# Envy's Bermuda Lawn



## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

Hey folks, I thought it would be fun to start a thread that I will continually update with the progress of my Bermuda lawn. It might just be fun and motivation for me but maybe some useful trial and error tips will come of it for other folks. I will be using a rotary mower for now. Once it's worthy I will look to get a reel mower. I really like restoring old tools and am pretty handy with small engine stuff so I will probably get an older/used one and breath new life in it.

So to catch up on the current state I had previously cut it about 3 inches and it got unhealthy and patchy. I always bagged the grass. After research I'm now bringing it down to 2 inches cutting height. I'm using milorganite and spot spraying weeds as I see them. Clover is the main issue I battle. My plan to finish the fall out is to thicken it up a little with lateral growth before it goes dormant. I'm in Oklahoma and we still have highs in the low 90's and high 80's for a while longer so I think I can stimulate some good growth over the next 6-8 weeks.

Spring time I will do some major lawn rehab by taking it low to 3/4" the first mow and then trying my best to level the lawn so I won't have scalping. I know I have some bad spots cause I tried a few passes at 1.25" and had some. I am planning to mow the regular cut height at .75 -1.25" next year depending on how well I do at lawn leveling.

Front is a circle drive so it's kind of broken up into smaller sections. Then the bigger backyard. So here it is after the first cut at 2". Definitely had that brown look. This was about 12 days ago. It has greened up a lot as I've mowed at 2" every 4-5 days. You may notice on the top pic the left side is either St. Augustine or Centipede grass. I can't tell for sure but either way it's coming out next Spring and will seed with Bermuda so it matches. I will post some update pics soon.























































thanks for looking


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Great thread! You will enjoy returning to this to review your progress!


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## high leverage (Jun 11, 2017)

Where abouts in Oklahoma are you? Are you near the Texas border? If you do have some St. Augustine or Centipede mixed in, that would certainly be a rarity.


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

high leverage said:


> Where abouts in Oklahoma are you? Are you near the Texas border? If you do have some St. Augustine or Centipede mixed in, that would certainly be a rarity.


I'm in OKC. It could be something else too. That was just my best guess. Only thing for certain is it's not Bermuda so its gotta go!

I'll get a close up pic next time I have the camera out. We'll see if someone knows what it is.


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## high leverage (Jun 11, 2017)

If it looks like St. Augustine I would bet it's crabgrass.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

high leverage said:


> If it looks like St. Augustine I would bet it's crabgrass.


I would agree, but nothing about that pic resembles either. I'm thinking there could be some zoysia in there. Close-up pics would definitely help.


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## high leverage (Jun 11, 2017)

Spammage said:


> high leverage said:
> 
> 
> > If it looks like St. Augustine I would bet it's crabgrass.
> ...


I agree. I can't see the area he's speaking of.


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

Here's a few pics. This will be crazy if it turns out to be crabgrass!


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

I'm sticking with zoysia.


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## high leverage (Jun 11, 2017)

Looks like Meyers


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

high leverage said:


> Looks like Meyers


If we're placing bets, I would go with El Toro.


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## high leverage (Jun 11, 2017)

Spammage said:


> high leverage said:
> 
> 
> > Looks like Meyers
> ...


In this great state we see 20 to 1 Meyers to El Toro. I'll take that bet.


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

high leverage said:


> Spammage said:
> 
> 
> > high leverage said:
> ...


Who do you think you are, Galen Culver?


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

Thank guys. I am glad to hear that it doesn't seem to be a giant patch of crabgrass. I would have lost sleep over that one!


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

OutdoorEnvy said:


> I am glad to hear that it doesn't seem to be a giant patch of crabgrass.


This may be worse. Crabgrass is easy to get rid of.


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

Two weeks later and in it's looking better. I'm hoping for another 3-4 weeks of growth or more before it goes dormant.


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

Well I missed putting down my pre-emergent by a week or two. I can't believe how quick the soil temps must have reached germination temps. I think I'm just going to put it down mid January no matter what next spring. I may put down two applications, one is January then another in March. Backyard is much worse. My front isn't bad really so I'm not worried about it right now. I spot treated the few weeds it had. But the backyard is what I was focused on today.










So today's project was to mow down a little and bag. Decided to use the Snapper Hi-vac this time.










Didn't scalp yet as I usually wait a few more weeks for that. I'm hoping these weeds will be dead by the time the Bermuda comes back to life. So here it is after spraying it down.



















I'll do an update in a week or two after seeing what kind of progress it's making.

Plan for this season is to scalp at .75" and then mow and maintain it at 1.25". This will probably require some creative lawn leveling I will undertake in a few spots. I also plan to rent an aerator in about a month as my lawn is pretty compacted. I will update on that as well.

thanks for looking.


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## Davie_Gravy (Mar 2, 2018)

to prevent the weeds you see right now, you'll want to apply your pre-em in early fall, right?


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Davie_Gravy said:


> to prevent the weeds you see right now, you'll want to apply your pre-em in early fall, right?


Yes, you are correct and be sure your Spring PreM app coincides with your Fall app too :thumbup:


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

So if the PreM says it's for four months do you all do three applications when as it expires? Or do you let it ride in the summer when the grass is full?


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

OutdoorEnvy said:


> So if the PreM says it's for four months do you all do three applications when as it expires? Or do you let it ride in the summer when the grass is full?


I would do 3 applications at 4 month intervals at or around the time as it "should" expire so you will always have a PrEM barrier down. Most of us like to do the 6 months(2 applications) as it's easier to do (less applications). One in the Spring and one in the Fall. But obviously you can do it however you see fit and works with your schedule. :thumbup:


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

Thanks Mightyquinn. I'll stick to the schedule and hopefully this will be the last time I have the weeds like this... Better pictures to come!


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

So I scalped my front lawn this weekend. Timing seems good as I have some Bermuda starting to green up. Forgot the before pics but picture an unscalped yard and you get the idea...

Used the Snapper Hi-Vac on it's lowest setting which pretty much just drags the ground. Mowed three times to get it as you see below. I also used a hand cultivator and a tamper to go over the high spots that rubbed with the soil damp to smooth them out a little so when I mow at 1.25" I should have minimal to no scalping is the plan. We shall see...



















The weedkiller has worked on everything except the bluegrass. My two side yards weren't bad but the island is what got bad. I'll try to address it more shortly.




























Bermuda is greening up but I think I see some crabgrass too. Can't believe I missed the preM by a week or two...










work in progress so will update as it comes


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

Seeing some good green up taking place since the scalping. We are about to be at cooler temps with highs in the 50's and 60's so that will probably delay it a little. But already a lot nicer after a week and half


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## Jkuc003 (Mar 31, 2018)

OutdoorEnvy said:


>


Can you give me some info on the snapper? Which model/series is it? Do you like it? Any gripes?
Cheers


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

OutdoorEnvy said:


> Thank guys. I am glad to hear that it doesn't seem to be a giant patch of crabgrass. I would have lost sleep over that one!


Nothing to be glad about. Zoysia is a plague. I can tell it is Zoysia by how much your mower shredded the tips. It will also get thick enough that you will not like mowing it. Either spray it or dig out 6" around it and 12" deep.


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

Jkuc003 said:


> Can you give me some info on the snapper? Which model/series is it? Do you like it? Any gripes?
> Cheers


It's a 1983 Hi-Vac model of some kind, don't remember offhand.. I bought it without the engine as someone tried to save it and took it apart then never got around to it. I didn't put the self propel back on it as I wanted a push mower. I took off a Briggs and Stratton 675 series engine off a newer mower I had but I didn't like how it bagged. I've really liked it and it bags great. I use it for scalping and mowing anything on the "rough" side that I don't want to put my nicer Honda through. I mow a little area in the woods behind my house with it too.


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

Greendoc said:


> Nothing to be glad about. Zoysia is a plague. I can tell it is Zoysia by how much your mower shredded the tips. It will also get thick enough that you will not like mowing it. Either spray it or dig out 6" around it and 12" deep.


I'm planning to dig it out and put some Bermuda sod down late spring early summer. Stay tuned!


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

Well I'm on to addressing my Annual Bluegrass problem. I initially tried some Bayer 2-4 D product and that worked well on the broadleaf weeds but the bluegrass and few others remained. So that bring us to today. I am trying a product called Image. Which is about the only concentrate I could find at the stores specifically listed for bluegrass and similar weeds/grasses. And as you can see below I didn't get my Pre-emergent down in time last fall and have a real problem now. So my yard is a great one to see if this product works.



















embarrassing backyard photo








'

my front yard island is really the only bad spot on my front.










So the label says I should see yellowing and wilting within 1-2 weeks. Says it could take 5-6 weeks to fully die. Says not to treat a second time until 6 weeks. After treating the areas I ended up being a bit heavy handed with the sprayer. I'll post pics each week to show the progress and we'll see if this stuff works.


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

1 week later and here is the backyard. I am seeing some yellowing. Some spots more than others. I'll do another update in a week.


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

2nd week update. Looks like it is continuing to yellow and dye so far. I'm hoping the rain we got and some starter fertilizer I put down will jump start the Bermuda growing quicker and start filling in the bar spots. Especially in the front yard. After scalping a month ago or so I'm going to maintain my cutting height at 1".










here is the island










Seeing good green up. I just need it to start filling in. I was cutting too tall last year which is why it seems so patchy after scalping.










here is the divider strip with my neighbors. He didn't scalp and cuts around 2-2.5" so it will be interesting to follow the side by side comparison of the cutting heights and how they look.


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

So lately I've been playing around with a Cal-trimmer 25" model. It's a friend of mine who had it and it was not running. I fixed it for him and he's letting me use it as long as it's entertaining for me since he doesn't use it. Here's a quick mow off with it and the Honda HRX on my island. I've been using this Cal mower on my front lawn for the last few weeks. I'm really liking the look of the cut with it.










this is my island cut at 1" with the HRX



















Here is the Cal-trimmer at about 3/4"



















I'm going to keep mowing the front with the reel mower and see how it fills in mowing at 3/4". It has been filling in pretty well lately.


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

Grass is filling in nicely in the front. The bluegrass has died off. I think it was mostly due to the heat and not the chemical spray I tried. For the future it will be trying to keep up with the watering for the heat that has hit for the summer. This last mow I did at the lowest setting with the rotary. Suppose to be 3/4" and seems to be there after measuring. No scalping so that was nice. The caltrimmer I don't have a grass catcher and the dead grass build up was starting to be noticeable so I will bag with the rotary for a bit and see how it goes.



















I'm planning to raise this small spot up a bit with some sand at some point.










I put down some granular weed killer a couple weeks ago and went too heavy on my side strip as I got some grass kill unfortunately. Must have been the turns that I didn't time right.










thanks for looking


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

backyard is looking good and really filled in so far. So I've been cutting this at 1.25" all year. Went on vacation for a couple weeks and it really filled out a lot with that extra growth. Last two cuts I have done at 2" and will probably maintain it there the rest of the year. It's common Bermuda so that shouldn't be an issue and I cut it 2" for the winter. It looks good though since it's thickened up a lot.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

OutdoorEnvy said:


> backyard is looking good and really filled in so far. So I've been cutting this at 1.25" all year. Went on vacation for a couple weeks and it really filled out a lot with that extra growth. Last two cuts I have done at 2" and will probably maintain it there the rest of the year. It's common Bermuda so that shouldn't be an issue and I cut it 2" for the winter. It looks good though since it's thickened up a lot.


@OutdoorEnvy how's your lawn doing since no posts for awhile?


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