# Sam's NJ Bermuda Adventure



## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*The Backstory*

*Origins*
I grew up in the Cleveland area (... cold) and had only seen "Florida grass" a couple of times during college spring break. Let's just say that I had other priorities and had absolutely no idea that there were southern grass types. Then I moved to South Jersey and bought a house.



It took me the entire first season to figure out what kind of grass I had in my front yard. I knew it wasn't like the stuff in my backyard, and that I had never seen it before. I diligently mowed it at 3.25" every week that summer. As a new homeowner I had stumbled on the super-secret lawn-care advice of "mow tall and often", so I cranked the mower up to the highest setting.

*Giving In*
For a while I thought I could beat the bermuda, since it's really out of its comfort zone here in NJ. Being in south jersey, I do see a bunch nice of zoysia lawns in my neighborhood, but no bermuda. I was hoping that I would be able culturally control the bermuda once I figured out that's what it was.

During the winter of 2017-2018 when it was dormant, I could really see how much bermuda I had in my lawn. I decided that I should probably figure out how to live with the stuff, at least for now...



*Figuring Things Out*

During the 2018 season, I learned what Weed-B-Gon is, how to kill stubborn weeds with glyphosate (along with some collateral damage you can see below), how to fertilize a lawn, went in on a group buy of PGR, ... but still mowed it at 2.25". I had issues with some poa annua (which I had mistaken for poa triv), and some other various cool season grasses. I was feeling proud of the lawn and it was actually looking pretty good!



I couldn't keep up at 2.5" and had to move up to 3.25". My crappy rotary mower has 3 settings - 1.25", 2.25", and 3.25", so that's what had to happen. Despite the height, it was still looking good at the end of the season.



I skipped a fall pre-emergent in the front because I was planning on scorching all the grassy weeds this spring, so what did it matter if some poa popped up this winter. That plan went to crap, though, when this happened. I had to replace most of my sewer line, which tore up the front yard.



And that brings us to this season...


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*Green-up*

I had enough green-up to "scalp" on April 14th. I say "scalp" with the quotes because I really just put my 3-height mower on the lowest setting, which I'm going to try to mow at for as long as possible. Here's the lawn at 1.25" right after that mow. It shows the damage from the sewer replacement well.



This shot shows the problem I have with cool season grasses / poa annua. This was taken a week before picture above.



*Here's my plan of attack for the season*
I think this plan is subject to change depending on how quickly the bermuda spreads and fills in. It's probably also subject to change if someone else has a better idea :lol:

1. Keep mowing at 1.25", hoping that I can get a new mower with more fine grained height adjustments later this summer.
2. Plug the empty dirt
3. Take advantage of the fact the I'm plugging and go hog wild. Plug the weak spots where the front lawn is mostly cool season grass
4. Fertilize a bunch!
5. Weed control when the bermuda has filled in
6. Scalp if I wasn't able to keep up with the low height, fertilize, and maybe there will be time for PGR


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*Time to Plug*

The bermuda is growing well now. At the lower height you can see the bunches of poa and stuff mixed into the bermuda.



*Time to plug!*





Most of the bare spot is finished. I've just been moving a tube of plugs when I have 10 minutes. I'm going to continue doing this through much of the season I think to fill in this area as well. There's a nice line where there's a color difference at the top of that slope. My goal is to get bermuda to take over the slope so that the whole section within the sidewalks is bermuda. The other side of the steps is a no-mix. The concrete will be my divider.



*Domination line!*
The property line is becoming well defined already this season. This is freshly after a cut on the neighbors side, so it's actually looking it's best right now. Looking to darken up my side a bit with iron now that the bermuda is growing.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*Growth is Picking Up*

It's definitely growing season now. I'm seeing runners when I edge. The stolons / stems are still purple where they're more exposed. I'm assuming this is because we still have the occasional 40-50 degree temps at night. Here's the overview shot. I've pointed out in the top left the area where I've been taking plugs from.



Here's a shot of the oldest of the plugs in the construction zone. I'm seeing bermuda pop up from rhizomes as well as stolons starting to move out. The purple stems are easier to see in this shot. No I'm not going to go pick every single rock out of the dirt. I raked the big ones out when I leveled the area and that is good enough for me.



The grassy weeds are starting to brown out from being cut short. Hopefully most of them die off and bermuda fills in. I'm just going to keep mowing and see what happens. Here's a close up of it.



And finally, a little project that's been nagging me. I replaced the sand in the kids sandbox because they thought it would be a good idea to throw a bunch of mulch in the sand. I "volunteered" for this so that I could have the sand to fill in a rut that's been driving me nuts since we moved in 2 years ago. It's always caused some scalping, but with the lower height, I've been hitting dirt. The rut was a magnet for fescue because it was being cut higher in the middle as well. You can see the scalping from a couple mows ago very well in this picture. With the sand it's almost level, and there wasn't much scalping this time. A little more sand and it will be flat.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*Property Line is Shaping Up*

The property line is getting to be more defined. Again this is right after a mow at the neighbors, so his is looking its best.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*Surprise Scalp*

I got a new mower and #1 is a little lower than my old one. So I took it down to see if I could manage at that height.


Mostly I'd say yes.



But I would need to fix some areas first. The front of the deck dig in here. The green strip in the middle is where I dumped the old sand from the kids sandbox. It wasn't enough sand.



And this is the side of the hill I've been plugging Bermuda into. I want it to take over. I'm planning on putting a dogwood or something else with light foliage in the old tree hump, so I haven't put much effort into it.



And the construction damage. The plugs are taking off.



So I'm calling that my spring scalp just a little bit late in the year. Good experiment and I'm happy to have found out how close I am to being able to maintain at that height. Just need time and budget for some sand.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*Scalp Recovery*

I mowed last night, but finished after dark, so here's how things looked in the morning. The lawn recovered very very well from the scalping. This was the second mow since I took it down last Monday, today is Tuesday, so this is 8 days of progress. Honestly, though it was mostly recovered by day 4.



That rut is still a problem, though. I need to get some more sand on that area sooner rather than later.



And finally, the construction damage. There's a decent amount of settling and erosion that I'll need to sort out after grass has grown in. It looks like I may have decent coverage within a month at this pace.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*Filling in nicely*

Construction damage is filling in like crazy right now. It's gotten pretty uneven with settling and erosion. Can't wait for it to fill in so that I can start to level it back up to the rest of the lawn.





Erosion after a storm exposed this big hunk of pipe. The plumber was filling the hole back in after dark after graciously squeezing us in for an emergency sewer line replacement, so I can't really be that upset. Just glad I found it now. That's the tough looking patch of grass that got displaced and replanted above.



Here's a pisser-offer, though! I was planting annuals with my daughter in the front bed. I was digging deep and amending the soil and looks what I found! Anyone recognize that white square in the bottom right of the picture?

The clean out in that bed was below ground level :x I guess I'll be digging in the construction zone and capping the new one off underground. At least I won't have a big pipe in the middle of the front yard anymore.



The color difference at the property line is fading. I think it's time for another .5lb fertilizer.



And finally who can't resist a picture of bermuda covered in dew!?


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*Getting Ready For The Burn*

The construction damage has nearly filled back in.



I'm getting anxious to start leveling it, but can't until erosion is no longer a concern. I downloaded a fun app to see what the grade is out front. I've always been curious.



I've got some vacation coming up in July that will affect my ability to keep up with my cutting schedule, so I'm going to take advantage of the need for a mid season scalp at the end of the month and do the following:

1. Scalp
2. Sand
3. Burn the weeds!
4. Heavy Fert

Still not sure what to use for an herbicide. Celsius seems so expensive! I get the "cost per application" argument, but for 3k of Bermuda, it's a steep buy-in. I've read image might help knock down the cool season grasses in the mix? It's only $25 on amazon for a bottle so it's hard to argue with that experiment.


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## Babaganoosh (Apr 21, 2019)

That's awesome.. I'm in central jersey and our climate and lack of irrigation keeps me from having a Kbg lawn. You really can't beat a grass type that fills itself in. To me that's priceless.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Thanks @Babaganoosh! I wouldn't have chosen Bermuda. I think we are a couple states too far north for it. For now, though, I'm going to see what I can do with it.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*What's your secret?*

I don't know what kind of mutant grass Bermuda is, but we haven't had rain for 2 weeks and it's been 90+ every day here. The grass is still green, still growing, and still spreading. I don't water my front yard. I pulled some plugs for the weak hill below and the ground was bone dry, it's like this stuff is surviving on just the morning dew.

The HOC got away from me with traveling in July, so I'm cutting at 2.5", and only when I have absolutely have to. It's browning when I cut at 2.5". After our next appreciable rainfall, I'm going to "scalp" back down to 1.75" and then maintain at 2.5" the rest of the season.



This side of the yard has been my side project this year. I've been pulling plugs here and there when I have 10 minutes. I probably pulled 25-30 in June that are spreading well. I just pulled another 15 this morning since the forecast shows rain. Once I've got established bermuda, I'll have to decide what to do with the cool season grass the previous owner overseeded with. Also I'm trying to talk my wife into a tree for that hump this fall. Maybe a crape myrtle.



I finally got some sand in the construction damage on 7/30. 6 bags helped, but it was getting deep (1+") in some spots. I decided to let it fill back in and then do another round of sanding there. Here's 7/31 the morning after sanding and fertilizing the spot.



And here's this morning, 8/7. Looks like it will be ready for round 2 next week.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*Mid-Season Scalp*

We got an inch of rain on Wednesday night, last night I took the lawn down to 1.75". I fertilized 2/3lb N/M before the rain so I'm feeling pretty good about a quick recovery. I would have liked to scalp right before the rain but I couldn't find the time.

It got way way out of hand in July, but now I'm able to keep up again for the rest of the season. It was browning significantly when I cut at 2.5" after missing several mows while traveling. I haven't been using PGR this year. My nice sprayer with a fan tip broke, and I haven't found the budget to replace it, yet. No way I'm blanket spraying PGR with the $7 hand can which is now my only sprayer.

Here's a shot mid mow. It shows just how much I'm taking off. I let it go a few extra days knowing I was about to scalp anyways. I made it 1.5 passes before the bag filled up. The coloring in this photo is weird. It was pretty dark and I had to crank up the brightness.



I finished well after dark, so here's a couple after shots I took this morning.





If I would have had more daylight and it was easier to water the front, then I would have taken another pass at 1.25". I took enough off for one day, though.


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

I'm amazed that bermuda grows so well in NJ. Great job!


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Lol thanks @tcorbitt20!

I'm not sure why the lawn ended up bermuda here, but it's extremely atypical. There's some patches of wild bermuda I'll see here and there, but I've never seen another bermuda lawn. There's plenty of zoysia, so warm season lawns aren't unheard of, but bermuda seems to be.

My house apparently used to have like a 7th string eagles quarterback living here, so maybe he seeded it thinking if veterans field couldn't have good grass he'd put it in his front yard :lol: wouldn't that be a good story!


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

This is so cool! Why have I not seen this journal before...I now remember you having a link in your cool-season one, but I never actually saw it until tonight. Being from CT, the only place I've seen Bermuda Grass was in Florida (and even then, not much of it...mostly St. Augustine Grass, Centipede, and Bahia, as well as some Seashore Paspalum).

There are a handful of Zoysia lawns within walking distance of here, as well as some Zoysia hellstrips, but no Bermuda (which is probably a good thing...one less monster weed grass to worry about, lol!).

It looks good! I'm sure a lot of the reel low warm season Bermuda people cringe at the sloped yard and high HOC, but I think it's cool that it's working for you. That's awesome that it handled the weeks in the 90s we had last month well.

I guess a previous owner of the home must have planted Bermuda Grass. I wonder why they would do that...there are only a small handful of Bermuda lawns in the Northeast! There is a guy (don't think he's a member) outside of Philly growing Bermuda (improved variety - either Yukon or Latitude 36, forget which). His greens up in April. I think you guys are at the very Northern edge of where it's more likely to survive the Winter than not. Up here, you could do it too with some of the newer cold tolerant cultivars in theory (UConn does test plots), but you'd get huge amounts of Winterkill some years, which is not worth the gamble until they manage to breed cultivars with even better cold survival. I remember reading that Hartford was the very Northernmost fringe where the improved Bermudas *could* survive the Winter, but with major losses possible in a bad year.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Thanks, @Green! It seems to do as well as the zoysia for me. It sure is a different beast. It'll be 95 degrees without rain in weeks, and there's green runners 6" long tacking down into 1/2" of road grit in the apron of my driveway. When I moved in it had grown about 4 feet over the cement apron in my drive. Runners really are an amazing thing to witness when you're used to cool season grass.

My biggest complaint with the lawn is that if you skip mowing for like 6 days to take a trip, you're stuck with a brown lawn every time you mow unless you scalp or raise the height. It's hard to deal with when you've got a rotary without fine tuned HOC adjustments. I think the common I have is probably much more prone to this.

It's also extremely scratchy and itchy compared to my cool season grass. It was better this spring when I was mowing at 1.25" and it was getting regular rain. Even at its softest, though, it was way pricklier than a brown, dormant, old variety, cool season lawn. Again I've read here that it's better with nicer bermuda.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Interesting. I wouldn't have guessed that it would be stiff and rough like that. But I've never touched Bermuda in person. Seashore Paspalum is really soft and smooth feeling...probably the best barefoot grass ever when reel mowed to about 0.25 or 0.5 inch. That's what I'd want if I lived in Florida most likely, even though some people say it has no place in a home lawn because it can be finicky...but it looks like a very fine-textured, medium-light green KBG, so I think I'd do it anyway.

I remember seeing a lot of brownish-green St. Augustine (probably with Bermuda invading) back when I was in Florida. Maybe the other warm-season grasses are prone to the same browning if they grow too much...?

How is the dust/allergy factor when mulch mowing the Bermuda compared to cool-season stuff?

Most of the Zoysia lawns around here don't look as dark green as cool-season stuff...probably because people don't fertilize/amend their soil, or fertilize at the wrong time of year. Or maybe because they're older varieties. Believe it or not, a lot of the small bit of lawn at my local post office is Zoysia. I would consider Zoysia (or even Bermuda??) if I have an office/business lawn of my own someday, due to them needing less watering...but might also consider KY-31 Tall Fescue before any of those since it'd be green pretty much all year.

The temps are increasing slowly over time; my area (USDA Zone 6b) is expected to be reclassified into Zone 7a in about 25 years time. Coastal Southwest CT (which is Zone 7a) is already technically considered the Northern edge of the transition zone by the latest standards. So, warm-season grasses will probably have more use going forward. But Allyn Hane says he thinks that Zoysia doesn't really belong anywhere there's snow in the Winter, lol.

We had about 6 weeks in a row where the average high was around 90, until a week ago, but the temps are dropping off now...apparently tonight is going to go down to 59. My grass is stressed, but recovering. I want more Summer, lol. Hopefully it'll stay mostly in the 80s for a while. One thing is for sure...warm-season grass uses less water due to the C4 pathway not requiring photorespiration/high evapotranspiration levels, and also deeper roots in some cases (like Bermuda).


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

All the zoysia around me is lighter as well. Probably older varieties, too, but I don't know much about zoysia. Funny about LCN! I'm probably a "border town" for that rule. You've probably seen in my other thread, but we don't get much snow. A few times a year and it only lasts for a couple days. That was pleasent, coming from Cleveland where we would keep snow on the ground all winter and probably have a snow storm in May. South Jersey seems to get one or two cold streaks where the high is in the 20s. Most days the highs are hovering just above freezing.

So the C4 respiratory process is the key! Interesting!

I can't say I've noticed an allergy difference. No one in my family is sensitive to grass pollen or dust. My wife and I get sniffly when the tree pollen is dropping, but that's it. I also bag, not mulch. I mow at 2.5" max since getting a mulching/bagging mower. I prefer 1.75" for both front and back and shorter heights clump badly in thicker grass.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

I've been surprised about your Winter temps and lack of snow. But I guess the ocean is a moderating influence. Are you in 7a or 7b technically?

I know where my aunt and uncle are in coastal CT, there is far less snow than here, about 20 miles inland. But CT is not surrounded by water on two sides and jutting out into into it like NJ...and not as far South either.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

7a. CT looks pretty similar to north jersey with the mountains.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*Scalp Recovery*

The front was ready for a charity mow at 2.5" after scalping it down to 1.75" 6 days ago. I got that in last night. Shorter days are killing me I mowed a lot of it after dark.



This is 6 days ago after the scalp, I sanded again the afternoon after I posted last.



This is today. The second round of sanding has nearly filled back in. It was nice mowing over it last night. It felt like butter compared to my first mow this season!

This will have been the 3rd grow-in since June. Once from plugs and twice after heavy sanding.



The progress on the side hill shows well in the morning dew. The lighter sea-green is plugs expanding. This highlights the many plugs I still have to move! Always a project :lol:



And I sprayed an area to make a new bed in the front. I'd like to take it all the way around the corner of my house, but we're starting small to keep the plant budget low this year. We still have some plants we'd like to buy for the existing, sparse beds out front at the same time.

I mixed glyphosate, triclopyr, NIS, and marker dye. A line is forming between the sprayed and unsprayed grass now. Its like the dying grass doesn't collect dew. It's been 3 days.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

The construction damage has almost disappeared after the second sanding.

I've got a decent amount of drought stress along the sidewalk. We got an inch of rain yesterday and we're out of the 90's this week. Hopefully it'll recover quickly. I am not dragging hoses out front because of all the watering I've got to do outback for my overseed.



I missed taking a picture of the crispy bermuda I sprayed for a flower bed. It took 3 apps of glyphosate+triclopyr over 2.5 weeks to knock out all green.

Here's what it looks like now. We replanted the existing bed and made that one fresh. We got the foundational plants in place on discount. Next spring we'll have budget for other perennials and small shrubs to fill in around what's there.



Here's the side hill. This angle shows the progress with very minimal effort. I've plugged here and there but nothing crazy. The green is bermuda. The brown is crispy cool season grass (mostly poa I think).


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

another one from the side hill. Here's what plugs look like after about a month. Bermuda is such a crazy grass!


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## ladycage (Aug 12, 2019)

Your Bermuda looks good, much better than mine does. What do you fertilize it with and how often?


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Thanks @ladycage! I give it about 1/3 lb N every other week. Fast release in the spring and slow through the summer. I've skipped a few applications this summer so it's not growing fast when I'm on vacation. I just use whatever I can find cheaply with iron. Coated urea for slow release and urea+AS for fast.

To be honest, though, it's not the fertilizer. It's mowing every 3 days. I had to reset the height after vacation in July when I couldn't keep up. Regular mowing to prevent scalping is the key.


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## ThePineappleWins (Oct 8, 2019)

Has your Bermuda went brown yet? When is it normally green from? I'm only a few miles from you and have been thinking about trying some latitude 36 in my very sunny and hot back yard. Between kids playing on it and the heat the TTTF and KBG look very tired and worn by the end of summer.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

@ThePineappleWins It is still green, but not really growing anymore. I've got some spots that suffered drought stress in September when I neglected the front to overseed the back. Those aren't going to recover this season and are still brown. The rest is still green, though going dormant. After we get a frost or two it will start to brown.

I remember it was well on its way by Halloween last year. Looks like we got out first frost October 19. It was almost completely brown by the middle of November. In the spring it seems to break dormancy in the first half of April. I scalped this year in the middle of the month.

If I had the budget I wouldn't mind zoysia out front. I've got lots of neighbors with zoysia and it doesn't lose density over the winter the same way my bermuda does. Even though mine greens up in April, it takes a while for it to thicken back up. I also don't like how i have to play games with my HOC throughout the season. When life gets busy and I miss a mow by a few days, then every subsequent mow at the same height gives it a brown haze. I'm stuck raising the HOC or resetting and making it _really_ brown for a week or so.

All in all, I don't hate the bermuda enough to switch. I really like the repairability and the way it handles the heat compared to my cool season grass. Ive also never seen any disease in my front lawn, but fight it constantly in the rest of my yard. I wouldn't choose bermuda if I was doing a renovation, though.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

samjonester said:


> CT looks pretty similar to north jersey with the mountains.


Yeah, that sounds about right...the Southern half of CT is usually about 2 degrees cooler than North Jersey. Can't confirm for sure as I haven't been to Jersey...yet. I'll take your word on it.

I'm in 6b here...inland.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Here's a shot of the front lawn this morning. I've been busy over seeding the back and my side yards I've barely kept up with the mowing late this summer.



The brown near the sidewalk is the drought stress I was mentioning @ThePineappleWins.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Surprised Bermuda would show drought stress this time of year in a Northern area, because it's supposed to be an efficient water user and have deep roots. or maybe the cooling temps compromises it and the drought stress is worse now, versus when it was hotter out?

Guessing you're done with fertilizer for 2019 on the Bermuda now.

Is the hellstrip Bermuda, too?


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

@Green, it is bermuda, yes. The drought stress is from September. I didn't feel like dragging hoses out front and interrupting my schedule for my backyard overseed, so it got pretty bad by the end of the month. It was too cold for it to recover by the time it started raining in October. I haven't mowed in 1.5 weeks. In August I was mowing every 3 days and barely keeping up.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

*Closing out the season*

We haven't had a frost yet, but there have been a couple nights in the 30s. Top growth seems to have stopped and color is really fading now.



Here's a pic of what will probably be my last mow of the season. If I mow again I imagine it will be just to bag leaves.

We planted a couple of peach drift roses at the end of August when we replanted our beds our front. They're about to hit their October peak I think. We're gonna get a couple more next spring. They're supposed to be mounding, staying 3 feet high, and flower more than knock outs. We're using them as the second row in front of box woods and hollys.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Is it holding color the past few weeks to the same extent that Zoysia is?


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Green said:


> Is it holding color the past few weeks to the same extent that Zoysia is?


I'd say it's holding color a little better than my zoysia neighbors. Although I did kind of neglect it in September, my bermuda received a much higher level of care and fertilization through the summer than most lawns around me. I think that helps it hold onto the green color after its stopped growing. The zoysia lawns near me are all an older variety with thicker blades and a lighter color, so maybe that plays a part?


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

samjonester said:


> I'd say it's holding color a little better than my zoysia neighbors. Although I did kind of neglect it in September, my bermuda received a much higher level of care and fertilization through the summer than most lawns around me. I think that helps it hold onto the green color after its stopped growing. The zoysia lawns near me are all an older variety with thicker blades and a lighter color, so maybe that plays a part?


Interesting!

We have the same old light green Zoysia around here as well. It's going brown rapidly in many places. I saw some crabgrass a few days ago that was still alive. I guess since we haven't had frost yet. But there will be frost within the next week almost certainly. I'm still getting tomatoes from some plants...let's see how long they can keep going.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

* Farewwell*


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Final cleanup for leaves and to tidy it up for the winter. It's been completely brown for about 2 weeks now.


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## lawn_error (6 mo ago)

Enjoyed this lawn journal! I've inherited a well-established backyard that is 65% zoysia (i think), also in 7a (Wayne PA), so it's always helpful reading about warm season lawns north of VA. I hope to slowly propagate to 90% zoysia over the next 2 years.


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