# Lawn coming out of dormancy early, actively growing...



## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

I was curious why my lawn would be greening up so soon. Temps have been between high 30's to mid-40's at night, 40-55 during the day. Yesterday I cut an area close to the house that was well over 2 inches tall.

As you can see in the pic, my neighbor is completely dormant, and so is every other house. I'm trying to find out if this is good or bad, I know I need to leave the lawn alone during dormancy so I certainly am not doing anything to stimulate growth, and we've only have a couple of showers over the past month or so.


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## high leverage (Jun 11, 2017)

Austinite said:


> I was curious why my lawn would be greening up so soon. Temps have been between high 30's to mid-40's at night, 40-55 during the day. Yesterday I cut an area close to the house that was well over 2 inches tall.
> 
> As you can see in the pic, my neighbor is completely dormant, and so is every other house. I'm trying to find out if this is good or bad, I know I need to leave the lawn alone during dormancy so I certainly am not doing anything to stimulate growth, and we've only have a couple of showers over the past month or so.


The lower the HOC the more solar radiation that is absorbed. The same can be inferred from the grass next to houses, side walks, ect.. These material absorb/ reflect the solar radiation therefore keeping the soil temps elevated to a more ideal level for growing Bermuda or resisting dormancy.

Bermuda dormancy is more effected by soil temps than air temps. Of course hours of sunlight also plays a major role. I assume your lawn is kept much shorter than your neighbors. Hence the difference


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## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

Premature coming out of dormancy is not always a good thing. The grass uses up reserve to green up and the next cold snap sets it back. But it's still bermuda so it will bounce back. 3 warm ups and cold snaps last year took my Bermuda out. It wasn't until the end of May before I had 100% green up.


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## OD on Grass (Nov 1, 2018)

And we're sure it's 100% Bermuda?


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

Yes, its 100% bermuda. Dominantly Lat 36

Thanks for the replies!


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

That's crazy. @Austinite, what month does it usually start becoming green?


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## high leverage (Jun 11, 2017)

Latitude 36 has been proven to be one of the most cold tolerant cultivars available. That in conjunction with a low HOC and Austin, TX latitude of 30º is a perfect combo.


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

Green said:


> That's crazy. @Austinite, what month does it usually start becoming green?


Never experienced lat 36 before, first time having it, but other lawns in Austin usually dont come back till around mid to late march.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Austinite said:


> Green said:
> 
> 
> > That's crazy. @Austinite, what month does it usually start becoming green?
> ...


When is usually your coldest time of the year?


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

Green said:


> Austinite said:
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> 
> > Green said:
> ...


Really tough one to answer. Hence the saying "If you dont like the weather wait 5 minutes, it'll change". If I were to guess I'd say probably mid to lat january
Grass is even greener today. A Couple more days and I will need a full mow.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Due to seasonal lag, likely late January early Feb for most people in the states.


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

Yeah I get that. Just don't understand why my lawn is the only one that came out of dormancy. I don't think there is another lawn growing whithin a 10 mile radius that I've seen. I might ask my neighbor if I can pay for a soil sample from his lawn and compare to mine. Really a head scratcher.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Get soil temps for your lawn and neighbor.

But I think it is really the lat 36. The local AAA ground crew is growing it in a test plot in Indy. It survived the very cold winter from last year.


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## Iriasj2009 (Feb 15, 2017)

Austinite said:


> Green said:
> 
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> > Austinite said:
> ...


I'm on the gulf coast and don't get as many freezings temps as Austin does but I can relate to your Bermuda "going out of dormancy", depending on how warm of a winter we have. Celebration Bermuda would brown up on me and then start growing again once we hit some warmer temps. 
Keeping the lawn short definitely keeps the lawn looking green. I haven't mowed for about 3 weeks, and just recently started to loose color. I just try to keep it looking as tidy as possible and try to avoid scalping it. Around my neighborhood, there are a couple well kept st Augustine lawns that have kept their color evenly while some that look completely dormant all because of mowing practices.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Austinite said:


> Yeah I get that. Just don't understand why my lawn is the only one that came out of dormancy. I don't think there is another lawn growing whithin a 10 mile radius that I've seen. I might ask my neighbor if I can pay for a soil sample from his lawn and compare to mine. Really a head scratcher.


Different cultivars green up quicker than others. Lat 36 is one of the quickest to green up. I assume none of your neighbors have lat 36. Your low HOC allows soil to warm up more than your neighbors. Add those together and poof, green up.


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

Sounds good, thank you, Gentlemen. And yes, I believe I am the only one with Lat 36 on my street.


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## Kballen11 (Mar 26, 2018)

@Redtenchu and I were just talking about this. He was saying that using milo can also help with green up. I am in okc but also have lat 36 and there is a lot of green in mine as well. No mowing though.


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## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

To clarify, there are many factors than can lead to early bermuda green up, most of them are mentioned above. The majority of these factors are out of our direct control. Like TC mentioned, I'd be concerned about coming out of dormancy multiple times in the winter months.


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

Thanks guys. Hopefully it picks a state and stays there till spring. Sure would hate to hinder growth in spring. So far it has stayed green and is still growing. I plan on mowing it in the next few days once it dries up.

As for Milo, I applied tons of it over the summer and through october. Milo overload would be an understatement.


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## Kballen11 (Mar 26, 2018)

Yes, I should have been more specific. Red was not implying this was a good thing. I was just curious if you were using organics like Milo @Austinite ?


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

Yeah my fert has been Milo, Ringer lawn restore and humic acid. That's mainly all I did all year.

I'm not too worried to be honest, i just dont want the delay in spring time. But bermuda is very aggressive. You'd have to seriously set it on fire for it not to bounce back. And from my understanding, Lat 36 is far more cold and shade tolerant than the others. I really would like to find someone around here with Lat 36. Maybe I'll post on the NextDoor app and see if anyone responds.


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## Kballen11 (Mar 26, 2018)

No one in my neighborhood has it either. It's been a great turf for me. Going on it's third season. I did have some dollar spot last year but other than that it's been really tough.


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## Redland1 (Feb 26, 2018)

Just north of San Antonio here and having the same results.Lat.36 on one side of the front lawn and Tif 419 on the other side plus the back.All are greening up and the 419 opposite of the lat.36 is actually greener.Neighbors yard is completely dormant as is most everyone in the subdivision minus a couple who have scalped their lawns.


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## Smokindog (Jun 20, 2018)

I'm just north of DFW and I've got a strip of Bermuda along my brick bus garage that's about 12 feet wide that never went dormant. It faces south and the heat off the brick wall creates a much warmer micro-climate on that side.


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## Bermuda_Newbie (Jun 15, 2018)

I'm in a totally different place from all of you and I have a weird triangular piece that is still green and has never gone dormant. Not sure why. Bermuda is a strange animal.


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

I'm in Central Louisiana and I've notice we didn't really have a winter yet. Most of yard is brown, but I still have some St Augustine thats still green. This is a really weird season for sure. I'm now wondering how hot spring and summer will be.


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## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

Bermuda_Newbie said:


> I'm in a totally different place from all of you and I have a weird triangular piece that is still green and has never gone dormant. Not sure why. Bermuda is a strange animal.


I wonder if there is something below the surface keeping that area warmer. Have you ever checked the soil temperature in and outside of this triangle of green?


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Recently, I was watching a "What's in your Cart" video by a course superintendent. One of his tools he uses is a Laser Thermometer to read soil temperatures. I went out an checked my lawn with a laser. I was shocked to see our ground temps in Atlanta were 52-54F yesterday. No wonder these lawns are still showing some green.

Golf Course Superintendents TV on YouTube

@Bermuda_Newbie your Bermuda Triangle is certainly being kept warmer underground, *OR* I've seen a report of sun reflections from a window burning turf. You might be getting a reflection at a point in the day that is acting like a warming blanket. A rectangular shape sounds like a possibility. I think in the turf burning situation, the member video'd the spot throughout a day and for 5 or so minutes the magnification (focus) of sunlight could finally be seen.

Another tool for you Geeks - Green Cast Soil Temp Maps


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## jonthepain (May 5, 2018)

> . You'd have to seriously set it on fire for it not to bounce back.


Bermudagrass loves fire


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

jonthepain said:


> > . You'd have to seriously set it on fire for it not to bounce back.
> 
> 
> Bermudagrass loves fire


lol. I wouldn't doubt it...


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## Bermuda_Newbie (Jun 15, 2018)

Redtenchu said:


> Bermuda_Newbie said:
> 
> 
> > I'm in a totally different place from all of you and I have a weird triangular piece that is still green and has never gone dormant. Not sure why. Bermuda is a strange animal.
> ...


I haven't checked the surface temp. It's sprinkling outside but I did get a picture.





The sod went in towards the end of October and they added some fertilizer. I'm wondering if extra fertilizer got dumped here. I thought of window reflections but it faces east with the a pretty wide street between that side yard and the houses across the street. Any ideas?


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## N LA Hacker (Aug 17, 2018)

Aliens.


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## Kballen11 (Mar 26, 2018)

Sorry I couldn't help it.


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## jonthepain (May 5, 2018)

I had a customer who accidentally burned off a section of his bermudagrass lawn.

It was the best looking part of his lawn for a couple of years. You could really see the difference


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