# Tifgreen vs Tifway vs Celebration



## Jacobpaschall (Nov 1, 2020)

I installed new sod last year May 2020 (Celebration). I either over fertilized or scalped it too early and I think I killed it. We were going on vacation in August (3 months after new installation) so I scalped it before we left. The temps were going to be over 100 degrees all week. I don't think the new root system could handle it and when we got back a week later, it had basically stopped growing. It never really came back by the end of the summer into the fall. I over-seeded with PRG in the fall of 2020. In early March 2021, I killed the PRG with certainty and scalped again. I was hoping the Celebration would come back this year, but it just isn't doing much; which leads me to believe that I killed it last summer. The temps are plenty warm now and all of my other Bermuda is coming back. I'm willing to re-sod it at the end of April and have the choice between Tifgreen, tifway, and Celebration. My yard does get a good amount of shade from a huge pine tree and my garage on the east side. Any suggestions?


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## Jacobpaschall (Nov 1, 2020)

Below are a couple pics of the lawn today. 1st pic is an area that gets morning shade as you can see by the pic. 2nd pic is an area that basically gets full sun.


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

Seems out of the ordinary for Celebration. If you installed it in May with proper watering it should have been well rooted by August. A few questions:

- what was the watering schedule after install and now?
- did you apply and fertilizer last summer after install?
- did you apply and herbicides, insecticides or fungicides that could have been the wrong rate?
- is the soil moist or super dry?
- what prep was done to the area before they put the sod down?
- was there ever any signs of green?

I would imagine it would be greening up by now. If you get down real close do you see any green popping out of the scalped blades?

If I were you, I would:
- water the heck out of it. 3x per day keeping it moist all day for 1-2 weeks
- apply some fast release fertilizer like 46-0-0 urea .5lbs/1,000 sq ft (sprayed or granular watered in well)
- don't mow
- get a soil test
- wait
- water some more
- water some more (once green monitor for fungus)
- if the soil is too compact for the water to penetrate to the roots then i would aerate


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

I forgot to add one thing. Pull up some roots and break them apart. Are they white/greenish inside? Or are they crispy and crack/turn to dust if you rub it in your hands.


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## turfman73 (May 1, 2018)

I agree with @GrassDad - Your Celebration should have been well rooted by August. I installed mine end of April 2016 and did nothing but water for the first 8 weeks, Applied a 10-10-10 end of June and that was it. I dug up a section to pour a small concrete pad and it had roots 6-8 inches deep by that point.

My shaded areas are much slower to come back each year. What are your high and low temps?


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## Jacobpaschall (Nov 1, 2020)

GrassDad said:


> Seems out of the ordinary for Celebration. If you installed it in May with proper watering it should have been well rooted by August. A few questions:
> 
> - what was the watering schedule after install and now?
> - did you apply and fertilizer last summer after install?
> ...


Thanks for the info. After install, the lawn was doing great. Attached is a photo from mid June after install. 2nd picture is last year about a month after I scalped it. I have a good irrigation system so watering was never a problem. I did apply fertilizer, possibly too much. The prep before install was done properly. I tilled and leveled before install. Below is a current soil test. I did one last year too and it was similar. It all went bad after I scalped it. It just never came back after that. I don't understand it.


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

My guess is that you scalped it down as it was coming out of dormancy and it stressed it. So do nothing except water and wait for the sun and heat to come. Once your temps are consistently in the 80s it will come back to life.


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## rjw0283 (May 11, 2020)

Hmmm. You'd be the first I've ever seen on here to kill their bermuda by scalping. Maybe there has been.... Something else has to be the culprit. 
Have the lows still been in the 40s at night? You may just need some more time.


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## Bermuda_Newbie (Jun 15, 2018)

rjw0283 said:


> Hmmm. You'd be the first I've ever seen on here to kill their bermuda by scalping. Maybe there has been.... Something else has to be the culprit.
> Have the lows still been in the 40s at night? You may just need some more time.


I agree. If Bermuda were that easy to kill, folks on the cool seasons part of the site would be giving that advice to get rid of it. It's probably just not growing rapidly yet. I installed Celebration around the same time last year and mine is patchy green right now. I'd be super surprised if it doesn't come back with a vengeance once it's warm.


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## daganh62 (May 4, 2018)

Water it put some 10 10 10 on it. It will come back up. You did stress it between the scalp and PRG in its first winter.


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## Txmx583 (Jun 8, 2017)

It should come back unless you passed a neighbor off and they sprayed round up on your lawn haha. I put down celebration last September and scalped it after a month and it's been doing killer. It's already almost fully green but I'm in Texas and we have 80* weather already.


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## jbow03 (Sep 19, 2019)

Be patient and let the temps get up. Water and wait. It'll come back.


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## Jacobpaschall (Nov 1, 2020)

It's been 80+ and we have 90+ degree weather in the forecast so we'll see if it comes back. So far I'm not too impressed with Celebration after one year. At this rate, it will only look good for a couple months out of the year. My common bermuda lawns are doing 10x better.


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## Trippel24 (Jul 9, 2018)

daganh62 said:


> Water it put some 10 10 10 on it. It will come back up. You did stress it between the scalp and PRG in its first winter.


I agree with this. Our weather has been great in the Central Valley the last week. It will be fine. 10 10 10 and water a bit more than you think you should. Will be green in a few weeks I would bet.


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## rjw0283 (May 11, 2020)

@Jacobpaschall What are your low temps at night? My yard goes gangbusters once the lows are constantly above 60. High temps are nice, but I really notice the difference when the lows aren't that low.


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## Kdaves12 (Aug 10, 2020)

Please keep us posted on its recovery. I'm sure many of us feel for you; having said that, we're extremely curious if you have found a "magical" bermuda kill-off solution.


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## Jacobpaschall (Nov 1, 2020)

I will do an update in a couple weeks after we have some good 90+ degree weather. I definitely don't think putting 10-10-10 on it is going to help. According to my soil test, I don't need "P" or "K". I have been spraying UN32 (Liquid Nitrogen) at a rate of 0.5# of nitrogen/m every 2 weeks. My other 3 lawns are doing great and I'm doing the same thing. I'm beginning to think the area gets too much shade. Next year I will leave the prg until it dies on its own rather than spraying it.


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## Jacobpaschall (Nov 1, 2020)

Here we are almost a month later. We have had temps consistently in the mid to upper 80's and some days approaching 100 with many days in the 90s. Temperature is not the issue. I really think almost all of my new celebration died last year and what little survived is slowly spreading. I'm also thinking I may have had a Grub issue. I cut out one scoop with a shovel and found 3 grubs on the outside of the scoop without even sifting through the dirt. I put down Demand granular and Merit G. I'm still debating on whether I should rip it out and start over. 🤦‍♂️


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

If i were you i would just let it do its thing. Lay off the nitrogen for a couple weeks and water it 2x per day for a week then 1x per day for the second then every other day for week number 3. Then reassess.

Pull up a few brown spots and see if you see any white or green inside the roots. Show us some more up close pictures.


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

Maybe throw in a mechanical aeration...


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## DurtEsanch (Jan 23, 2021)

What did you kill the PRG with? Could that be affecting the Celebration growth?

I'm in Clovis and My celebration is already out of control. I'm only using ironite a little PGF balance and about half an inch of water a week. Mowing about 2-3 times a week at .75in.

Maybe try aerating? From my research Celebration is the most shade tolerant between the Tifs. The pics from last year look awesome.

Maybe aerate and then blast it with some foliar and a granular? Simple lawn solutions Lawn Energizer is my go to but you may want to use one of their formulas that have more Nitrogen. Good luck and Go Bulldogs!


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## rjw0283 (May 11, 2020)

That's a good question that wasn't asked before. What did you kill the PRG with?


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## Jacobpaschall (Nov 1, 2020)

DurtEsanch said:


> What did you kill the PRG with? Could that be affecting the Celebration growth?
> 
> I'm in Clovis and My celebration is already out of control. I'm only using ironite a little PGF balance and about half an inch of water a week. Mowing about 2-3 times a week at .75in.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tips. I killed the rye with certainty at a rate of 2oz/acre in March. I think I'm gonna ride it out. May take all summer, but I think it will eventually spread. I can also take some plugs and put them on the larger dead areas. I was planning on renting an aerator later this year and doing all of my lawns. I also just planted 5k sq ft of Arden15. If that turns out nice, I can always redo the front in Arden. Don't really want to spend $1300 on sod again. Go Bulldogs, alumni 2006!!


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## DurtEsanch (Jan 23, 2021)

I never kill my Rye. I let our valley heat do it and then scalp late May/early June. I apologize w some extra water and Sod soultions Recover formula foliar The rye completely bows out after that. I did my scalp early this year. Two weeks ago right before we got some rain. Figured the rain would help recover the Celebration and the rye came back a little but mostly gone. RN I'm about 95% Bermuda. A high Nitrogen foliar may give the Bermuda the shot of steroids it needs to begin to spread more aggressively. Amazon has the Simple Lawn Solutions formulas. Those and the Sod solutions formulas are my personal favorite.

I've heard good things about Arden. I do think the celebration will eventually conquer. Good luck. Go Dogs!! Alumni '14


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