# Bermuda dying or going dormant from summer heat



## Redland1 (Feb 26, 2018)

Looks like my Bermuda lawn is dying or going dormant in some areas from the Teaxs heat.Is there anyway to keep it alive or out of dormancy in this heat? It,s been 100 degrees here lately with no rain.


----------



## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

How much are you allowed to water?


----------



## Redland1 (Feb 26, 2018)

Currently it's unrestricted ,but I don't know how long before they put a water restriction in my county.


----------



## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Syringing...or just water it.


----------



## Redland1 (Feb 26, 2018)

Besides watering it,Will raising the HOC to 2 1/2 to 3" help any?


----------



## erdons (Apr 3, 2018)

how long are you watering for? Hand watering? Sprinklers?


----------



## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

Bermuda thrives in 100+ degree heat. Keep it watered and it will look great.


----------



## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Rotary mowing can cause more water loss. The less than clean cut across the top of the grass blades is a source of water loss. I reel cut and cut rather low. But do not need to irrigate more than if I were to mow high. Rotary cut and or string cut looks drier to me.


----------



## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

The summer heat will not kill the Bermuda, only cause it to go dormant.

Follow the watering advice above if you want it green.

If you don't like the idea/cost of watering it to keep it green, just wait until the rain returns and it'll bounce back.


----------



## fp_911 (Apr 10, 2017)

Just went through this with my lawn. Been traveling a lot for work and didn't touch my lawn. Came back and it had brown dead patches all throughout as this must be where the sun was more intense.

Started watering and within a week most of it has been covered up again and it greened up pretty quickly.

I'm slowing down the watering but hope it can still remain green and make it through this hot period.


----------



## Redland1 (Feb 26, 2018)

Redtenchu said:


> The summer heat will not kill the Bermuda, only cause it to go dormant.
> 
> Follow the watering advice above if you want it green.
> 
> If you don't like the idea/cost of watering it to keep it green, just wait until the rain returns and it'll bounce back.


It's was dry here all spring.I don't remember the last time it rained here lol.Its crazy because I'm originally from Miami and we had rain showers everyday down there and here it's dry like a desert.


----------



## Redland1 (Feb 26, 2018)

I don't have an irrigation system,but I did buy an orbit traveling sprinkler recently.So I'm going to have to figure out how many times a week to run it so that the grass stays green.


----------



## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

Redland1 said:


> I don't have an irrigation system,but I did by an orbit traveling sprinkler recently.So I'm going to have to figure out how many times a week to run it so that the grass stays green.


Those traveling sprinklers take a long time to put down water. Make sure you do a water test using empty tuna cans. Time how long it takes the tuna can to fill up with 1 inch of water. And apply that time to your lawn


----------



## daganh62 (May 4, 2018)

I would also consider something like ez wet or a soil conditioner to help your grass absorb the water.


----------



## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

@Redland1 if I recall correctly, the Orbit traveling sprinkler puts down .33" of water on the "H"igh setting and .88" on the "L"ow setting as the H/L refer to the speed of travel. 1" per week at one time is preferred, but may not be doable with this heat and drought. I would guess that running the L setting every 5-6 days will keep the yard watered sufficiently.


----------



## Redland1 (Feb 26, 2018)

@Spammage



In my front yard I have the tractor set at 30' wide,and out back on 45' wide.Both on Lo setting.I was doing it twice a week but only did it once last week.


----------



## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

@Redland1 interesting, I've never seen that chart, but it makes sense for the path width to alter the amount of water. If you have the logistics figured out for your yard, then you should be good to go - just make sure you get that second run in each week.


----------



## Ral1121 (Mar 19, 2018)

Before I burned my yard, I had to put down 1.5" a week all in one day to keep my yard nice and green. I did it by running the system in the morning and the afternoon on my day off the week.


----------



## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Ral1121 said:


> Before I burned my yard, I had to put down 1.5" a week all in one day to keep my yard nice and green. I did it by running the system in the morning and the afternoon on my day off the week.


Wow your situation sounds a lot like mine. I just came over to this site and the principles of 1 inch of water once a week. My front lawn will not take that much water before serious runoff. This is my latest plan to try and help it:

Goal - apply 1 inch of water or close to it on all six zones for the front yard without excessive runoff.

On previous water cycle my start time was 2 am, 4am, 6am and 8am with each zone at 19 min.

New proposed cycle start time 5am, 6am, 9am, 10am, 2pm, 3pm,6pm 7pm with each zone at 9 min. This should eliminate the runoff loss but will it provide the water needed to get close to 1 inch per week?


----------



## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Unless you know how much water you are putting down in 9minutes it is impossible to know. Also the amount of water evaporated in the afternoon Texas heat will be substantially higher than in the morning. You have to take that into consideration.


----------

