy the situation. I am currently waiting for the owner of the sod farm to give me a call back. They recommended that I over-seed the common and I told them that it would take too long. With my neighborhood the way it is, I don't think that them waiting that long for it to blend wouldn't fly. I asked them if there was anyway that they could just cut out the common and put in the rest of the Tiffway 419.

After trying to pry information out of the builder and the gentlemen that laid the sod. It came in two delivery days and that is where, supposedly, the mixup happened. It was all ordered at once with one bill but because they had to lay it in two days with two shipments, that is where the mistake must have happened. The gentlemen that laid the grass isn't responding to any of my inquiries because he doesn't want to have to come back to lay the correct sod. The Builder was able to give me the information of the sod farm and what he requested. I let A1 know that I am not really worried about where the blame is laid. I am only worried about getting it all looking uniform and established before winter sets in!

On top of all this, I need to get the sod laid. So now it is looking like I will have to pay for 2x the labor costs for this to be corrected. Good grief money is getting tight.

Anyone in this area that any of you on this forum could recommend to level, lay, roll and top dress the new sod?

This has definitely been quite the process to get all this corrected. I am going to document my process here on this forum for anyone in the future that might be confronted with the same problem. Getting sod laid is very costly. But you pay for an amazing outcome! So hopefully this will turn out to be a good thing that I am happy with.


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

Okay, just got off the phone with Bo who owns the sod farm and he said to try to give it a growing season and put some 13-13-13 down or maybe some kind of fertilizer with more nitrogen to the entire yard to try to make it look more uniform in color. He also said that it would be more cost than the sod if I were to cut it out and have the Tiff 419 laid. Best bet is to kill all the common and then lay more of his sod when the ground is ready. I complimented him on his 419 and told him that I wished that it all looked like that. He said that the 2 month time when it was all laid down that he was only cutting the 419. That was the only kind available so it might have come from two different farms.....he doesn't know.

So back to square one. But I do have a direction to help remedy the problem! I am running out SiteOne Landscape supply to buy the fertilizer for the front yard. Wish me luck!


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

:banana: I just had an amazing thought. For those of us that are obsessed with mow stripes. :thumbup:

I should have this all laid out again in beautiful alternating rows to keep the stripes all the time and not have to go crazy with roll bars, etc!!!!!!! :yahoo: :dancenana: PROBLEM SOLVED!!! :beer:


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## Bunnysarefat (May 4, 2017)

Haha, that's funny :lol:

My first thought would be, yes fertilize the whole yard first but I would soon after kill off the common Bermuda if that's the route you take. I say do it sooner rather than later because common bermuda can be very difficult to kill completely. I wouldn't want it to start to prepare for winter, storing energy and deepening its root system when you don't even want it there in the first place.

I believe you could do this before winter, as most sod can be laid pretty much any time of year. Although, I'm not totally familiar with the in's and out's of laying sod in the fall, however, I think I remember that it's possible.


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

Well, I got some 25-2-5 with pre-emergent from SiteOne and laid that down. I let the sprinklers go for 30 minutes for each zone to really get it in. Lets see how this goes and maybe that will help. Less work sounds good to me right now.


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## MsTin (Sep 5, 2017)

:mrgreen: Nice thing is that with all this work, my grass vs. my neighbor's is green! He even said so himself! Hard work is paying off!


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