# BermudaBen's Maya Lawn Journal



## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

I purchased a house in Georgia in December of 2017 from a lady who used a string trimmer to cut the grass. She had bushes, flowers, and trees all over the lawn, nearly pushing down the fence row and vines growing up the sides of the house into the soffits. I knew it was going to be a lot of work. I bargained to reduce the purchase price because I knew no one wanted to buy into the mess of a yard this lady had so graciously cultivated.

In 2018, I spent most of a year just clipping branches, pulling weeds and finding buried bricks (most often with my mower). I attempted to merely maintain the disaster so as not to imply that I was the neighborhood degenerate. In November 2018, after spending $600 in plumber visits to snake roots out of my waste pipes, one of my neighbors actually helped me cut down the tree in my front yard.

In 2019, I started clearing away the brush, pruning bushes, and pulling out any plants that weren't rooted around my irrigation system. Around August, I used Compare-N-Save 42% glyphosate in 2 applications to kill all the weeds and centipede grass. That same month, I rented a large stump grinder to grind down about 20 medium to large stumps throughout the yard. Additionally, my wife and I picked up 3-4 ton of rocks, bricks and old fertilizer bags that were buried in the lawn.

In September, I rented a Toro Dingo, along with a soil cultivator and a harley rake, to completely flatten the entire yard. Not sure how it happened, I ended up with less dirt than I started with and realized I would will now need to top dress and level. After essentially tilling everything, I created a makeshift drag mat out of an old wire dog crate I had. I then rolled the soil and used a landscape rake to knock down the ridges and high spots. I did a soil test and it was worse than I thought. There was absolutely no nutrients in the soil and it was quite acidic.

I knew I wanted to get something established before winter but was quickly running out of time, so I ordered 10lbs of Blackjack Bermuda seed from Seed Ranch. I put down 3 bags of Milorganite and 2 bags of Stagreen starter or something similar. I sowed only about 6-7lbs of the Blackjack in fear that I would lose it all to the cold. In retrospect, I should have bought more and sowed it all. But that's a mistake I will only make once. I replaced all my sprinkler heads and began watering 3 times a day. Germination was great and I had a nice thin lawn in about 3 weeks.

Fast forward to late January 2020, I put down Anderson Barricade but it was too late. I had a ton of oxalis/clover already. It appeared that the crabgrass, plantain, and dandelions were already rooted as well. So in February, I sprayed 2-4D (a little too heavily) which unfortunately killed off most of my front lawn but seemed to be just right for the side. I'm not really sure what happened in the back, it's almost as if I killed all the Bermuda and encouraged the weeds. In March, I started mowing as low as my rotary would go (1.25"). I've mowed almost twice a week since then.

In early April, I purchased another 25lbs of Blackjack from Seed Ranch. I was a little upset when the box came and I pulled out a bag of Maya. I had never heard of Maya Bermuda, but it had a certification label on it and when I did a quick search, I found that others were saying it's the Blackjack 2.0. I really like Blackjack, so I thought "Wow, this should be some really good stuff and it sales for a higher price." So, I aerated heavily and scattered about 15lbs of this Maya seed. It's been about a month and a half and I'm having problems. Like someone else on here said, it's growing vertically but NOT laterally, at all. I'm more than a little disappointed after spending almost $200 on what looks like something less desirable than common Bermuda. What I'm seeing, if it's even Maya, has small thick blades, big stems, and it's the opposite of dense. I can easily see dirt. I'm almost wondering it's not torpedograss. I'm not an expert as this is my first Bermuda lawn, but at 15lbs overseeded on 8000sf, I'd expect NOT to see the ground.

I've been spraying Doc's Superjuice about 3 times every 2 months since March. I put down 2 bags of lime because I didn't know what was going on with the lawn. It seemed to help, but I haven't done a soil test since last year. I'm probably going to get some high nitrogen fertilizer this weekend and spread that. One of the members here is helping me out with a Trucut reel mower. Other than that, I'm just watching it to see what happens. I will probably do a soil test here in the next few days to get a better idea of nutritional needs. Any advice would be very helpful. I'm not opposed to overseeding again, however I was going to wait until I top dress and level to seed again.

Apparently in Georgia, gutters aren't included in the building code. So, I need to get gutters installed before I put down the sandy topsoil or the rain will just wash it away.

I could really use some help with increasing the density of the grass. I'm naturally impatient, but my first round with blackjack has set my expectations and the Maya is a poor performer in comparison. Maybe my opinion will change over time, yet if I could do it all over again I'd stay far away from it.

Next Steps:
-Mow Lower
-Order Celsius WG and Certainty

October 2017































Some Google images





Fall 2018, right before my neighbor helped me cut the tree down on the right.



The stump





April 2019













May 2019













July



August









































Cleaned and gravel added to sprinkler valve box



September 2019

















































October 2019











After I sprayed 2-4D, April 2020



May 2020, after overseeding with Maya


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

Last mow before the TruCut. I bought some Celsius WG today and a Field King backpack sprayer.


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## JRS 9572 (May 28, 2018)

I really can't suggest any more than what you're doing. Just keep going. Impressive the amount of work you've put in so far. Hang in there!


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

@JRS 9572 Thanks! Your tifgrand looks great! I wish I could have afforded sod. lol I was hoping the maya was going to be a little darker green, maybe some iron would help. I didn't think about it at the time, but in hindsight I probably would have gone with arden15. I'll keep watching your journal to see how the PGR works out. I'd like to experiment with that in the future.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

First reel mow! I scalped it pretty good, but that was the intention. I'm hoping to set my HOC at around 1/2in - 3/4in. If it doesnt rain all day I'll be spraying celsius tomorrow.


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## cbagz (May 12, 2020)

Looking good from where you started.

Remember it is a marathon not a sprint. You can always go back and overseed with more Maya if you need to later on down the road to fill in the spots you are concerned with. Or maybe add plugs.

Im in the same boat as you with the Maya but i just started my adventure with anything grass related earlier this year.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

I've been in such a hurry lately to attain results from my lawn that I'm not even sure I can accomplish with seeded bermuda. I've had so many thoughts lately about what direction I'd like to go in the immediate future. So, I made a list below with the question and thought I have for the best course of action to achieve the best results.

-Maya has a lot of trouble growing laterally and I could force it by mowing low and often. Or, i could let the grass grow until seed heads emerge and allow it to overseed itself and everything to grow in. Then, readjusting my HOC over time back to 3/4in.

- Overseed with a superior grass seed like Yukon, P77/Arden15, Riviera, or even Royal Bengal. I fear this will destroy the appearance in the long run due to lack of uniformity.

- I've read so many bad things about Maya, sometimes I feel like cutting my losses early, killing it all, doing my leveling, and planting a truly superior proven seed.

- (Rhetorical) What guy at the NTEP fudged the numbers to depict that Maya is in any way comparable to P77, Arden15, and Yukon!?

- Does anyone have an impressive seeded lawn? I'd love to see one because I'm losing hope.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

I'm blown away by the results from Celsius. In one application I got rid of 95% of the weeds. I still need to mitigate the sedge problem. I found I was also watering the lawn too often. It has really taken off since I cut it down to only a few times a week.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

If you are a patient man, except when you have to wait, then check this out. I have major nut sedge issues that were not resolved with Certainty last season. Taking a little different approach this season.

Dismiss NXT applied @ .250 fl oz / 1M, video was shot 36 hours after application. I have never seen a faster response.

https://youtu.be/Y-9BN7GCTsE


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

@MasterMech It's funny you say that! I called SiteOne yesterday and the guy said most of the companies in my area are having better results with dismiss in recent years than sedgehammer. I originally called to ask about outrider, but they dont stock it. Certainty is just so expensive, I couldn't bring myself to buying it. I think I will give the Dismiss a try. Thank you for the helpful tip!


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

I had to pull out the rotary since the reel mower is down. It doesn't look too bad, but I hated it the whole time.


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## Benwag (May 28, 2020)

Still looks really good with the rotary, great deep color


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

Picked up a bottle of Dismiss NXT today for SiteOne. I plan to mix that with another round of light celsius to take care of the rest of the weeds here and there... hoping between the herbicides and the new reel mower, this will take my lawn to the next level. Gutters are being installed in a few weeks, then lots of sandy topsoil. I can't say I'm looking forward to it, but I know once the leveling and overseeding is done I can't do much more than just be patient and watch it grow.


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## Mtsdream (May 2, 2019)

Nice write up, looks a ton better. I also bought a house from an older couple that put literally everything everywhere, finally getting closer to what I want.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

Benwag said:


> Still looks really good with the rotary, great deep color


@Benwag Thanks, I was impressed with it myself. I guess between the Sta-green 29-0-5 and Superjuice, it finally found some nitrogen and iron.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

First JD reel mow this morning, double cut. The grass was wet, so I had some clumping here and there. I'm itching to get the front beds done and start leveling the lawn. The gutters can't come fast enough.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

@Mtsdream Thanks! I think the hardest part of cleaning up a yard with plants and bushes everywhere is finding all the bulbs and roots. I'm STILL digging up roots and finding small bulbs all over the lawn.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

I'm finding that the neighbors' centipede, and possibly the centipede from before, is coming up in my lawn. I became aware of this after spraying dismiss and getting frustrated with the untouched sedge (which turned out to be mostly centipede). I'm planning to push high nitrogen over the next few weeks. I want to see just how much fast-release nitrogen I can introduce without burning. Does anyone agree or disagree?


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## Breebz (Apr 1, 2020)

You did an amazing job with your lawn. It looks great.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

@Breebz thanks, it looks better in the pictures. Lol About an hour after I cut it the sun baked it dry. I've cut it 3 times since to get it down lower. It's raining right now, so hopefully that will take some of the stress off the scalped grass. I'd like to get it to a plush half inch. It still needs to grow in A LOT thicker.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

Pinhigh finally came today!


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

I ordered a bunch of stuff from HL Supply (listed below) and it came in today. I put it all on my 220A tonight and the mower fired right up. Before, it was idling rough in the lower 50% of it's rpm range, so I figured I'd buy all new parts. I couldn't be happier and highly recommend HL Supply to anyone looking for some quality aftermarket parts for the Honda engines. I believe for all the JD parts I paid ~$50.

Starter Handle
Air Filter
Fuel tank joint/fuel filter
fuel line
muffler gasket
muffler (from amazon)
carburetor
carburetor gasket
NGK spark plug


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

I've decided to see just how much urea/sulfur nitrogen I can put down per week without burning the lawn. I spread a little more than a pound per 1000 tonight, so I'll know probably Sunday if it's way too much. It's killing me that the Maya is not spreading like it should be. Hopefully this will weaken some of the centipede coming up as well.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

I've decided to neglect my backyard and let it grow. The spruge is out of control and neither celsius or dismiss has curbed it. I believe I have promoted this by cutting all the leave off the bermuda at 3/4", spraying herbicides and weakening it with heavy nitrogen. I hate to do this, I enjoy cutting it and seeing it short. However, I feel like every cut I leave the backyard upset because there is less and less bermuda each time. I'm open to suggestions. I'm hoping to do my first intense leveling the first weeks of August, along with overseeding. I'm almost dead set on letting it grow wild until then.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

Degreased the mower today. Oil changed with Honda 10w-30, DSR case gear oil changed with Lucas 80w-90, and all the fittings greased with Lucas X-tra heavy duty grease.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

The heat is really beating on the grass this week. The 1lb of nitrogen seems to be working wonders. I am going to put another 1lb down Friday and see how it goes.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

I've put down a 1lb of N per 1000sf every week and it's LOVING it. I haven't had even the slightest signs of burn. The grass is finally greening back up in the areas I sprayed Celsius. The back was getting really spotty, so I'm cutting it at about 1.5" right now with the rotary.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

This is Maya. I'm not sure this is what I expected when I paid $300 for seed. This looks like common bermuda with none of the benefits.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

The lawn is filling it at a good pace now. I'm fighting spurge right now, but I'm hoping dismiss will take care of it.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

The bare spot at the curb on the side lawn filled in fast. I sprayed glyphosate last week where the front beds are going to be and it's slowly dying off. Hopefully in the next few weeks, I'll talk myself up to the task of leveling the lawn and finishing the beds.


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## Benwag (May 28, 2020)

Lawn looks like it's hitting it's stride!


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## Jagermeister (May 18, 2021)

@BermudaBen looking good! I have a 4500 sq ft section in my backyard and need to do a final grading / leveling. Would you recommend a Dingo harley rake or cultivator attachment? I would prefer to not have to rent both. I have already done a rough grading with a skidsteer so now need to round off edges and break up clumps, etc. I do have a lot of roots pieces that I will need to pick out.

Seems like most prefer the harley rake for all around performance and can work in both directions.


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## BermudaBen (Aug 28, 2019)

@Jagermeister I appreciate it! The cultivator is bigger which makes it more difficult to get into tight spots, but I much preferred it. It gave an extremely nice finish after I went over the ground a few times. I think the Harley rake is a more aggressive tool for really hard soil.


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## Jagermeister (May 18, 2021)

:thumbup:


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