How much fertilizer you put down depends on what you're after.

If you want the picture perfect golf course fairway type of lawn, then you're behind.

But, for most typical homeowners, mowing with a normal rotary mower once a week at 2" to 3", you're fine.

Many of the folks in my neighborhood either don't fertilize at all or maybe once or twice a year. They mow on the weekend, & their lawns are ok... they're "presentable."

I personally prefer to have the "lawn geek" lawn of the hood. I fertilize with 15lbs soybean meal once a month, I mow every 3rd day @ .500" with a reel mower. It just goes to show that you don't necessarily need to have an elite variety of turf to have a good looking lawn, because my lawn is comprised of the cheapo buliders grade sod that was laid when the house was built... It didn't look so good when I first moved in, but here's what it looks like as of Saturday May 17th 2008:

{{gwi:108051}}

okcdan, my friend you have a real infatuation. I'm bringing my family over for a game of mini golf. LOL. Ok, I don't want to go quite as far as you (I'm not looking for a part time job!) but I do want mine to look better than bubbas next door who might mow his every 10 days. I typically mow ever 5 days, we haven't had measurable rain in 2 weeks so I'm not in a hurry to mow right now. We cannot water here in Georgia. You might recall we made national news last year because of terrible drought, we won't be out of the woods on that for years to come.
I don't have a reel mower, but I mow at about 1.5", it's pretty short. The past two years money has been tight in my household and I didn't fert like I should have past two years. I've got a lot of weeds, and must confess that until they are back to managable (getting there in the front only thing left is some crabgrass) I will continue spraying them. I started with spraying the whole lawn and then I will back off to spot spraying.

My biggest concern is I will need to put down pre-emergent next year. I know all they maybe it works maybe it doesn't" on CGM, I cannot risk that I've gotta get a handle on those weeds next year. Any advice?

Ok, so maybe do more fert, but if I don't get more rain what should I do?

Thanks again,
Kevin

Dan,
I'd say my lawn is a little more like the fairway already, yours is a putting green!

I'd double the amount of Milorganite you are using based on your lawn size. (I have about 6,500 sq/ft and use 4 bags of Milorganite whenever I fertilize with it.)

In time you'll see a difference. Just be patient.

Don't worry about rain, organics like Milorganite and grains don't burn the plants.

Does you property have any trees/shade. Bermuda absolutly does not like shade.

Shade, haha, that's funny. There is a little shade but the trees are so small the shade is barely in any one place very long. I have some cherry trees bout 10 or 12 feet tall and wide and not much growing beneath those, but that's fine, I don't want anything underneath them. I have two oaks, also bout 10 or 12 ft, they put off more of a shifting shadow than actual shade, but one day they will shade the back of my afternoon sun house, probable when I've moved LOL.

But here's something funny. I have a Japanese maple (coral bark to be specific) in the front yard and it is very wide at the top and very thick with leaves, anything could hide inside it's canopy. And believe it or not, the burmuda under that canapy which is shaded almost all day does just fine. In fact, until I spread compost on that side of the yard 2 weeks ago, the burmuda under the jap maple was better than the rest of the full sun area. I know bermuda shouldn't tolerate shade but all of this is just as much art as it is science.

Thanks,
Kevin