# Ryan Sanders Riviera Bermuda Project



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

I'm doing all types of projects at the moment. We bought a house over the Winter and what a mess we had on our hands. The entire house was over run with shrubs and wild brush. So high almost touching the roof in places.

Not only that, we had to do major work to the inside. If not for getting a good deal on everything, I'd definitelt not had went for this house.

But things are slowly coming together and now I've been able to focus more on the grass rather than just removing brush.

Starting on July 4th, I put my first application of Glyphosate to 1000 square feet of the backyard. I want to start with a nice Bermuda section in the back. It's full sun and I have a 1.5 year old who loves to play. So I thought a short type grass would be nice. I'd like to eventually convert the entire backyard to Bermuda. 


While the grass was dying, I put a ton of physical labor removing this:


Between Glyphosate applications, which I did 3 total, I applied 2 low rates of Humic12/Air8. Did that twice since July 4.

After removing the mess of crap shown in last picture, I filled in with some dirt around the yard and also store bought top soil:


And over the past few days, I've been able to use a dethatcher and aerator (both pull-behind) to prep the ground for seeding. Today I seeded 2lb of Riviera Bermuda to the area and also some basic starter fertilizer. Got a sprinkler setup on a timer as well.










Now to wait! Cant wait to see this transformation!

I've got GCF Humic12, Air8, RGS, and MicroGreene. I'd appreciate any recommendations on how to use these products during the next month or two.


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Welcome to TLF! Glad to have you here. :thumbup:

If you haven't yet, you'll want to read through the Bermuda Bible: The New Testament which will give a new bermuda lawn owner a great head start on how best to maintain and care for your new lawn. Once you read through that thread, The Bermuda Triangle will help you get some insight into the bare minimum of herbicides that you'll find easiest to treat most of the common weeds that you'll face in your lawn.

I've got to stress to you how important getting your preemergent (PreM) treatment down in the Fall and Spring are in order to have as weed-free a lawn as you can get. This practice, along with proper mowing are going to be some of the best practices that you can give yourself and your lawn and give you the edge over 90% of the neighbor's yards.

I didn't put a PreM down on my renovation last year, because I wanted to go herbicide-free for the first 2 seasons, but if I had to do it over again, I'd definitely use PreM at the minimum. That's what I would suggest for you this year. You can go with Prodiamine, or Dithiopyr, or whatever your main weed problem would be during the summer and winter. If you can identify those main weeds that will give you trouble, it'll help you decide which one will work for you. For example, my main issue that I had in my yard was goose grass in summer, and poa annua in winter. I'm still trying to decide on whether I'm going to stick with prodiamine for the winter to hold back the poa, but with the amount that I had, I think I might try something else. However anything is going to be better than nothing at this point.

Feel free to check my journal to see the application rate for the GCF products that I'm using (I've got them all), and use that for reference.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Thanks @Colonel K0rn !

I've got Prodiamine already, so I will use that I suppose.

What rate per 1000 do you use in the fall, and and what point in the season? Will it hurt my young grass?


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

sanders4617 said:


> Thanks Colonel K0rn !
> 
> I've got Prodiamine already, so I will use that I suppose.
> 
> What rate per 1000 do you use in the fall, and and what point in the season? Will it hurt my young grass?


You'll want to check your soil temperatures around the 2" depth and when it reaches 70° and declining. September 15th is probably a good date, to apply; that's what I'll be shooting for.

To make it easy, you could do a split application, which would basically be half the rate of a 6 month rate. You can apply between 1-2.3#/acre on bermuda per application. Since this is basically the first winter I'll be using PreM, I'll be putting down 1#/A on September 15th, then doing another application at a later date (more than likely mid November)with a different PreM since I have a poa problem.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Thanks man! Much appreciated!

Day 2 update:
Ants are trying to mound up with my seed. May need to put out insecticide to allow this to go without them screwing it up.

Put out 3/4 of bag of Milorganite today - why not right? Also put down Humic12 at 6oz/1000.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

July 27 2018 - 4 Days After Seeding

Not much to show on the picture side of things. I've been watering at 6am - 10am - 2pm - 6pm and then I turn the water off for the day and set the timer again in the morning before work.

The ground is staying moist but not soaked, so I think everything is going great on that side of things. It's been warm here - 80s up to 90 during the day, and upper 60s at night. So again, optimal temperatures for germination.

No storms since I seeded, which is fine with me. I'd rather the seed have a chance to germinate and not deal with storms washing seed away or anything like that.

And as far as the ant situation goes.. I did a blanket spray of Talstar P (2 days after seeding), and I haven't seen any more mounds of seed trying to form. Hopefully that helped that situation.

I am hoping to get visible results by the beginning of this next week. I think everything has worked in my favor (for the things I can't control).

I will be applying RGS this weekend, and I will really be doing everything I can to get the Bermuda established before Winter. If we have another Winter like this past year, then who knows how much will survive (being such young turf).


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

It's been now 1 week since seeding. I'm starting to get very good germination. They are small but in very high numbers across the entire plot. Took a couple pictures of how they look. I expect in the next week, I look forward to the results!

Having a moss problem in the higher shaded areas. Hopefully the grass will take over that. I may need to limit any water to that area for a couple days? Or maybe something to spray on it?

I've applied lime a month ago because of 5.5ph. So don't really wanna add any more lime.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_txKTBVbJKk[/media]


----------



## Crabbychas (Apr 25, 2018)

sanders4617 said:


> It's been now 1 week since seeding. I'm starting to get very good germination. They are small but in very high numbers across the entire plot. Took a couple pictures of how they look. I expect in the next week, I look forward to the results!
> 
> Having a moss problem in the higher shaded areas. Hopefully the grass will take over that. I may need to limit any water to that area for a couple days? Or maybe something to spray on it?
> 
> I've applied lime a month ago because of 5.5ph. So don't really wanna add any more lime.


I wouldn't worry too much about the moss. I had it crop up in spots when I seeded but once I cut back the watering after germination it died off fairly quickly.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Crabbychas said:


> I wouldn't worry too much about the moss. I had it crop up in spots when I seeded but once I cut back the watering after germination it died off fairly quickly.


We had some good rain earlier this week and I feel like it actually helped some. I noticed it had lost some of the "green" on the dirt.

Also, not sure if it's just the nature of seeding.. I feel like 85% of area is coming in pretty good, and then there are some areas where it's not nearly as full as the rest. We didn't have any downpours to wash it away.. maybe some just didn't germinate or maybe the water wasn't reaching that area enough - cause it does seem to be more towards the edges.


----------



## Crabbychas (Apr 25, 2018)

That's how mine was as well. I also had to deal with a tropical storm shortly after I seeded. I ended up reseeding a few areas that got washed away. Don't sweat it too much though, its only been about a week. Start fertilizing it after the first mow and fertilize hard and it will spread very quickly. I didn't seed within about 4 feet of the road and its already grown all the way to the road in the 3 months since I planted.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Day 12 Update. I've changed my watering to every 2 hours and for half the time vs every 4 hours. Gonna see how this works out to keep ground at a more even moisture content vs wet and then drying out and then wet, etc.

Of course the last week has been more overcast and mild than sunny and hot.

Here is some of the growth. I'm picking out weeds left and right. The weeds are loving the fertilizer. Thankfully the ground is not dry and I can pull them with little effort, root and all.

Some areas are really good and some don't have much growth at all. I thought I seeded very evenly and made multiple passes. May just be the nature of the beast 12 days in? Some seed can take that long to germinate?


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Looks like it's coming along nicely. You've got enough germination to have a good grow-in. Moving forward, it wouldn't be a bad idea to spray the area with Celsius 6 weeks after germination. That should knock out most of the weeds that are competing. If I had to do my yard over again, I would have sprayed glyphosate 2x and then seeded, killing off most of the weeds that were going to compete with the grass.

With a pH of 5.5 get used to applying lime, you're going to need a lot of it. My yard started at that point, and I've probably put several hundred pounds down over the past year.

Keep the seedlings moist, if it dries out, it dies out. Plan to do a PreM application when the soil temps get near 70°F.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

I was recommended to apply Ammonium Sulfate to the Bermuda, but would this not cause the Ph to drop? Or would you apply so little that it wouldn't? @Colonel K0rn

And I did glyphosate 3 times! Lol. Still have weeds try and come up. All the water and fertilizer bringing them up. Next time I may push the weeds to grow in between rounds of glyphosate.

Here is a wide picture, where you can see the green showing from a distance now.


----------



## Crabbychas (Apr 25, 2018)

The amount of AS needed to cause a meaningful drop in pH is huge. Using it as fertilizer shouldn't cause issues.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

@Crabbychas Do you have recommendations on where to buy it? I looked on Lowe's and nothing came up. Will it be a specialty, like go to a Coop or something ?


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Your best bet to find AS is either a SiteOne or a Co-Op/Feed & Seed store. I lucked out and have a F&S store that has water soluble urea for $18/50# bag. It's super easy to apply with my sprayer. I've been spoon-feeding my yard 0.25#/N the past few months, and I'm pretty sure it's made the growth a lot more consistent, as the lawn has a constant supply of food, and there's not a flush of top-growth when the fertilizer is applied.

Oh, and if you still have a problem with ants, pick up some Bifenthrin or Imidacloprid, and it'll take care of them. Bifenthrin is inexpensive.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Today makes 2 weeks since I seeded the Riviera Bermuda. Some areas have taken very well and others not so much. Not sure what happened. I spread seed evenly and had no downpours for the first week.

I put out a low dose of RGS yesterday and put out 1 lb. of Ammonium Nitrate today. Equivalent of about .2 lb of nitrogen. Matt from TGF suggested I spoon feed weekly of low doses of N.

Still pulling weeds. A lot of spurge it seems.

Here are a couple broad pictures.





I'm waiting a couple more weeks before I spray any weed killer. And not sure if I'll put out a pre-m this fall. On the fence whether or not it's a good idea. Luckily with 1000 sq ft, I can pick em out.

But if the Bermuda doesn't fill in the bare areas, weeds will take over.

I may end up seeding an annual rye grass in the bare areas if I have to - just for keeping the mud down during the winter.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

I've noticed some young germination coming up. Maybe something happens and I'll get a little more to fill in the lesser areas. Here's an update. Good growth since yesterday.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Took these tonight. This stuff is growing insanely fast now. Me like


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Posted a video on Day 16 Update.

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEU8BtPIIWE[/media]

Won't be doing anything special till Monday/Tuesday of next week. Do another light dose of nitrogen, RGS, and MicroGreene.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

What a difference 3 days makes. Top is Monday afternoon (14 days) and bottom is today (17 days).


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Top is Tuesday. Bottom is Today. About 4 days.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

The grass is noticeably getting darker. In picture above, it looks lighter than the weed/grass to the left. Today you can clearly see that its much darker. Part could be because I cut the grass yesterday (both the new bermuda and the other).. but even way back 150ft away I could tell a big difference.

For those who may read this.. I'm looking for just a little bit of extra Riviera Bermuda Seed. I'd like to throw out a little more seed in the areas that haven't taken well. I'm gonna rake up any obstruction and seed again if I can find some.

I don't want to buy another 2lb jug for $40-$50 after shipping. But if someone has just a small amount to spare, I could purchase that?


----------



## Bermuda_Newbie (Jun 15, 2018)

Did you try posting in the marketplace section of the forum? You might get a wider/different audience there.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Grass getting darker. More dense. Still got bare areas that I've got to remedy very quickly. Thanks to another TLF member, I'll have a little extra Riviera Bermuda seed to put out over that area.

Still hand picking weeds. Easy to do over 1000 sq ft. Gonna try and not use herbicides till maybe sometime in September.

I'll be putting out RGS and MicroGreene tomorrow at the low low rates. Already done my Ammonium Sulfate for the week.

Thanks to @thegrassfactor for his recommendations on fertilizing and incorporating GCF into the plan.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

So I've been counting days wrong. I've counted the day I seeded as a day after seeding. Anyway, 23 days from seed day, and 22 days after seeding lol.

Anyway, today I actually put more seed down. Thanks to @rhanna for being able to supply me with about 1/2lb of seed. In the pictures you'll see the dark dirt areas.

That's where I used a garden weasel to break up the dirt. Then I spread the seed and went back over with the weasel to get it into the dirt a little bit.

I hope that in another 23 days, all of this area will. E mostly covered!

The rest of the grass is looking really good so far. Still hand picking weeds like it's going outta style. And I know I'll be picking A LOT of weeds where I broke up the dirt. That's ok though.

Later this evening I will put out MicroGreene, RGS, and maybe over newly seeded areas, starter Fert.

Gotta love the white balance between pictures on an iPhone lol.

UPDATE:
Did 3oz/1k of RGS and MicroGreene. And also added Talstar P. Last time I seeded, ants starts mounding up my seed. So this time, applied the Talstar up front.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Nutsedge is popping it's way into my renovated area more and more. It's mostly in areas that get more shade and stay slightly more damp.

I know sedgehammer works, but is that ok 3 weeks after seeding? Prob 2 weeks after germination?

I saw a video of someone using Image and just spraying right at the base of the nutsedge.

Whatever I use, that is the method I'd prefer to take. Just spray as precise as I can at base of each nutsedge plant.

Suggestions?


----------



## Crabbychas (Apr 25, 2018)

Wait another 2 weeks.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

24 days after seeding. 2 days after re-seeding the bare areas.

Got lots of rain this evening after taking this picture. Hopefully hasn't messed with the new seed. I think I got it in there pretty good however.

Grass still growing thicker. I'm pulling any crabgrass or similar weeds, I've left the nutsedge alone and will take care of it later.

Going out of town and will be out of service with the lawn for 4-5 days. So I'll leave sprinklers on with timer - won't go too much with it because we are expecting decent rain for a couple days.

Hopefully when I get back, I will have germination from the re-seed. That would fall right on schedule at least with first time.

My son is loving the grass apparently.

One update.. in 2 weeks or so, I'll be renting a Dingo and Harley rake for a week. I'm debating going over this area with it and leveling it all back as perfect as I can.

Or I'm just gonna level everything else in the yard and just take sand and do my best next year with this small plot. Decisions


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Got back from vacation. Been gone since early Saturday morning.

Grass was grown up and gave it a cut. Not quite as short as I had been because of 1/3 rule. I may could have still cut short as I had been. Looking good in the thick areas, but a lot of nutsedge and crabgrass in the thin/bare areas. Gonna be buying some herbicides to take care of that this week. Also should be seeing some germination from the reseed in next few days (based on last time). I figure it may take a couple days longer as the days are shorter since a month ago.


----------



## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

It's looking good. I had just asked for an update when you... updated the thread!

Good timing!


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Haha @Redtenchu !

Yeah it does. The bare areas will come. But to be honest, there's a good chance I destroy all this in about a week and a half.

I'm renting a Dingo with a Harley rake (among a couple other attachments).. and I'm having a hard time leveling off the entire lawn and not doing this little patch. So it's very likely I'll be leveling this area off and seeding rye for the winter.

Next Spring I'll either be seeding Riviera/Monaco for the whole backyard (9000sq ft give or take). Or... I'll be sprigging TifTuf for the whole area. Haven't completely decided yet.

This area was an experiment anyway.. just to see how seeded Bermuda looked and went. Planned initially on keeping it and just seeding the rest of yard next Spring. Harley rake says otherwise.

So with that said.. I may not be doing much for the weeds if I decide on destroying it anyway lol.

Is this crazy of myself?


----------



## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

It's not crazy, it's cool!


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

No picture to update with today - but I believe the decision has been made.

Starting this weekend (Labor Day Weekend) - I will have a Dingo with a few different attachments. I will be cleaning up around the land and trying to get all overgrowth (among other things) removed and cut back.

Once that cleanup is complete, I will put the Harley Rake on the Dingo and start my leveling process.

My land is roughly 1.5acres. I will not be leveling that much.

I'll be doing my front and side yards, and also my back yard. I consider my back yard to be roughly 10-12k square feet. I don't have the cash to keep up the grass on much more than 15-20k square feet. So the rest of the land (way in back) will be what it is now - random junk.

But during this leveling process, I will be taking out this Riviera Bermuda. However, I will NOT be killing this particular grass off. I figure there is a good possibility that raking and leveling this area will just kinda bury the Riviera and leave the opportunity for it to grow back.

Not sure if that will happen, but if it does, that's ok. That leaves the the option of doing Riviera again or just sprigging something like TifTuf or Tifway419.

I guess if it does come up next spring and I decide on sprigging, I'll just do my best to kill it and move on. lol

So starting next week, I will be transitioning to a different thread - more of a lawn journal. This one will not be relevant anymore.


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

One of the things I thought about earlier this year was that I should have looked closer at the different cultivars in person to find out what they look like when they're grown in and in optimal condition. You would be shooting yourself in the foot if you were working with a substandard type of grass, and have it growing in pretty thick, and then decide that you wanted to go with a different cultivar should it decide to grow back in thick, leading to various color differences.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

@Colonel K0rn Are you suggesting I go ahead and spray roundup on it now to be safe? Then spray whatever may come up in the spring?


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

No, I was just commenting that I wish I would have done a bit more research on the other types of grass that were available to me, and looked at them in person. There might be one that has better density, and different color properties than just going off of a written description and data from NTEP trials (at least I did that right). For example, there's some people here that have TifTuf,TifGrand, 419, blackjack and some with riviera, etc. I would have liked to have seen what they look like in person before I threw out seed. I was just thinking aloud that since I was going to be doing a renovation, I could see what they looked like in a monoculture stand, and go with my choice, rather than killing off what I'm growing now, and replanting/reseeding and having a mixed stand of mostly new, and then some straggling old grass from my renovation come up. That's all.

Spraying roundup on it now will have no effect when you decide to spray in spring, other than making it less grass you've got to try and kill off later on. You'd just have to contend with bare dirt until then, or PRG.


----------



## sanders4617 (Jul 9, 2018)

Well. Here are pictures from yesterday.

I decided since I will be Harley raking this, to take my 48" riding mower and cut the grass with it. Some areas were decent, but the uneven ground didn't mesh with it. So hoping to take care of that with the rake.

Looking forward to next Summer when I can mow my entire yard and it not look like it got cut by someone on some hard drugs.

Probably the last picture of the grass.. before being ripped up.


----------

