Trying to thicken my bermuda

10 years ago

Good morning! I have about 5 acres of "yard" (really an old pasture 15 years ago) and I am trying to get my bermuda grass thick and to get it to be the only type of grass in my yard. I sprayed Grazon Plus 7 weeks ago, and it knocked out all of the clover, oxalis, and weeds, and it looked so much better. (We have had so much rain in the south this year I couldn't get the tractor on my lawn much earlier than when I sprayed this the first part of June.) Now my bermuda is looking great, but I still have about half of my grass being the common thick bladed grass type (if I need to be more specific I will try to find out the name of it). What I am interested in is what should I spray on my lawn at this time to get rid of this grass and allow my bermuda to continue to thrive like its trying to do right now. The common grass obviously is taking up a lot of the nutrients the bermuda could be using, and our growing season has several weeks left I really want it to take off while it can. Thanks for any help.

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Comments (4)

dchall_san_antonio
10 years ago
If you only had 3,000 square feet of lawn rather than 250,000 square feet, this would be the advice to improve the density...

Bermuda can stand to be mowed down to 1 inch or lower. Not many other plants can handle that and will die. So if you mow it 2x per week at 1.5 to 2 inches that should get rid of some of the weeds.

Fertilize it monthly with a high nitrogen fertilizer.

Water once per week for a full inch unless Mother Nature provides the inch.

You might need to spot spray some spots with RoundUp to kill both the weeds and the bermuda. Then the bermuda will refill as it spreads faster than most other grassy plants.
johnwyork
Original Author
10 years ago
I have learned what I need to kill is crabgrass. Any suggestions what to use? Is Pastora the best, and is it worth its expense?
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texas_weed
10 years ago
Johnny the issue is the scale of your project. The secret to having lush thick Bermuda is really simple.

Keep it short by mowing at least twice a week to maintain at 1 inch or less.

Apply 1 pound of nitrogen every 30 to 45 days starting in the spring at green up. Discontinue fertilizing about 30 days before first frost. If you use 29-0-0 that is 900 pounds of fertilizer every month x 4 to 6 month growing season.

Give it a soaking when it gets dry or about an inch of water each week or more if in hotter dryer climate. For you that is roughly 156,000 gallons every week.
badhabit40366
10 years ago
Johnny the issue is the scale of your project. The secret to having lush thick Bermuda is really simple.
Keep it short by mowing at least twice a week to maintain at 1 inch or less.

Apply 1 pound of nitrogen every 30 to 45 days starting in the spring at green up. Discontinue fertilizing about 30 days before first frost. If you use 29-0-0 that is 900 pounds of fertilizer every month x 4 to 6 month growing season.

Give it a soaking when it gets dry or about an inch of water each week or more if in hotter dryer climate. For you that is roughly 156,000 gallons every week.

Ouch ,when you put it like that I don't feel quite so bad about trying to maintain my 3acre yard!! The 18 bags of fertilizer would cost me $300/month ...no water bill for irrigation but well pump wouldnt like that amount of useage.