the question is what can be done to maximize its chances of survival?

A chain saw and the word TIMBER!

Aw come-on Tex! I had hope for something a little less drastic than that from you experts :) I am currently trimming the limbs with hope more sunlight can peek through. I have limed the hay'll out of the soil while I talk real nice to it every morning. I think it is getting about 6 hours of direct light in todays environment. Do you think this task is futile? If so, I guess that tru-cut mower idea can be canned?

it really depends on your luck, but bermuda hates shade.

my front yard is bermuda and you can literally see the line where my house shades it. the front yard is on the east side, so it gets sun until around 2-3 pm during summer and still bermuda will not grow there. my parents front yard faces west, and other than around 1 tree their bermuda grows just fine, and the house shades thier front yard UNTIL 2-3 PM!

so thats it, Count on luck or cut down the timber? There's nothing in between? :(

nope, bermuda wants FULL sun. even partial shade will kill some varieties. the ones it don't kill will suffer.

did a pro sod this? if they did, i would hold them responsible if it does not make it. from the pics it is a nice job and look like it is gettign decent light, so maybe you will be ok, just hard to say with bermuda.

No, this was a conscience decision by me to sod with Bermuda. The builder placed Bermuda in the open front yard and the back was left untouched. I wanted to keep the same grass in both the front and back yards. I understand this has potential not to work but I would like to do as much as I can to give it a chance before succumbing to the centipede grass that dominates this area. The yard actually receives a lot of sunlight. The question I havenÂt found yet, "is how much direct light hours does Bermuda need and must it be continuous for photosynthesis to work"? We have long daylight hours during the growing season and direct sunlight gets into this area for around six hours but it is not continuous.
Things I am doing: I am currently trimming the branches at the 35-foot level to help increase the sunlight time while removing all ground twigs and debris to try to capture every ray that gets to the ground. I let the grass grow slightly longer in this area to help the photosynthesis process. As a last-ditch effort I can take out some or all of the trees but surprisingly more shade comes from trees on adjoining lots and the house than is produced by the trees on this lot.
I am very interested in any input this board has, both negative and positive.

I think you should have asked this question before you installed the sod. Not much we can do to help you now. The grass will probably survive, but will not thrive...will probably be thin and leggy. If you would have asked before installation, and were set on bermuda, I would have recommended Celebration Bermuda, which is somewhat shade tolerant.

I wish you the best and hope your investment is not lost.

Thats some useful information. What I might do if/when I begin to get an unsatisfactorily decline is introduce some Celebration and see if it can take over.

also, DON'T leave it long to "help photosynthesis". bermuda does MUCH better kept short, 1/2 to 3/4". when allowed to grow tall, it does not spread and choke out weeds. if you cut it short it will run along the ground and really thicken up. still as much grass surface area per runner, but laying horizontal with vertical blades versus sticking up with horizontal blades. one area of my yard i cut at 3" due to the severe unevenness of it, and in that area the bermuda is thin as can be. when i was cutting it short it was thick and lush.

I received this response today. Interestingly enough he states competition from the pines for water and nutrients may cause more thinning and turf loss than my shade.

This is the response I received from Dr. Clint Waltz Turfgrass Specialist, UGA:

"For now it looks like the lawn is getting enough sunlight and I suspect that keeping the pine trees limbed-up will allow 8 hours of uninterrupted sunlight per day during the growing season (May through September). Other precautions to help the grass will be to raise the mowing height slightly. Typically I recommend for homeowners to mow hybrid bermudagrass at 1 inch, you may need to raise that to 1.5 inches if the shade does not afford 8 hours of sunlight per day. If, or when, the light becomes more limiting, reduce your nitrogen fertility. Typically bermudagrass needs 1.0 pound of nitrogen per month during the growing season, you may need to reduce your application to 0.75 pounds per month. Lastly, from the picture, root competition from the pines for water and nutrients may cause more thinning and turf loss than the shade. Watch your watering and routinely (e.g. yearly) soil sample in the upper 3 to 4 inches to make sure nutrients are not limited for the grass.
Even with these precautions I suspect the lawn will thin with time, it may take 5 to 10 years, as the trees continue to grow and mature. "

Trplay, sorry for my short response, but I think by now you get the picture this may in fact be a loosing battle. If you really trim th elower branches so sunlight can ge in the mornings and eavenings you may have some limited success, but I wouldn't count on it.

If I had seen or known before hand I would have suggested Zoysia as it can get by on 4 to 6 hours of sumlight and some varieties look like Bermuda. Or if you are far enough south Saint Augustine would be perfect.

Might consider buying some Zoysia plugs, or make your own by buying a pallet and cutting it into plugs if you see it is not going to work out with the Bermuda. Heck if you got as much shade as I think and irrigation, you might even be able to get away with Fescue of KBG. Depends on how hot and dry it gets in your location.

Godd Luck

TW

trplay,

No matter what, I think that is a gorgeous back yard. Hopefully the sod does well there, if not I hope you don't cut the trees, change the grass.

If you had asked first before doing all that work, we would have suggested fine bladed zoysia which looks like bermuda but with better shade tolerant. St augustine is typically what is recommended because it does better than other warm weather grass in shade. We have pines and oaks everywhere in Texas and that's what is commonly grown.

trplay - I saw this post and was wondering how things turned out? we just had bermuda sod laid in our back yard (northern california). We do get a lot of sunshine over most of the grass...however, we have an ash tree that speckles the lawn with shade that moves throughout the day - such that parts of the lawn will end up getting 3-4 hours of direct sunlight (while the rest of the lawn gets pretty much full sun most of the day). Appreciate your follow up on how things worked out for now. It may be that we trim back and thin out that ash tree.....

Start a new thread & we'll get you fixed up