# Bermuda sprigs/sod recommendation for lawn reno this Spring in new house



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

As the title details,

I am supposed to close on a house that has 1/3 bermuda (not sure what, possible 419 since blades are fine), 2/3 centipede. I am looking at torching it all and going with a bermuda sod/sprigs or just killing the centipede and over seeding the bermuda. The lawn size is approx. 15K so that weeds out the possibility of putting down sod due to cost. I am in LA (Lower Arkansas) so not sure about the sprig route or options near me. I am looking at Monaco, Rio and Arden 15 for seed. Have done a sod lawn before and still have my reel mower. Lawn has a sprinkler system but was not able test it due to potential winter freezing. I care about color (dark green), reel mowing around .5 inches. Thoughts are welcome, thanks in advance!


----------



## coreystooks (Aug 6, 2019)

If you don't mind the time it will take I would kill off the centipede and then harvest sprigs from the existing Bermuda if it's a hybrid. Can do it in small sections at a time. I would think you could get enough sprigs from that 1/3 and do another 1/3 then again later to do the rest.


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

It crossed my mind as I have a plugger that I could plug the area also. Never done sprigs but do have a detacher/ verticutter.


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Sod would be around $3500 dollars for the front so its possible. Celebration and 419 locally.


----------



## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

WillyT said:


> …Never done sprigs but do have a detacher/ verticutter.


You could do this, but on a smaller scale.

Seeding Bermuda can be done, but it's not like seeding a cool season lawn - most of the seeded varieties aren't going to perform as well as the hybrids, which can only be established from sod, sprigs, or plugs.

If you do decide to seed, I would recommend reading this publication:

Establishing Seeded Bermudagrass on Lawns, Golf Courses or Athletic Fields


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Have looked at these recently. Will look into sprig options in my area. Stupid question but do golf courses sell them or do you have to go to a sod farm?


----------



## coreystooks (Aug 6, 2019)

You could get them from a sod farm but you have them for free already, just use your dethatcher on the bermuda you already have. See this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOYPlxilUbI&t=622s


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Open to sprigs the more I think of it but would like to cut down on the time it will take to do the yard. Local sod farms won't do sprigs. May reach out to golf course as the new one has celebration.


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Is it worth pulling plugs from newly cut Bermuda sod to cut down on cost. I know it would be more work but is it possible?


----------



## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Depending on your sf you could definitely fill in with plugs from your own yard. Get a good plugger. I have a ProPlugger and it is pretty easy to work and will several plugs at a time in the tube so it is faster.


----------



## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Plugs would work, but would be slower to fill in. It would also be pretty labor intensive for a large area.

Since you have irrigation I would lean toward sprigs. You could always buy some sod and run it through a wood chipper. I think @Movingshrub either did this or was thinking about it. He could probably help you with the ratio of sod needed.


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Now we are talking with the wood chipper!


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

@Movingshrub any advice for sprigging from sod?


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Can't find any woodchippers in town after a quick search. Would add another step but wouldn't a power rake do that same thing to the sod?


----------



## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

WillyT said:


> Can't find any woodchippers in town after a quick search. Would add another step but wouldn't a power rake do that same thing to the sod?


I ended up using a power rake/dethatcher to pull from an existing stand of the cultivar I intended to propagate. I wanted to do a wood chipper but for the size of some of my projects, it wasn't worth it.


----------



## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

WillyT said:


> Can't find any woodchippers in town after a quick search. Would add another step but wouldn't a power rake do that same thing to the sod?


Which route are you going to go? How large of an area? Why not just buy springs instead of buying sod?


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Movingshrub said:


> WillyT said:
> 
> 
> > Can't find any woodchippers in town after a quick search. Would add another step but wouldn't a power rake do that same thing to the sod?
> ...


I live in a rural area with not many options. I'm looking at celebration sod turning it into sprigs via wood chipper or power rake. The site would not sell sprigs and is 90 miles away. Called multiple sod farms and no one would sell sprigs. I found a wood chipper to rent that wasn't too crazy 250ish so may lean that way. I will reel mow the yard and not sure how much shorter than .5in hoc you can go with celebration. My yard will be 15000 sq ft and I will sprig the front yard and side yards adding up to 9500 sq ft. Will probably get 2 pallets of sod. Looked at soil temps last night and will have to plan it for late April early May. Haven't decided on top dressing or putting anything over the sprigs yet.


----------



## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

My approach was sprigging my 7000 sqft back yard. Following that, I used a power rake to create my own sprigs from that stand to do other sections of the property. For top dressing, I went with sand. I tried using a sod roller and, due to the recent rain prior to sprigging, it just clogged the roller with mud and sprigs. The next time I sprigged, I hand appplied sand over 
the area which worked well. If you have a crimping disk that would help. I've talked to others who have suggested using mushroom compost due to the amount of water it holds. I don't have first hand experience with a crimper or using mushroom compost.

What are you doing to prep prior to planting? I'm in North Alabama and my last frost is late April. If your weather is similar, you won't have a chance to really kill off anything prior to sprigs going down.


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Movingshrub said:


> My approach was sprigging my 7000 sqft back yard. Following that, I used a power rake to create my own sprigs from that stand to do other sections of the property. For top dressing, I went with sand. I tried using a sod roller and, due to the recent rain prior to sprigging, it just clogged the roller with mud and sprigs. The next time I sprigged, I hand appplied sand over
> the area which worked well. If you have a crimping disk that would help. I've talked to others who have suggested using mushroom compost due to the amount of water it holds. I don't have first hand experience with a crimper or using mushroom compost.
> 
> What are you doing to prep prior to planting? I'm in North Alabama and my last frost is late April. If your weather is similar, you won't have a chance to really kill off anything prior to sprigs going down.


Don't have crimping disk. Could do hand sand. Will level with sand after established. We have mainly clay here. Should have at least some growth by then, . I'm in south Arkansas, in line with Tuscaloosa, planned to scalp and dethatch this spring. I do have 3 trees, Bradford pears, to cut down and ground the stumps out of the front yard this spring. Spray round up 2 weeks prior to sprigs. Scalp and verticut day before sprigs. Will put down starter fert after verticut. May try to do a little leveling if the yard has some bad spots. Am I missing anything? Trying to plan early so I don't botch anything.


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Not the best pics but still gives an idea. All the landscaping will go too.


----------



## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

I think you need to start spraying/killing everything as soon as it greens up. You're going to want to spray glyphosate and Fusilade, then wait three-four weeks, and spray the same thing again, then wait three-four weeks and spray just glyphosate, then sprig as soon as any residual hold off periods are done. You may be able to avoid that third up, but that would likely require leaving out Fusilade during the second app. Even with three apps, you're not going to get a 100% kill on everything that's there today.

Your area is warmer than mine so you'll probably have green up sooner and a longer summer.

I would take out the trees now. My assumption is that more sunlight translates into sooner green up, but that isn't always true due to microclimates below trees and on different sides of the yard.

Have you done any kind of evaluation of the amount of sunlight you're getting? Are the threes the only thing keeping the existing bermuda from taking over?

Once you grind down the stumps, Get rid of the debris. I was in a similar boat and spread the debris all over my yard. Don't do that. Get rid of whatever you can. Also, expect the areas with the stumps to sink and produce mushrooms for several years.


----------



## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Movingshrub said:


> I think you need to start spraying/killing everything as soon as it greens up. You're going to want to spray glyphosate and Fusilade, then wait three-four weeks, and spray the same thing again, then wait three-four weeks and spray just glyphosate, then sprig as soon as any residual hold off periods are done. You may be able to avoid that third up, but that would likely require leaving out Fusilade during the second app. Even with three apps, you're not going to get a 100% kill on everything that's there today.
> 
> Your area is warmer than mine so you'll probably have green up sooner and a longer summer.
> 
> ...


Yeah we were going to cut down the trees in March. Will look up fusilade. After the trees are gone we should get full sun. Side yard should sun for most of the days. Some of the back yard is shaded and currently has moss in shade me Bermuda in the unshaded area. Was going to rent a stump Grinder and get the roots best I can.


----------



## Jagermeister (May 18, 2021)

Movingshrub said:


> My approach was sprigging my 7000 sqft back yard. Following that, I used a power rake to create my own sprigs from that stand to do other sections of the property. For top dressing, I went with sand. I tried using a sod roller and, due to the recent rain prior to sprigging, it just clogged the roller with mud and sprigs. The next time I sprigged, I hand appplied sand over
> the area which worked well. If you have a crimping disk that would help. I've talked to others who have suggested using mushroom compost due to the amount of water it holds. I don't have first hand experience with a crimper or using mushroom compost.
> 
> What are you doing to prep prior to planting? I'm in North Alabama and my last frost is late April. If your weather is similar, you won't have a chance to really kill off anything prior to sprigs going down.


@Movingshrub I will be stolonizing a couple of sections in my backyard by harvesting from my existing stand of bermuda. Probably 2000 sq ft. Would it be best to rent a reno-o-thin verticutter or use my Sunjoe with a sharpened scarifier blade?

Also, what is the best technique for spreading the top dressing material (I will probably use sand) given that the stolons will be loose? I will aerate prior. Do you have to do this by hand or can you dump and spread like you would be leveling the lawn? How thick do you put it on?

Area right now is mostly bare dirt and thin bermuda. Plan to do this in mid to late May.


----------



## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

I haven't used a Sunjoe so I cannot comment on that one. One time I used a locally rentable dethatcher, scalped down as low as possible prior to using it, ran the dethatcher several times on the same area, then used a rake to collect the sprigs.

The other time, @HungrySoutherner brought over his battery powered dethatcher, ran it until the battery died over a 7,000 area (three times I think), and that gave me enough sprigs for a 5,000 sqft area.

Regarding the sand, the only method I had to applyq it was by hand. I would spread it out a shovels worth at a time, by basically hand spreading it off the shovel. It wasn't the fastest but it's what I had. I spread 2 tons of sand over 5K sqft.


----------



## Jagermeister (May 18, 2021)

Movingshrub said:


> I haven't used a Sunjoe so I cannot comment on that one. One time I used a locally rentable dethatcher, scalped down as low as possible prior to using it, ran the dethatcher several times on the same area, then used a rake to collect the sprigs.
> 
> The other time, @HungrySoutherner brought over his battery powered dethatcher, ran it until the battery died over a 7,000 area (three times I think), and that gave me enough sprigs for a 5,000 sqft area.
> 
> Regarding the sand, the only method I had to applyq it was by hand. I would spread it out a shovels worth at a time, by basically hand spreading it off the shovel. It wasn't the fastest but it's what I had. I spread 2 tons of sand over 5K sqft.


Thank you sir, much appreciated! In regards to scalping down low prior to dethatching, I was thinking you would want the grass to be as long as possible. Why do you want to scalp it?

In regards to dethatching vs. verticutting, are you dethatching to keep the stolons as long as possible or is it ok to verticut and use chopped up stolons?


----------



## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

I was getting too much leaf blade, and not enough sprig, when the grass was long.

I was using whatever machine would rip up the stolons from the ground.


----------



## Jagermeister (May 18, 2021)

@Movingshrub I am going to stolonize this weekend. Going to rent the Ryan Ren-o-Thin verticutter with fixed blades. At one point, I saw someone recommend soaking the stolons in water prior to spreading. Is this a good idea? I was thinking about harvesting the stolons and putting them in my gorilla cart and spraying them with water to keep them moist as I verticut. Is this a good idea?


----------



## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

I haven't tried soaking stolons but that doesn't sound like the worst idea; my goal was typically just to make sure they don't dry out.


----------



## Jagermeister (May 18, 2021)

Movingshrub said:


> I haven't tried soaking stolons but that doesn't sound like the worst idea; my goal was typically just to make sure they don't dry out.


I was able to stolonize this past weekend. Turned out to be a huge job in combo with the sand levelling I did with 8 tons of sand. I found it difficult to keep the sprigging section moist while also trying to keep the sanded section dry so I could drag. I also found it easier to spread the sprigs evenly when they were dry and not wet. I was able to figure a way to top dress with the sand, although that was tedious and difficult with moist sand (heavy and clumpy).

I was able to get more and more water on it on day 3 after I finished levelling the lawn. Here are some pics. I am praying all my hard work will come to fruition! What are the signs that they are starting to take root?





These pics are from today (5 days after stolonizing)


----------



## Chadwicktr (May 26, 2020)

@Jagermeister I watered my sprigs 24/7. After 72 hours, they started growing new roots. They then browned out and then greened up again around day 7


----------



## Jagermeister (May 18, 2021)

Chadwicktr said:


> @Jagermeister I watered my sprigs 24/7. After 72 hours, they started growing new roots. They then browned out and then greened up again around day 7


 :thumbup: I just walked through the area this morning and am seeing some green shoots so that is a positive sign! I have been watering with my in-ground irrigation system every 2 hours for 5 minutes. My controller doesn't allow me to water every hour, unfortunately. Hoping this is enough plus the top dressing. I also laid the sprigs down thick and rolled it in so maybe the sprigs on top acted like a top dress and sprigs on the soil and under the sand will take root!


----------



## Chadwicktr (May 26, 2020)

@Jagermeister glad to hear it! As long as they don't dry out, you should be set! Enjoy!


----------



## tjtennispro (Sep 16, 2021)

I saw you taking the pictures in the back either leaving or coming to work.



Jagermeister said:


> Movingshrub said:
> 
> 
> > I haven't tried soaking stolons but that doesn't sound like the worst idea; my goal was typically just to make sure they don't dry out.
> ...


----------



## Jagermeister (May 18, 2021)

:lol:


tjtennispro said:


> I saw you taking the pictures in the back either leaving or coming to work.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------

