# Grassdad's Celebration Bermuda experiment



## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

The Celebration Bermuda Experiment

Our family recently moved to the Columbia, SC area from Charlotte. After taking care of both warm season and cool season grass in Charlotte, I'm excited to be fully focused on the warm season grass types here in the hottest city in the world.

When we moved in, the yard was a mix of centipede and dying St Augustine. The previous owner put down patches of centipede over the worse sections of St Augustine so needless to say the yard is not looking it's best. 




We decided to replace our driveway which left a large section of dirt. This is where the experiment starts. All my research on this forum says that Celebration Bermuda is one of the fastest lateral growing grass.

So I planted a plug farm consisting of two pallets of Celebration Bermuda. Once this grass is rooted, the plan is to plug the yard gradually and kill off the centipede and St aug. This may take some time and I hope to document the process here.

3/5 sod installed. Note - this is back breaking work and I recommend subbing this out. I was excited to come home to two very green pallets of Celebration Bermuda. I had read that this stuff greens up early but almost fully green as of 3/5 in SC is pretty darn good.



Installed sod:





Fertilization plan:
.5 lbs N / 1k per week during growing season. Will back this down at any signs of burn. Or if I can't keep up with the mowing. I have 45-0-0 on hand.

Weed control - following Bermuda Triangle with celcius and certainty

Soil test - pulled a soil sample and will post the results here

Soil type - pretty sandy with some clay and a bit of OM

Water- 2x a week. 1-1.5inches a week. I will experiment a bit on watering and test of more water pushes lateral growth

Mowing - plan to mow at least every other day with manual reel or my rotary if things get out of hand. Goal is everyday with the manual reel at .5 inch.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

Plug on 12 inch centers and you will be good to go.

If your not in a hurry and you get tired of plugging you could go to 18 inch centers with Celebration in my opinion.

At .5 pounds of nitrogen a week...

The good is the Bermuda will take off!!!

The bad you will be cutting grass every 48 hours...

Solid plan overall...the only concern would be the trees in your yard and shade issues.

Also if you could get the majority of you plugs down before the end of June...you could level with Sand and Fertilizer.

It would give you a good 10 days off from mowing in the middle of the summer.

And would most likely help the Bermuda plug spread even more.

Make sure you use Mason sand.

Make sure you are getting a good 1 to 1.5 inches of water a week on the Bermuda as well.


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

There is a tiny bit of shade. But mostly from large pines that have had the canopy raised and a couple bushes. Overall, I think its enough sun to get it going.

Sand level definitely in the plan. Will likely try to get my hands on some dry bagged sand i can spread with a spreader.

Plugs in before June is a goal to strive for.


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

The picture doesn't do it justice, but the dark green color of the celebration Bermuda is looking really good. Neighbors already wondering why the grass is green right now.


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## JRS 9572 (May 28, 2018)

Welcome to the midlands! Looks good!


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## monsonman (Dec 9, 2020)

Following your progress as I just started to kill off my St Aug backyard for some Celebration as well. :thumbup:


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

3/21 update - grass coming out of dormancy. Haven't fertilized yet. Temps will be consistently into the 70s this week so may throw some down later in the week.





Sod isn't fully rooted yet. But there is definitely some progress. Sod farm has seeded some rye into it which is beginning to be stressed by the temps. As soon as this sod is tacked down well enough for mowing, i will begin the plugging process...


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

I had a test patch of tiftuf bermuda that i put down late last season. The green up seems to be at the same speed. Will post some pictures soon. The celebration bermuda has a much darker blue/green color while the tiftuf has a slightly smaller/thinner blade.


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

Quick TifTuf vs. Celebration Bermuda

TifTuf is on the left. Celebration on the right. Both grasses seem to be greening up well. The TifTuf sod was put down last fall and is rooted very well. These two spots have full sun.

Celebration's color is a bit more deep blue-green while TifTuf has a very green.

Tiftuf has some smaller blades, but my previous experience with TifTuf had similar blades to the Celebration. Will keep track of this with more pictures.

The celebration is already shooting out runners while the TifTuf is growing more upright.

I can't tell which I like the best, but I'm committed to the celebration. If I get a wild hair I may sod the backyard with Tiftuf just to have some variety around.


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

I love my celebration. I bet you will, too.


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

We have lift off:


Current situation:


Rye is starting to struggle. I don't plan on spraying this out unless it sticks around too long...


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

Updat - i began the plugging process over the weekend. Wife stated "why are there holes in the grass??"





I sprayed the rye last week with certainty so it's beginning to show signs of decline.


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

Signs of the PRG fading:



Some of the plugs taking off:





TifTuf going strong too:



Thinking i need to jack up the fertilizer to get these plugs to spread. Weather has been a bit cool, so i images things will take off when it heats up a bit. I will likely increase urea apps to .5lbs/week and see what happens. Watering every other day to encourage deep roots. Plugs get hand watered daily if they show signs of drying out..


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

Today I had a stump ground out as low as the guy could go. I spent some time digging out all the wood chips and leveling out the area. Found a broken irrigation pipe which I'll have to fix asap. Another pallet of Celebration coming tomorrow to fill this area in. Dogs would have a field day in the mud...


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## Topcat (Mar 21, 2017)

Following from Charlston. I was torn between Celebration and TifTuf when I put sod down. I ultimately went with TifTuf. You progress looks great so far.


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

Update: filled in the stump hole with another pallet of celebration. It's rooting well but need to spray out the rye over seed.

I've been spraying weekly but upped the game to some 24-0-11 granular for an added kick while i was out of town. The celebration took off and is throwing out 8 inch runners in less than 4 days. Wild.








Tiftuf update - notice the color difference. Will do a side by side later this week.


And the new bag of 46-0-0


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## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

Update - things moving along. Been spraying 46-0-0 weekly at about .5 lbs per 1k.



Killed off section of centipede/st. Aug to begin more plugging. Time lapse is 1 day per picture. Wife asked why the grass was dying.










Area is completely dead now. Interesting thing is that the sedge was going strong until 2nd spray around day 5.

Leveled a small area.


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## hurricanewolf (Apr 22, 2020)

Interesting experiment! Any comparison's between Celebration and Tiftuf now that its been about 1 year? I am trying to decide which one I want to go with. I did a little test last year and so far I think I like that Tiftuf is denser and has greened up pretty good already while the Celebration is just starting to wake up.


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