With Bermuda, the general rule is that lower is better with the mowing. For best results, set your rotary to the lowest comfortable setting. You don't want to cut dirt but get it as low as you can. At very low mowing heights, Bermuda grows into a green carpet.

The trade-off is that lower settings require more frequent mowing. If you find yourself mowing too often, raise the height a little.

I maintain a Bermuda lawn with organic fertilizers but it's a bit problematic. Bermuda is a nitrogen hog and it's hard to get enough from organic fertilizers. The cheapest path is to go to a feed store and buy soybean meal, cotton seed meal, or corn gluten meal. CGM is the best but also the most expensive. I use a lot of cotton seed meal because there's a lot of cotton in this area and it's relatively cheap. The only pre-packaged fertilizer that I buy is Milorganite.

For the first application, I'd apply about 20 lbs per 1000 sq ft. Then, monthly applications at 10 lbs per 1000 sq ft. Those are minimums, you can't apply too much unless you smother the grass. Beware that you won't see immediate results as the microorganisms in the soil need to break down the grain.

I'd pass on the aerator. Once the organics kick into high gear, the earthworms will do it for you. Also, the incorporation of all the organic matter into the soil will eliminate the need for aeration.

I normally wouldn't say this in an organic forum but, since you mentioned it, a dose of synthetic fertilizer at the rate of 1 lb Nitrogen per 1000 sq ft will give you a kick start. Apply your organic fertilizer at the same time and when the synthetic starts to play out, the orgainic will be kicking in. Don't bother with Scott's as they are very proud of themselves and way overpriced. Any slow release fertilizer with high nitrogen content will do. Fast release would be Ok but you'll need to water heavily in this heat to keep from burning.

"The trade-off is that lower settings require more frequent mowing. If you find yourself mowing too often, raise the height a little."

I don't mind mowing often (well, not TOO often). I DO mind having to go to the store every week or two for some bag or bottle of something to spread or spray on the yard. My mower's in my garage. All I need to do is crank it and start mowing.

"I'd pass on the aerator. Once the organics kick into high gear, the earthworms will do it for you."

How do I determine if I have enough (or any) earthworms? My yard is bordered on two sides by other yards, one side by a concrete drainage ditch, and the other, of course, is the road. Not much way for worms to get here unless they're already here.

"Also, the incorporation of all the organic matter into the soil will eliminate the need for aeration."

What organic matter? Are the feeds used for fertilizers considered OM? If so, what's the purpose and benefit of compost? Is compost needed only on synthetically maintained lawns?

How about bugs? Specifically, ants. We have a few large anthills that I'd like to get rid of. I seem to recall reading somewhere that organic lawns encourage beneficial insects, and discourage harmful ones.

Thanks for the reply.

Start with a soil treatment that will soften your soil and allow water to penetrate much better. Your soil is not compacted - it is hard. Those are different. The treatment is to spray any clear, generic shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces (or more) per 1,000 square feet followed up by 1 inch of irrigation. Watch carefully for runoff. Stop watering immediately if you see it flowing off. The soap is supposed to stop that. If you apply the soap, water, and it still runs off, water more slowly. You still need to get an inch on but move the sprinklers and let the water that's there soak deep into the soil before watering there again. Repeat this every other week until you are happy. The expected result will be that the soil becomes very soft to walk on when it is moist. When it dries out between watering, it should become hard again. That is normal. Once you do this, you'll be helping your neighbors soften their soil. This is 100% better than any aeration. It works immediately while aeration works marginally well under the best of circumstances.

Earthworms is more of a euphemism for organic matter in the soil. Worms are nice but overrated. What you really need is the beneficial fungi that earth worms feed on. Get going on that with organic fertilizers like alfalfa pellets, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, or as a last resort, corn meal.

In the summer heat mow at one notch above the bottom on a rotary mower. When it starts to cool off again, then drop it all the way down. If you really want it barefoot friendly, look for a reel type mower and drop it to 1/2 inch.

Contractor grade bermuda is possibly the best turf available, bar none. Why? Because it is so easy for the sod farms to grow that the price has come way down. It is much easier/faster/better for a contractor to put Tif 419 sod down than it is to seed and deal with those issues. There are sports grades of turf around which might be better than Tif 419 but you don't want those.

It is never too late to apply organic fertilizer. You can use it any day of the year, rain, snow, or shine. Well, maybe not snow. You cannot over apply, as David_tx said. There is a guy on another forum who applied 50 pound per 1,000 square feet every week of the season with no ill effects.

Google "Bermuda Bible" and memorize it. It was written for the chemical minded homeowner. The author comes to the regular lawn forum occasionally and is occupied on other lawn forums. He was a bermuda sod farmer for years and retired last year. At the job he was all chemicals. At home he was mostly organic. After growing bermuda both ways, the bible was written to bring the most success to the most people. David_tx has found a way to grow bermuda organically. Listen to him.

Before DNA testing, compost was the only organic material anyone used. It was expensive and quite often led to huge problems in lawns. That was in the days when Rodale had control of the organic gardening movement. Since the late 1990s, the use of grain meals has taken over with spectacular results and huge cost reductions. All the issues with compost are gone. Compost has uses, but fertilizing lawns is not one of them. In fact I dare say that the only reason there is an organic lawn care forum anywhere is due to the discovery that compost was a problem and ground grains was the solution.

Generally all insects prefer the more natural use of grains rather than chemicals on the soil. In a 'normal,' healthy lawn, the beneficial insects will predominate. Why? Because 'healthy' is the definition of normal. When you have the bad bugs then something is out of balance. Something is not normal. Usually applying food of some sort will straighten things out. Sometimes grains are not the fastest answer. Sometimes molasses (a food) is a faster answer. If your ants are fire ants or another type of ant that is doing damage, the fastest solution is to give them a disease (organic!). The disease is called spinosa which causes all the insect's muscles to contract resulting in paralysis until death. The product is called spinosad or Conserve (trade name). There is a bait called Green Light Fire Ant Control with Conserve. Find a trail of fire ants and drop no more than a 3-finger pinch along the trail. I use a 2-finger pinch and have some left over. Fire ants will jump on it and start carrying it to the nest. The entire nest will collapse and die within 24 hours from just a few grains of the bait. Be careful how you use it, because it is very effective on many beneficial insects (bees and wasps come to mind). Try to target your pests. There is a similar product by Fertiloam, but I can't remember the name. Look for spinosad or Conserve.

What organic matter? The organic matter that matters is the beneficial fungi in the soil. The population of fungi in soil far outweighs (literally) the population of all other microbes combined. Others are bacteria, protozoa, and micro arthropods (mini insects). You can have good fungi by watering regularly, the soap stuff from above, and feeding organic fertilizer. The occasional use of chemical fertilizer will not benefit your soil but may boost plant growth for a short time. The repeated and sustained use of nothing but chemicals WILL deplete the beneficial microbes in the soil and that can be a problem.