you say "absolutely no roots established".
So if you go to pick up a piece of sod it pulls right up off the ground?

Don't worry. It will grow in northwest Arkansas real soon. Needs to be a little warmer but it will grow trust me. You may need to apply a selective herbicide to get rid of some weeds that will come up too. If the sod was laid in October it was close to going dormant so I wouldn't expect much root growth yet.

From reading around most of the posts said not to worry about the weeds they'll be choked out by the bermuda when it starts to grow. And yes I can pull the sod up with no problem.

If you can pull the sod up with no problem, It's dead.
Do the following before it's too late.
Call up a roll off dumpster rental place,(if you have home depots, check there ours rents little ones) toss all that dead sod into the dumpster and call a sod dealer and order a suitable species of grass for the transition zone like tall fescue or fescue bluegrass blend. When it's brown so long you can't tell if it's alive or dead, it's the wrong type of grass.

Your grass is fine, it needs to warm up. You pulled the trigger too early on the fertlizer, but no harm done other than waisting your money. All your questions can be answered by reading the BERMUDA BIBLE

Thanks for the info guys. From reading the Bermuda Bible I missed the step for the pre-emergence weed control and used the fertilizer which only makes the weeds grow better. Oh well, as long as I follow the tips I should be good. Thanks all.

If your sod has been down since oct and still not rooted at all, it's d-e-a-d. Dead. And if it isn't use this opportunity to replace it while you can still pull it up. Nobody wants bermuda north of I-40.

While I appreciate the response, pulling it up is not an option. I don't have nearly enough money to replace 4500 sq ft with either seed or sod.

Nobody wants bermuda north of I-40.

Well I don't know some of the largest Bermuda grass sod farms in the country are located in Tulsa OK, and you can't buy any cool season grass sod in Bentonville, Rogers, Sprinngdale, Fayetevelle AR. Its all Bermuda and Zoysia.

OP what color is your sod? Tan or gray?

iforgotitsonevermind , Bermuda sod does not form roots in a few weeks. That's how long it was down before it was completely dormant even in Southwest Arkansas. How do you think it would have grown roots over the winter?

That's interesting. Tulsa just got 4+ inches of snow as of today Mar 28. and NW arkansas is under a winter storm warning for cripes sake. They're not going to get out of dormancy for some time but aside from that if the sod just pries up after 6 months it sounds likes its dead. People will grow and sell anything. They're still putting ads in newspapers up north for zoysia plugs- the oldest scam in the book. That doesn't make it well adapted or a sensible choice.

sjhunter24, I really hope the bermuda sod still alive for your benefit, of course. However, I've been around turfgrass for a while, and my experience tells me is pretty dead.

4,500 sf. of grass isn't a lot of money in seed, maybe around $40 to $50. If you can't afford that, then I think you shouldn't be an homeowner (no upon intented, just keeping real)

Good luck to you anyway.

OP what color is the sod?

Tan = OK it is dormant.
Grey, dark, or black and crunchy = dead.

I got snow here in TX yesterday myself, and frost this morning on green Bermuda and Saint Augustine and no one in their right mind would grow cool season grass here. Snow does not mean anything on warm ground above freezing. It is already gone and back up to 70 here today today, and Tulsa is mid 50 today and 70 tommorow. It is called Global Warming :>)

NTEP performance ratings don't lie.

All but one or two cultivars of tall fescue outperformed the HIGHEST ranked bermuda cultivar in arkansas.

The proof's in the puddin'.

Tall fescue 2007 Arkansas

Bermudagrass 2006 Arkansas

You'd be crazy to want some builder grade bermuda sod when $50 in seed will yield a gorgeous tall fescue lawn for all seasons. The newer cultivars mixed with thermal blue take heat/drought like nobody's business.

Read the fist sentence in the summary

> "NTEP performance ratings don't lie.
Tall fescue 2007 Arkansas

Bermudagrass 2006 Arkansas "

No, no, no ... you can't use that as evidence to support your claim. Those are weighted "mean" scores within the specific tests and are not comparable with different cultivars!

You can't compare a 7 for apples to a 7 for oranges!

The Bermuda only has scores for 5 months of the year. Hmmm.

And yeah it really isn't a fair comparison considering the OP isn't going to mow .6-1" and have silty loam. I'm guessing the site consists of clay, rock and construction debris seeing as it is a new home and fescue is better for long term in those conditions.

What is going to happen here is that if SJHunter decides later on that they want to switch to a better adapted grass to his location, the will not be able to get rid of the bermuda. It's like a tattoo on the homesite. Once you have it, you can never get rid of it. So even if the sod is still alive, the best thing SJHunter can and they will thank me later is to pick it up and dump it.

Otherwise they will be like all the other people here complaining about their zoysia and bermuda in their northern climate and they won't be able to do anything about it short of chemical soil sterilants!

"What is going to happen here is that if SJHunter decides later on that they want to switch to a better adapted grass to his location, the will not be able to get rid of the bermuda. It's like a tattoo on the homesite."

Amen to this thread.

SJHunter has been warned.

Auteck and iforgotitsonevermind you are overlooking a very important fact, The OP is completely surrounded by Bermuda lawns in Bermuda grass territory, you will be assimilated like it or not. . Your POV is not even considered a minority objection worthy of noting.

Just like an Obama supporter, you have no choice other than damn the American way of life and prosperity; you made your choice of poverty and decline in your way of life, so live with it.

Only one way to change that :>)

The OP hasn't answered you. I'm betting they are talking with lawyers right now over that dead sod.

My sod is a tan color with some green mixed in. When I said I couldn't afford it I really meant I didn't want to afford it. 40 to 50 dollars of seed quickly turns into 200 to 300 dollars when you include all the other stuff that you need. And as texas-weed said I'm completely surrounded by bermuda so if its as bad as advertised I'd be an idiot to try and grow something else.

If it's tan with some green mixed in and it's bermuda, you only need to wait a bit. It's still dormant. As it warms up more, the bermuda will take off. Even if a bunch of it died off, once it wakes up, it'll spread and fill in.

OP, if you are surrounded by Bermudagrass, then that pretty much says it all.

I hope your sod makes a full recovery, and no, you would not be an idiot for trying to grow something else, not in your climate. It really can go either way as far as cool or warm season grass choice, you're in the transition zone. However, the cool season grasses are most always favor there over any warm season grass. Your year round average temperatures seem to favor cool season grasses, rainfall might not.

I'm up in Raleigh, most of the turfgrass here is Fescue/Bluegrass, but there are people here that grow Zoysia and Bermuda. Are they idiots? I don't think so. If they're happy with brown grass for 6 months, brown/green for 3, and green for 3; then more power to them - I wouldn't.

Good luck to you.

If you landscape your yard and make your lawn a landscape element, you can have a border around your yard. I have a border around my yard with shade trees and flowering trees shrubs, flowers etc and this would be sufficient to keep bermuda out from neighboring lawns.

Turfgrass is the most misused plant in the landscape. The color and texture of lush turf is valuable when it is part of a bigger picture.

I can understand not wanting to spend any more money on the lawn, esp right after a new home purchase in this economy. But if if the lawn does manage to survive and take root it will need to be fertilized regularly and mowed frequently in order to stay green. It won't automatically look good in your climate. In a subtropical climate like florida with ample moisture, ideal temps and soils that are naturally high in phosphorous, bermuda will look better and not be so ugly. The bermuda will cost more $ in upkeep. That's why so many people are pleading with you to get rid of it while you can. But that's all I've got to add to this one.

I'm definately not a lawn pro, but, I live in Oklahoma and I'd say 99 percent of people have Bermuda here. AND, if you did try another grass, the Bermuda from your next door neighbor would take over your lawn anyway-LOL! Unless, you were really on top of it and could spend that much time on your lawn.

We just built a new home and laid sod back in July, it is tan and really ugly right now! We have lots of weeds with purple flowers. My DH was afraid to spray pre-emergence because it is new sod, could we have done that? So, now how do we get rid of the weeds coming up in new sod?

OP, didn't mean to highjack your thread, but we have similar situations.

You have similar situations because you too have a species of turf that is ill-adapted to your climate and because of its extended dormancy are overwhelmed with spring weeds. 99% of lawns may have it because homebuilders want a cheap sod they can throw down over rocks and poor soil and debris and never revisit the site or water it and still have it survive.

sjhunter24 said:

My sod is a tan color with some green mixed in.

You are good to go, and the green means your sod is starting to break dormancy. When it is about 75% green apply some 15-5-10 fertilizer and water it in.

iforgotitsonevermind said:

You have similar situations because you too have a species of turf that is ill-adapted to your climate and because of its extended dormancy are overwhelmed with spring weeds. 99% of lawns may have it because homebuilders want a cheap sod they can throw down over rocks and poor soil and debris and never revisit the site or water it and still have it survive.

That is not very accurate. Eastern OK and Western AR get extremely hot and dry with very little if any rain in the summer. The cool season grasses will die off every summer leaving you with a horrible muddy mess come fall, and has to be over seeded every fall. If contractors were looking for the cheap way out they would just plant that $50 worth and seed and be done with it, instead of spending upwards around $5000 for sod and labor.

You do see some cool season grasses in that part of the country, but they are pretty much confined to older established neighborhoods with lots of trees, in well-to-do neighborhoods that can afford professional landscapers to baby the grass and reseed it every year. It is far more labor intensive than the warm season grasses. One such person I know of in Tulsa is Paul James who lives just off Utica Ave in the old oil baron mansion district called Mid Town.

I didn't say cool season grass was any better adapted to oklahoma. Oklahoma is transition zone.

There is no difference between eastern OK and western AR. Climate is the same.

Then why does tall fescue do so much better in the NTEP trials? If you aspire to never have your property look established or "well-to-do" as you put it, then I guess bermuda is a fine option since it's brown most of the year in the transition zone, gets taken over by spring weeds and is a hallmark of frugal tract home builders.

I know nothing of oklahoma or arkansas climates. Never even been to either place. All I have to go by is the hard data put for by universities and climatologists. I think I'll believe that over some stranger on the Internet.

iforgot, it's not that the builder's are frugal, it's that bermuda is very hardy in Oklahoma. When you build a new house without any mature trees, it really is the easiest. It would cost a fortune for the upkeep of other grasses. Now, we had a prior house in an established neighborhood, with mature trees, and we had fescue under all the shade. But, in the same house, where there wasn't shade, we had bermuda.

Unless, you have lived where it gets extremely hot and sometimes no or very little rain for months, you can't possibly understand why most of us in the OKC area (Tulsa has better climate than OKC-LOVE Tulsa) have bermuda.

That's great but it doesn't explain why the tall fescue is ranked higher in the NTEP trials which are full sun plots.

I'm new to this forum and I can see people are real opinionated and everything has their own little grass they think is best but again, the NTEP trials are the actual facts.

And another thing. Bermuda will go dormant after a long dry spell. If it does this during the summer then when is the grass green and looking good? Or are you just satisfied that it is just simply alive?

Hard facts. NTEP trials. That's what I pay attention to. They are the industry standard for determining what will look good and do well and what is garbage.

NTEP Quality Ratings are opinions, not facts. Try as they might, nobody has built a device to quantify grass quality. Plus I disagree about the mowing height on the fescue. However, your point about fescue being a nicer lawn is probably true. I work in the Texas Panhandle (farther north than the OP) and I see every kind of turf except St Augustine up here. The turf I see most often is KBG but there is a lot of fescue and bermuda.

I think you could keep bermuda out. The barrier I see most often up here is a concrete curb. It seems to keep even bermuda on its own side of the border. In the picture below the house on the left has a horrible lawn (lack of water) and the one on the right is the best on the street.

{{gwi:84399}}

One of the nicest lawns in this town is a bermuda lawn, but it certainly is brown when it's dormant. I'll check this weekend to see if it has started greening up yet. A week ago it was very brown with no signs of green yet.

That lawn is lush and beautiful. It looks like the picture on the bag of scotts turfbuilder. The quintessential American lawn!!! What did you disagree with about the mowing height of fescue? I don't think I commented on that as the mowing height of fescue is pretty adaptable. I've mowed mine to an inch and a half tall with a reel mower and I've mowed it 4" tall in summer. It just depends on how frequently I can get out there. To keep it on the lower range of it's possible height you would really have to mow it daily or every other day.

And another thing. Bermuda will go dormant after a long dry spell. If it does this during the summer then when is the grass green and looking good? Or are you just satisfied that it is just simply alive?

You know the answer to that. You water it and it comes right back. For Fescue it is dead and you have to wait till fall to reseed.

Just like an Obama supporter, you have no choice other than damn the American way of life and prosperity; you made your choice of poverty and decline in your way of life, so live with it.

What makes the political comment warranted? I thought this was a lawn care forum, not a political forum. You really do show your ignorance in some of your posts, texas-weed.

skizot sorry I offended you. However you could use a sence of humor and quit taking things out of context.

And you could keep your political opinions to yourself. I took nothing out of context. ;-) Back on topic.

texas-weed,

It sounds like turfgrass is best grown there during the cool season, September-June. Because if you get "little if any" rain in the summer and people can't or dont want to water then their warm season bermuda will just be brown and ugly.

9 months of nice green grass is better than 1 or 2 months of green bermuda assuming you lose a month or two to drought or winter damage. Not to mention, like you said the fescue and bluegrass is more high end, for high end properties or people that are serious about having a nice lawn rather than just erosion control and mud abatement.

Don't get me wrong. Bermuda is a lovely choice for the coastal areas. New Orleans, Houston, Florida, Mobile. That's the type of climate bermuda would be better suited.
So it has it's place but not really of acceptable quality to discerning homeowners in the temporate climates of the country.

iforgotitsonevermind I think you have a misunderstanding of how long Bermuda and Zoysia is green and productive in this region of the country. Normally Bermuda and Zoysia is green from mid April to around Halloween. Fescue can be grown in the area in question, but it really needs trees to protect it from the sun and a ton of water which presents the next problem of fungal diseases.

When I converted the family farm from cash grain crops to sod some 30 years ago I had tall Fescue, it almost cost me the farm literally. On the farm we could grow it because we have the very sandy loam which drains well, the irrigation to keep it alive in the summer, but the users/customers did not. So we almost went broke replacing all we sold under guarantee.

The summers around here are just too hot, dry, and brutal for the cool season grasses to survive the summer. They have to be replanted every fall around here. I agree with you overall most folks think TTF and KBG has better eye appeal over all if conditions are right for it. But using my cynical sense of humor that some donÂt understand, you donÂt fight Mother Nature. Bermuda grass is the most dominant around these parts and the most popular choice.

"Around here"???

I am not talking about texas. I am talking about NW Arkansas.

The Arkansas NTEP trials for the summer months still show the ratings for tall fescue are in fact quite acceptable.

You seem to be basing your logic on a tall fescue lawn would not be irrigated but a bermuda lawn would. That is how you are arriving at your conclusion of a 6 month (pathetic btw) period of active growth.

If you water the bermuda during a drought, it will be green. If you don't it goes brown. Same with fescue. Both will survive in drought with irrigation.

Taken last night, just for you.
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1174/bermudafescuecomparison.jpg
{{gwi:84400}}
That brown grass on the top is bermuda as of yesterday. Not a green blade in sight. The grass adjoining that space is fescue and look how beautiful and dark green that is.
Bermuda does not hold a candle to that color which is why fescue is used so much in professionally designed landscapes.
Winter is over why would anyone still want brown grass? It's beyond me.

Okay kids, let's all go back and read the OP's question.

I had no idea my questions would spark such heated debates. I just wanted everyone to know that for the most part my bermuda is alive. I do have some patches that I'll need to spend some extra time on but overall I think I'll be pleased by the end of the summer. Thanks all.

Wow, if it's greening up already, maybe I was wrong about your climate. I still think you're going to regret keeping it but warmest wishes and best of luck to yaz.

You might hate your bermuda later on if you have never had it before...? I've never had it, but I know one neighbor that has it and it is brown with weeds most of the time. Then when it finally greens up around late May, it doesn't look all that good either. He can't keep up with mowing twice per week like he should, so when he cuts it, it goes back to brown until a week later when it starts to get green again.

You still have time to put in fescue or bluegrass. Plastic borders can be found at ACE hardware for about $15 for 15 feet, or you can use railroad ties to keep your neighbor's bermuda from invading your lawn.

Up here the warm season grasses are just starting to wake up, the cool seasons are looking beautiful.