Depends on the grass. What do you have in mind?

Well I was impatient and didn't want to wait for answers, so I just hand trowelled the holes for the Celebration Bermuda plugs. Should be ok as I will over the next day or 2 start spreading sand/compost between some of the plugs to bring up the low spots of the lawn itself and a higher organic medium that the Bermuda should love once the roots get a taste of it.

Here is a pic of the 2 plugs prior to adding compost around the plugs

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Here is a pic of a plug surrounded by compost

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I will monitor the progress of how the Bermuda adapts once it gets established and add accordingly. Anyone have any thoughts or envisioning any potential problems on my proceding as noted above

Also who can give me an estimate of how long it will take for the 2 Bermuda sod plugs to grow till they meet together and fill the patch of bare soil between them? 3 months? 6 months? 9 months? a year? Longer than a year? Thanks.

No one has any love for making a proper FAQ for anyone involved in plugging sod plugs? With everything there is a right way and a wrong ways to do everything. I usually take it a step further to not only doing it the right way, but to do it the BEST way. I was hoping starting this thread would get a lot of input in how best to do this from the questions I posed in the first message. Feel free to help out if it can benefit others that need to plug sod. Thanks.

Does anyone here use plugs/sprigs to start a new lawn? I guess everyone just buys new sod and has it done at once? This was one thread I started I was hoping for many posts/suggestions.

I have some very expensive Riviera Bermuda grass seed that I plan to plant in pots like you would start tomato seeds in, and when the grass gets about two inches tall I will plug it into bare spots in my lawn. I tried the same thing in 2003 but we have had several drought years since then when I didn't water the grass at all so most of the plugged areas died.

They will fill in very fast when fertilized every month and watered weekly.

I have plugged and sprigged Sapphire and Floratam St augustine and they filled in very fast for me. Of course, it helps that they are known for its very fast lateral growth. Also very easy to root from sprigs.

Now that I remember, I took some runners from a neighbor's lawn that I thought may be celebration bermuda. they filled in pretty fast. A bit unusual because the stolons are rather large and purple color with very short internodes. Seemed to have more of blue green color as well.

Regarding a FAQ, a few years ago I bugged the admins enough to give me access to post FAQ's. I wrote a few on topics that I knew about, and had a standing offer to post a FAQ if someone put the time and effort into writing one.

If you want to write one, I can definately post it. Send me a PM once its written and I'll post and let everyone do a "peer review" to see if there should be any changes/updates.

I think the reason there is no FAQ on the topic is that it is not a frequently asked question. In all the years I've been on this forum I can't remember anyone else asking about it. Maybe they're here but I just skip over those questions. It seems to be about as popular as grafting citrus trees - it happens but mostly with real connoisseurs of the art.

Still, if you want to form a group to discuss the topic, what better place?

Californian: Interesting idea with starting seed into pots to create sprigs/plugs. That stuff is pretty expensive per pound.

lou_midloathian: what did you use the celebration bermuda runners to fill in? Was it just an experiment on your part? I know you generally prefer Floratam or Sapphire St Augustine. How big an area is the Bermuda now?

jjfrisco: I was hoping this thread could hopefully become the staging grounds for a FAQ. If there is some input on the execution of plugging I would think the most important part might be of plugging being mindful that the plugs stay level so there isn't a bumpy lawn.

Dschall: I seem to have a knack at starting threads only I seem to have an interest it. I also have an interest in grafting citrus, go figure...

Here is a couple more pictures. I used a sod plugger tool but in such sandy soil the plugger once plunged into the ground it cuts into the sand/grass, but once you lift it out the sand stays behind.

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I threw celebration plugs away. I was going to plug them at the park across from me where there's a large area of bare ground but HOA president won't answer my emails or let me use the sprinkler system. He's completely clueless. He hired trugreen to get rid of weeds. Now there are a few large area of bare ground... what's he gonna do? They can't grow bermuda from seeds because supposedly they put down pre-emergent.. No money for sodding since HOA paid a lot for TruGreen. Weed coverage is always better than bareground as long as they are regularly mowed for soil building purpose...

The mix i used to grow Celebration... I think it was 50/50 peat/perlite? Basically left over stuff from growing trees from seeds. Some didn't survive (thanks to mice eating seeds).

Did you fertilize? Bermuda really responds to fertilizer (and watering).

I am using Alfalfa Meal 1x a month and UCG weekly on the plugged areas.

OK I am a sod farmer and we use only sprigs on the farm. You will not like all my answers, but they are honest and tested.

You will get the best results waiting till the weather warms up nearing 80/90 during the day. With it being Bermuda you can plug it in winter or spring, but it will just lay there dormant until it warms up.

Organic fertlizers are OK, but they take a long time to work, especially if you are just starting out. I suggest when you see the plugs actively growing when it warms up to use a slow release urea fertlizer. Using Urea when it warms up you should see it form a solid turf in a month to 6 weeks if you keep it watered and mowed very short to promote latteral growth.

Whether I like the answers or not I am glad you posted. This is the kind of info I was hoping to find out. Had I known this when I first started the thread, I may have waited until April or May before planting plugs as it will be low 40's tonight. I guess I was trying to get a head start as this time of year rarely has this cold weather. In any event it will be into the 80's by Thursday/Friday here. Does it matter if the lows drop below 65 at night, like I have read which determines when the Bermuda becomes actively growing?

Don't sweat your timming issue. Like I said it will just be dormant or very slow until it warms up. Just don't go pushing fertlizer on it until it warms up pretty good and you see it growing actively. If you are in Florida you don't have to wait much longer.

Preparing your sandy soil in FL to receive the plugs can be a pain. A friend and I did some landscape work in Miami last fall and I know what you mean.

In other types of soil (loamy, clay-based etc..) sod plugging tools can really help. I plugged my lawn with zoysia and am filling in bare areas now. I tried the square plugger but found it to be a bit difficult to remove the plugs (clay soil). Ended up beating the plugs out...one-at-a-time and doing some damage to the plugger. I'm using a round plugger now and it works MUCH better. It pulls a dozen at a time before emptying, makes it much faster. There are several available out there. Just google/search for sod plugger.