# 1/2 acre Bermuda Basketcase. Let's get started!



## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Hi there TLF!!

We purchased a 2yo home in a newish sub-div about a month and a half ago. I'm yet another northern transplant (Downstate/Hudson Valley Region) and since I was working 70-80+ a week, the name of the game up there was low-maint. Cut it high, Scotts 4-step, about 1 acre, you guys know this story. It was the best looking lawn in the 'hood, which wasn't a high bar to clear by any means, and didn't break the bank to get that way. Mostly KBG with a healthy dose of PRG mixed about.





My, how things have changed for me..... :lol:

So here are a few shots taken the day I moved in.









So I have what I believe to be a hybrid variety of Bermuda, that was allowed to grow WAY too high as my first cut was at 4"+ and I was exposing stems. I have been trying to work it back down each week, not more than 1/2" each week, mowing at least 2X weekly. Even then I have to use my backpack blower to break-up the clippings as the tangled mess of stems gets sucked up into the mower creating what is for me, a surprising volume of clippings for such modest adjustments.

After the first couple cuts, I noticed the lawn was doing....... nothing. Nothing at all really. So I went for throwing down about 25lbs of TurfBuilder (32-0-0) and that at least did spur a little growth. With a little bit of color (just a tiny bit) returning, I kept up with the 2X mowing, dropping the HOC a 1/2" on my 2nd cut on Saturdays.

So here I am,finally cutting at about 2", and my lawn looks like crap and I have maybe a month before it goes dormant if the weather holds out. I have been kicking around the ideas for what I want to do next season. Still playing with the idea of tossing some annual rye on it (via overseeder) for the winter and scalping it hard in the spring. But then what? I feel pretty ill-equipped to achieve anything less than a 2" cut and even that will be challenging thanks to some creative grading and my 48" deck. So, where do you guys think I should go with this mess? How bad am I going to break the bank if I push this lawn down to 1" or lower? I get the equipment costs, I've even spent a little time hoofing it behind a greensmower. (And tri-plexs, and fairway mowers, etc....) But how much more water (I have an irrigation system here) fert, and Chem am I in for? I'm going to need a sprayer appropriate for this yard too in addition to some kind of reel mower. Plus a major leveling project is likely in the spring. Is this even feasible for what is likely at least 15k of lawn? It's pretty overwhelming but I'm hoping you all have some good ideas on where to start, and perhaps a short-term fix to make me feel better about this season!

Pics taken tonight:


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

Incremental lowering doesn't work for Bermuda. If you're wanting to go lower it's best to take it down as low as possible then come up from there to maintain a height.

That lawn looks bigger than 15k. Check out findlotsize.com to double check you sqft.

15k+ would be a work out for a walk behind greens mower but doable. I would definitely look into the 26" size models. Your lawn looks open and inviting to a triplex though if it's in the budget.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

J_nick said:


> Incremental lowering doesn't work for Bermuda. If you're wanting to go lower it's best to take it down as low as possible then come up from there to maintain a height.
> 
> That lawn looks bigger than 15k. Check out findlotsize.com to double check you sqft.
> 
> 15k+ would be a work out for a walk behind greens mower but doable. I would definitely look into the 26" size models. Your lawn looks open and inviting to a triplex though if it's in the budget.


The lot is 25k, so I figure the house and the driveway/patio is at least 4-5k. So maybe 20k but I will get better measurements here soon.

I'm learning the hard way about incremental lowering! Once I figured out my cool-season habits weren't working, at all, I started reading and ended up here at TLF. I don't know that I have enough time for it to recover and if I knock it down again though.

I thought about looking into a triplex but that's a bit of overkill I think as I doubt my lawn will stay this open forever. The wife is already talking about a fence. The 26" units do have my interest, how do they do on moderate slopes like I have out front and on the side? I have used a Jacobsen 522 on tee boxes and greens but never on anything more extreme than that. They had no trouble hopping up onto the tee but that was with the front roller raised up high, and not cutting. I used to do 6-7 greens and have to have the machine cleaned and ready for the next day before 8am. (Walk-mowing that is). I loved every minute though. Leaving absolute perfection in my wake, regardless of whether I was walking or riding, and being out there pre-dawn. Good memories!


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

The slope doesn't look too bad but pictures can be deceiving. Redtenchu has a pretty nice slope to his yard and he mows it with a greensmower.

Pic of his yard and slope


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## cnet24 (Jul 14, 2017)

Man, what a beautiful piece of property! Get it right next year and everyone on here will be drooling! Also, couldn't have picked a better city to move to. I love Greenville and my wife and I visit often!

A few comments from me:
-Flush the majority of your cool season glass knowledge down the drain: time to go low!
-I agree about the triplex comment- here is the link to one in Fair Play SC that I've been looking at for awhile, just because how cool it is (I certainly don't have the lawn size for it)

https://atlanta.craigslist.org/eat/grd/d/toro-tri-plex-reel-mower/6258105264.html

-I'd say for how late we are in the season, let it go and start fresh next year. I'd say get down your fall pre-e treatment ASAP, but that would probably be the only maintenance I'd perform.
-In the mean time, I'd begin researching and familiarizing yourself with a bermuda care calendar of your choosing, I follow Walter Reeve's calendar here in ATL, but you could certainly grab one from one of the major turf universities online for free (Clemson, UGA, Auburn).
-As far as other tools, I'd get the biggest reel mower you can for that property, and for your chemical applications, check out this thread that has been popular with many members here.

http://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=74

Good Luck!


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Welcome to the forums MasterMech. Glad to see another warm season grass owner join us.

Looks like you've got plenty of room to try a few things, and a good starting point would be to get a soil test; the reason I said that was because by the pic of the driveway, I'm thinking you might have a lot of iron in the soil. For curiosity's sake, I'd like to see what you've got there. Depending on the results, you could go ahead and get your lime/gypsum down, or you might have a perfect pH. No way to know if you've got some deficiencies that you might need to work on improving over multiple seasons, and it would be a good time to get this simple step done.

For sprayers, the Chapin 97900 24V is the one that people are recommending for push-behind (I just sent mine off for warranty service. :sad: I also have a 20 gallon pull-behind sprayer that I use with my zero turn for my 15k yard, but since I've recently done a reno on the front, I've found myself using the Chapin more than the pull-behind sprayer.

You said you put down 25# of 32-0-0. On 20k ft2, that's 0.4lbs N per k. I know there's people that are putting down 1 lb/k. It wouldn't hurt to throw down another bag to get 1 lb/k. The bermuda will need that N to store up carbs for the winter. It would be a good time to get your PreE down, depending on your weather. Don't let the application window go by!

An audit of your irrigation system would also be helpful knowledge. Find out what the capacity of your system is, and if you need to adjust/repair/replace any heads. Not sure how much rain you've had up there.

I noticed some pretty uneven cuts in the pictures, and I'm not sure if that's just the leveling project that you're referring to that you need to correct, or if it's scalping if the mower is not level. Check to make sure you've got the same cutting height on all 4 wheels/that the deck is even to the ground. Hope this gives you food for thought!


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Colonel K0rn said:


> Welcome to the forums MasterMech. Glad to see another warm season grass owner join us.
> 
> Looks like you've got plenty of room to try a few things, and a good starting point would be to get a soil test; the reason I said that was because by the pic of the driveway, I'm thinking you might have a lot of iron in the soil. For curiosity's sake, I'd like to see what you've got there. Depending on the results, you could go ahead and get your lime/gypsum down, or you might have a perfect pH. No way to know if you've got some deficiencies that you might need to work on improving over multiple seasons, and it would be a good time to get this simple step done.
> 
> ...


The tractor deck is as level as it gets unfortunately. It's the ground that causes the gouging if I am not super careful with my mowing direction and wheel placement.

A little background on me, I'm an ex-wrench for residential/commercial/and municipal turf equipment, particularly of the green variety. I worked for a JD dealer for 5 years or so awhile back before venturing into my current field. And I put in a little time on a golf course grounds crew and those have been my two favorite pastimes since. (I liked working the greens far better than playing on them!!)

Soil test and irrigation audit are both things I've been fixin' to reck'n I ought to be thinking about gittin' done here some day.  I will of course post results and ask for advice I'm sure. The irrigation system appears to be in order, although it doesn't reach the back fence. Falls short by about 30ft? Right where they stopped with the sod if ya can believe that. :roll:

About that fall pre-emergent, won't that retard/prevent a ryegrass overseed from germinating? Or is there enough of a window left where I can apply some time after the seed comes up? I am afraid to leave just the Bermuda like it is because once it goes dormant, the lawn is likely to become a mud park. (The Bermuda is pretty thin in quite a few places) That won't sit well with the wife, no matter how much fun my boys have with it.


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## cnet24 (Jul 14, 2017)

Yes, sorry. I must have missed your plans to overseed. Laying the pre-e will keep the seed from germinating, so scratch that idea.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

cnet24 said:


> Yes, sorry. I must have missed your plans to overseed. Laying the pre-e will keep the seed from germinating, so scratch that idea.


No worries. I get a -little- long winded sometimes when I get wound up about a project.  :thumbup:


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Welcome MasterMech!!! Looks like you have already gotten good advice.

I would like to add that maybe you could keep the front yard maintained with a reel mower and the back with a rotary. I don't know how much time you have to put into the lawn or with your job experience you might have some connections to get a used triplex at a good price which would allow you to mow the whole lawn with a reel. Like others have mentioned, I would just hold what you got for now and come up with a game plan for next year over the Winter. It wouldn't hurt to fertilize again with some balanced fertilizer like some 10-10-10 or 14-14-14 and apply at 1lb/K. I would recommend still putting a Pre emergent down and just overseed with rye in the bare areas to prevent any muddy issues and obviously stay away from the seeding areas with the Pre emergent.

I would recommend you dialing in your irrigation system too so you know what you are dealing with come Spring time, just be sure to do it on a calm day so the wind doesn't throw anything off.

We are all here to help you get your lawn where you need/want it so feel free to ask as many questions as you might have!!

Glad you found us and that you are here as I am sure your knowledge with greens mowers will come in handy


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Mightyquinn said:


> Welcome MasterMech!!! Looks like you have already gotten good advice.
> 
> I would like to add that maybe you could keep the front yard maintained with a reel mower and the back with a rotary. I don't know how much time you have to put into the lawn or with your job experience you might have some connections to get a used triplex at a good price which would allow you to mow the whole lawn with a reel. Like others have mentioned, I would just hold what you got for now and come up with a game plan for next year over the Winter. It wouldn't hurt to fertilize again with some balanced fertilizer like some 10-10-10 or 14-14-14 and apply at 1lb/K. I would recommend still putting a Pre emergent down and just overseed with rye in the bare areas to prevent any muddy issues and obviously stay away from the seeding areas with the Pre emergent.
> 
> ...


Thanks MQ!

Def planning on another fert app soon. I am leaving town right when I'd really like to do the overseed so I will have to back it up a week or two (to this weekend or else I have to wait 2 more weeks) or risk an early frost. I'm good with a few weeds (a FEW :? ) for the time being as I'd really like to focus on getting my "cultural practices" down pat.

I have considered continuing to mow with the little lawn tractor for most of the back yard as my scalping issues seem to be limited to the banked areas and the front. For some reason, mowing that area up/down the hill results in it looking like I was drunk and forgot to put all 3 blades back on the machine..... I have to take half passes to get it looking ok even by 50MPH standards. 

So, on the advice of looking for a bigger reel, has anybody tried one of these 34" Allett machines? It's likely no triplex but at least offers a significant step up from a 26" GM or even a 27" Tru-Cut. Unfortunately for me, my golf course connections are a mere 15-hour drive away so no easy pickings there!

Link to Allett 34"

http://www.supersod.com/products/the-allett-mower/allett-c-range.html


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Your mud park in the back yard is pretty much what I'm going to have this year; I am caught in the quandary about putting down PreE, but I want to overseed with rye this year, because the salad bar has GOT TO GO! I'm working on daily. Good luck with your project.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

So yesterday, I ran an overseeder over the lawn and the volume of material it pulled out was stunning! So much so that I broke down and bought a lawn sweeper (aka: garage hog) or else I was never going to get everything cleaned up in time.





I mowed, ran the overseeder again for a second pass, swept, and mowed again. Took the machine back to HD and collapsed for the night.

Headed out now (assuming the wind has died down for the evening) to throw down seed and starter fert. I'm still pooped from yesterday!


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Sounds like you put a solid day of work in on your yard. When I got all my dead organic material off of the surface of the soil, I just used a blower to collect everything into a pile, and then raked it up. You could take back that garage hog tomorrow, and get you a backpack blower


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Colonel K0rn said:


> Sounds like you put a solid day of work in on your yard. When I got all my dead organic material off of the surface of the soil, I just used a blower to collect everything into a pile, and then raked it up. You could take back that garage hog tomorrow, and get you a backpack blower


I love my BR600, but for some reason, most days I have a pretty stiff crosswind in my backyard that makes moving light and fluffy materials with a blower quite a challenge. It's either blowing the wrong way or as soon as the material is airborne, it heads into my neighbors yard. :lol:

I may sell the sweeper down the road as I may or may not have use for it once this lawn is under control. It is a LOT faster than the blowers but requires somewhere to dump it and I won't have that luxury once they build the lot behind me. I am wondering if it would pick up aeration plugs though..... most definitely would if I were to break them up a bit with a drag mat and then sweep up what's left of the plugs.


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

Can you show a picture or link to what a garage hog is? My google searching isn't turning much up other than Harley stuff


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

J_nick said:


> Can you show a picture or link to what a garage hog is? My google searching isn't turning much up other than Harley stuff


I'm guessing he just means something that takes up significant real estate in the garage.


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

Spammage said:


> J_nick said:
> 
> 
> > Can you show a picture or link to what a garage hog is? My google searching isn't turning much up other than Harley stuff
> ...


Eh, makes since now :? I still wouldn't mind seeing what you are using. I might be taking my north pasture reel low next year and it's a lot more sqftage than I'd like to do by hand.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

J_nick said:


> Spammage said:
> 
> 
> > J_nick said:
> ...



Here is the rig. The hopper should fold up and hang on the wall leaving just the actual sweeper unit but it's still going to be a major space hog.

A powerflow bagger for my LT would have been better but those are not really available on short notice and cost many times what the sweeper did.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Of course, with new seed and fert down, and on my moderately sloped front lawn, one of my zone valves decides to stick open. Wife txts me to let me know it had been running for almost an hour and a half. Turns out the solenoid was never screwed down all the way? Seems ok for now, it will be awhile before I trust it again.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

This post is worthless without pictures but today is the first day I noticed seedlings poking up from the bare areas. Nothing tall enough to clear the Bermuda yet. And unfortunately, I have to leave town for 10 days so I won't be able to monitor progress. Perhaps my wife will take pity on me and snap a few pics. Maybe.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Zone valve is chooched for sure. Sometimes it runs ok, other times it shorts out after a short while. I will order a new solenoid (or two...) and see how it goes. Fortunately, we are forecasted for enough rain to keep things moving.

My lovely wife was kind enough to humor me with a few pictures.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

If you haven't heard, I've recently aquired a Jacobsen GreensKing 526a. My HOC brackets came in yesterday so I swapped out the low-cut brackets and couldn't resist trying it out. Due to the work schedule and intermittent rainfall throughout the week, I wasn't able to sneak in a mid-week mow. So here's what i started out with this AM.





I set the LT for 2" and did a quick knock-down before unleashing the Jake. I'm exceeding the 1/3 rule by a fair margin but I think the annual rye will forgive me just this once.

First pass with the Jake, quite a bit of my Bermuda has yet to go dormant.



As you can see from the crooked stripes, the lawn is very rough and I ha e quite a bit of leveling to do. But I was pleased with the lack of scalping with the cut height at aprox 1 3/8".

I have a swale/ditch in the backyard that has been problematic with both the Jake and my LT. I'm thinking I'm going to need to fill it in some with topsoil before I start leveling.



Controlling the Jake is quite the challenge with certain mow patterns. Short passes and downslopes with beds or driveway at the bottom pose the greatest challenge as the machine is quite heavy and rolls a good distance once I release the drive bail. Any tips or tricks to dealing with concrete street curbs and driveway slightly above soil height? The driveway isn't so bad but the front lawn slopes into the street curb and makes it a bit of a challenge to keep the machine off the concrete headed in a straight line.


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