# Mini Bermuda Test plot



## Romangorilla (Jun 3, 2019)

Hey everyone.

Starting this post in hopes that someone out there is in my same position and perhaps I can help you out. I want to make a test plot with different Bermuda types so I can do an extensive write-up about the differences in the Bermuda types and have it be all in one write up on here.
My wife and I are currently in our "starter home" and are looking to move in a couple years or so. Because of this, Last year I opted to put down Bermuda seed instead of Bermuda sod in order to save my money.
Below is what I'm rocking at the moment, Princess 77 Bermuda:



When we eventually move, I want to install a better Bermuda cultivar that is "top of the line".

The only issue is this:
I have no clue what type Of Bermuda I want. So.... I decided to set up a test plot in my side yard and use plugs to give me an in-person view of what Bermuda looks best.
Because if you're like me, you've only ever seen in person 419 and/or some type of seeded Bermuda and are curious what the other sod types truly look like. I'm the type of person that has to see it to believe it.

My 4 varieties that I have narrowed it down to are the following:

1. Latitude 36
2. Celebration
3. Tifgrand
4. Tahoma 31

For the test plot I was able to purchase 72 "Lat 36 plugs" and 72 "Celebration plugs" from Sod Solutions and install them.

Side note: the packaging and shipping of the plugs from Sod Solutions was top notch. I highly recommend them.

I am still trying to figure out how to get my hands on some Tifgrand plugs and Tahoma 31 plugs. (If someone has a lead on those, I would be greatly appreciative)

Below is the mini test plot:

Left of the redline is Latitude 36.
Right of the redline is celebration.

Plugs went in the ground 3 days ago, along with some 17-17-17 fert and a healthy dose of RGS and Humic Acid.

Stay tuned for progress of the test plot.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Romangorilla Love this...can't wait to see the results.

Have you thought about any of the Zoysia Cultivars going forward?


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## Romangorilla (Jun 3, 2019)

ENC_Lawn said:


> @Romangorilla Love this...can't wait to see the results.
> 
> Have you thought about any of the Zoysia Cultivars going forward?


Thank you good sir.

As of right now, I'm going to just stick with Bermuda. For some reason, And I'm not Entirely sure why, Zoysia just doesn't do it for me. I tend to really be partial to the Bermuda.


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Not to digress, but that front yard has LOTM written all over it!!!


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## Romangorilla (Jun 3, 2019)

Redtwin said:


> Not to digress, but that front yard has LOTM written all over it!!!


Thank you sir.
I appreciate the compliment!


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

Romangorilla said:


> ENC_Lawn said:
> 
> 
> > @Romangorilla Love this...can't wait to see the results.
> ...


Gotcha...and I agree with @Redtwin that's LOTM quality right there! :thumbup:

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the Latitude 36 is gonna be hard to beat!


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## Wiley (Dec 2, 2019)

Excited to follow this!


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

@Romangorilla interesting project, but I'm thinking that area will be all Celebration, and soon. Celebration is VERY aggressive and should overtake the L36 in short order being that close together.


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## Romangorilla (Jun 3, 2019)

Spammage said:


> @Romangorilla interesting project, but I'm thinking that area will be all Celebration, and soon. Celebration is VERY aggressive and should overtake the L36 in short order being that close together.


Thanks for the heads up but I have some "dividers" that I'm planning to use to keep the sections separate.


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## Romangorilla (Jun 3, 2019)

Update:
Plugs have been in 9 days.
Still trying to get ahold of some Tahoma 31 and Tifgrand.

Observations so far on the Lat 36 and Celebration:

Lat 36 - growing slowly, but growing nonetheless. Not much lateral spreading has occurred yet.
A very fine small leaf blade. 
Don't want to comment on color yet since the plugs are probably still a little stressed.

Celebration - growing quick. A ton of vertical growth.
Not much lateral growth spreading at the moment. The growth of Celebration
Is substantially more than Lat 36.
The leaf blade on the Celebration is much much larger than the Lat 36. 
I can see Thatch being a real problem for celebration in the future.
Don't want to comment on color since some of it is still suffering from transplant stress.

Lat 36 is on the left and Celebration is on the right.


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## Darrell_KC (Mar 20, 2019)

I dont know if this helps, but at the bottom of this page is a list of places that deal with Tahoma 31. Hopefully, you might be able to get plugs or sprigs from one who is close to your location.

https://www.sodproductionservices.com/tahoma-31-bermudagrass/


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## Romangorilla (Jun 3, 2019)

Update:
Still looking for some Tahoma 31 and Tifgrand turf.

Approximately day 30:
-Lat 36 on the left, Celebration on the right-


After 30 days here is what I have noticed:

Latitude 36 - the leaf blade is incredibly fine, the color is a nice dark green that keeps its color all day long and never seems to get that stressed look in the mid-day sun. It's growth habit is definitely slower compared to Celebration but it is feeling in nicely.

Celebration - holy smokes, this stuff definitely grows. Both horizontally and vertically. There are some runners that are already 24" long. The color of Celebration is definitely more blue-green when compared to Lat 36. And if I'm being honest, Celebration looks almost identical to my common Bermuda when the common Bermuda is under PGR suppression.

After only 30 days, for me, I really lean toward the Lat 36. It might not show up well in the pictures, but you can definitely tell it's a darker green and definitely a much finer leaf blade when compared to celebration.
Again, this is just my opinion, but celebration looks almost identical to my common Bermuda when some PGR and nitrogen has been applied.

I can't wait to document how well this turf performs on fall dormancy and spring green-up compared to the common and the P77 turf.


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## TampaBayFL (Jul 24, 2020)

this is a fantastic test! It looks like it will be some fun along the way as well, thanks for doing this.

My entire neighborhood was planted with celebration from 2 to 4 years ago. Unfortunately, quite a number of folks have been removing it, myself included, and replacing it with zoysia.. even here in Florida near Tampa, it is incredibly incredibly sunlight sensitive. It just doesn't seem to tolerate much shade at all. My neighborhood is in a golf course community, and the golf course superintendent told me they don't even bother with the celebration unless they know it will get eight hours of sunlight a day. They said they also warned the developer of my neighborhood not to plant it, but the builder insisted anyway 

In any case, I don't have much to offer as far as knowledge base on this other than I've recently spent a lot of money to rectify a lack of shade tolerance!


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## TampaBayFL (Jul 24, 2020)

Allof the above considered, if celebration is happy, it is beautiful. The Copperhead course in Innisbrook, which hosts a major PGA tour event each year, is planted with it and they have it looking so good at tournament time that it actually doesn't even look real. I've never seen anything like it.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

TampaBayFL said:


> this is a fantastic test! It looks like it will be some fun along the way as well, thanks for doing this.
> 
> My entire neighborhood was planted with celebration from 2 to 4 years ago. Unfortunately, quite a number of folks have been removing it, myself included, and replacing it with zoysia.. even here in Florida near Tampa, it is incredibly incredibly sunlight sensitive. It just doesn't seem to tolerate much shade at all. My neighborhood is in a golf course community, and the golf course superintendent told me they don't even bother with the celebration unless they know it will get eight hours of sunlight a day. They said they also warned the developer of my neighborhood not to plant it, but the builder insisted anyway
> 
> In any case, I don't have much to offer as far as knowledge base on this other than I've recently spent a lot of money to rectify a lack of shade tolerance!


Interesting. I have a patch between my house and a neighbor that gets 3.5 hours of sun per day. It is peak daylight between 1:00 and 5:00, but it's thriving and spreading at a pretty unbelievable pace. It does get trinexapac-ethyl applications, so maybe that's the difference.


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## JRS 9572 (May 28, 2018)

Romangorilla said:


> Hey everyone.
> 
> Starting this post in hopes that someone out there is in my same position and perhaps I can help you out. I want to make a test plot with different Bermuda types so I can do an extensive write-up about the differences in the Bermuda types and have it be all in one write up on here.
> My wife and I are currently in our "starter home" and are looking to move in a couple years or so. Because of this, Last year I opted to put down Bermuda seed instead of Bermuda sod in order to save my money.
> ...


Hey if you want to ride 100 miles or so I'll give you some Tifgrand plugs out of my front yard. You can pull them, and I'll back fill with sand.


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## Keepin It Reel (Feb 20, 2019)

Any updates?


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Romangorilla Any updates?

Looks like the Latitude 36 was a slower start at first but appears to be catching up?

Where the plugs on 3 inch centers or 6 inch centers originally?


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## Romangorilla (Jun 3, 2019)

@JRS 9572 i appreciate the offer. As bored as I'm getting due to COVID closing everything, I might take you up on that offer soon. It would just give me something to do. Lol

@ENC_Lawn Sorry for the delay. I have been on vacation for the last couple weeks. I'll post pictures tomorrow. But essentially, I had to scalp everything when I got home from the beach.
But both the Lat 36 and Celebration are completely filled in. The Celebration filled in first but the Lat 36 wasn't far behind. And now, the Lat 36 is actually producing some extremely long runners.
When I planted the plugs I put them 6" apart. They were filled in approximately 45 days.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Tiftuf and celebration are some of the fastest to establish.

Slightly turned on by this test.

I'm willing to ship you some Tiftuf sprigs.

@HungrySoutherner got any excess Tifgrand?

@Gibby got any excess Tahoma 31?


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## Gibby (Apr 3, 2018)

There is a sod farm that grows T31 near Charlotte.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Romangorilla Any updates on your mini Bermuda Grass test plot?


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## Romangorilla (Jun 3, 2019)

ENC_Lawn said:


> @Romangorilla Any updates on your mini Bermuda Grass test plot?


Hey!
Sorry, I've been kinda quite on this sub for the past 6-8 months. 
We sold our house back in Nov. and are currently renting while our new house is being built.
So no turf to take care of at the moment.
Unfortunately, The test plot project is long gone.
Hopefully, when the house is built, I can start something like that back up.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

Romangorilla said:


> ENC_Lawn said:
> 
> 
> > @Romangorilla Any updates on your mini Bermuda Grass test plot?
> ...


@Romangorilla Awesome! Congrats...look forward to following your new lawn!


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## DFW245 (Jul 23, 2021)

Was keen on celebration due to the color ive heard about. Following this. Ive always liked a more Blue-Green grass. Not sure what most consider darker, bluegreen or dark green. But photos allow me to be the judge for myself(well, as much as possible considering camera software used). Props to you for this.


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## Keepin It Reel (Feb 20, 2019)

DFW245 said:


> Was keen on celebration due to the color ive heard about. Following this. Ive always liked a more Blue-Green grass. Not sure what most consider darker, bluegreen or dark green. But photos allow me to be the judge for myself(well, as much as possible considering camera software used). Props to you for this.


Tahoma 31 has a bluish green color similar to celebration


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## HungrySoutherner (May 29, 2018)

Movingshrub said:


> Tiftuf and celebration are some of the fastest to establish.
> 
> Slightly turned on by this test.
> 
> ...


I got lots of Tifgrand


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## DFW245 (Jul 23, 2021)

Keepin It Reel said:


> DFW245 said:
> 
> 
> > Was keen on celebration due to the color ive heard about. Following this. Ive always liked a more Blue-Green grass. Not sure what most consider darker, bluegreen or dark green. But photos allow me to be the judge for myself(well, as much as possible considering camera software used). Props to you for this.
> ...


Is that so? I'll have to look into it. That's a seeded variety correct? Would one say that's potentially the darkest, most blue-green seeded cultivar? If so I'll take a HARD look into it! Thanks in advance


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

DFW245 said:


> Keepin It Reel said:
> 
> 
> > DFW245 said:
> ...


Negatory, not a seeded variety. From the pictures I've seen of Tahoma, it's nowhere near the color of Celebration.

BTW OP, if you are looking for a seeded variety that's similar to Celebration, I haven't seen one closer than Transcontinental.


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## Keepin It Reel (Feb 20, 2019)

Spammage said:


> DFW245 said:
> 
> 
> > Keepin It Reel said:
> ...


This is after i topdressed and also mowed at .375. A lot of grasses start losing color the lower you mow so that's a big consideration.

I will say the time of day, is there dew, Sun placement, etc…makes a big difference in the appearance of most lawns.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

@Keepin It Reel looks terrific! I still say the Celebration looks quite different though as it's much more blue. I know the photos can skew that too though, and I haven't seen Tahoma in person yet.


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## Keepin It Reel (Feb 20, 2019)

Spammage said:


> @Keepin It Reel looks terrific! I still say the Celebration looks quite different though as it's much more blue. I know the photos can skew that too though, and I haven't seen Tahoma in person yet.


Thanks!

I was just saying it's similar in terms of being blue-green as opposed to other cultivars that lean more towards the lime shades of green.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Keepin It Reel That looks great! Beautiful turf grass! :thumbup:

To maintain at .375 HOC what do you guys reset HOC at?

I'm guessing you scalp to dirt?


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## DFW245 (Jul 23, 2021)

Spammage said:


> DFW245 said:
> 
> 
> > Keepin It Reel said:
> ...


Ah. Well damn. It does look beautiful in his pic tho I must say! I'd love that. Just wish something like that was available in seed


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