Agree. You definitely need to s-l-o-w the watering in the low lying areas. If you have time now, spray the entire yard with any shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. I should say, any shampoo you can see through. I like baby shampoo. Spray a little heavier on the areas where the water is collecting. You cannot overdo the shampoo. That will help with drainage.

I would wait and apply herbicide when you return. If something happens while you're gone at least you won't have to wonder if it was the water, fertilizer, or the herbicide.

Well as Bermuda is pretty drought resistant and you're lawn looks pretty well established I "think" you can cut down to 10 20 in the morning give it a try before you leave. it depends on what kind of soil you got and how hot it is is thier for how much you have to water. For the fert mix it sounds OK, if you want to spend the extra money on iorn go for it but it will only make your grass greener for about a week and then you have to add more.and for the low spots just put a little sand once a week tell it fills in and gets level be careful about putting to much down at one time.

If you really want to know what kind of fertilizer you need you can get core samples tested from Logan labs or get a little more cheaper garden test kit at Walmart, most people here will suggest a loganlabs test granted yeah that's the best to know how much micro and macro nutrients you have but I still say over kill for people trying to grow lawns.

Thanks for the quick replies all! I took some more photos as the one I put up makes the yard look better than I believe it is. Where it's growing really well I'd agree is ready for mowing. Unfortunately this is only about 10% of the yard. Is it ok to wait for the rest of the lawn to catch up or should I mow the patches that are ready? I'm

going to cut back watering to just 10 minutes in the morning until the grass gives me a reason not to. When I come back back from vacation on the 18th I will start weening it towards 1" a week as I"m sure the lawn and my water bill will thank me.

I like the idea of using alfalfa pellets a lot once everything is up and running. Until then, will an 18-0-10 with iron work for the first fertilization? I found a 30 lb bag for $20 at the local feed store. I hate doing public math, but I believe 5.5 lbs of it to get 1 lb of N per 1000 sq/ft correct? I also intend to get a soil sample done as well so I can more accurately fertilize in the future.

Dchall, could you elaborate on the baby shampoo? I am completely unfamiliar with how and why it works. I also plan on weeding it by hand for the first go around as I don't want to use an herbicide unless I really have to and most of the weeds are big enough for me to rip up the old fashioned way.

The good (this is about 10% of the yard where there is really good drainage)

The bad (this is what most of the grass looks like... foot for reference)

The ugly (bad drainage and not a lot of sun)

Dude mowe right now what's it going to hurt.. Becarfulll with mixing organic fert with chemical. Organic fert last for a about a half a year or one and it has high a salt content

And for the soap thing, I thing its more of a OCD thing. My grass has not had a bit of soap on it for I can positively say for 10 years

You are going to have a really tough time getting bermuda to grow in the narrow spot between the house and the fence. It might work, but it's never going to be thick. I would go ahead and start making other arrangements. Bermuda really needs 6+ hours of sunlight.

As far as the organics (alfalfa, corn meal, soybean) go, you really can't go wrong. To do any damage, you would have to literally smother the grass. They will not burn the grass. Alfalfa and Corn Meal are typically applied at 20 lbs. per thousand square feet and soybean meal is effective at 15 lbs per thousand. You can safely double these numbers and apply every 2 - 3 weeks if you want.

For more info on shampoo - just search this forum for "shampoo". You will find lot's of info.

Dude why to much money... paint the dang fence white on that side

bic is that your yard you posted? That's super nice grass.

I pulled all the weeds by hand, mowed, fertilized (32-0-10, 3 lbs per 1k sq/ft), then threw about 3/4" of water on it on July 1st. In an effort to ween the grass off water, I started watering every other day with the plan to curtail that to once a week in the next couple of weeks. I went out of town on the 3rd and came back Sunday to what appeared to a much more (as much as you could imagine in two days) lush/green lawn than from when I left.

As I was cooking dinner on the patio this evening I noticed a couple of areas of the lawn that have a good amount of dead/straw looking grass. If I burned the lawn from fertilizing, wouldn't it have shown sooner? I would have taken a couple of pictures, but we had a record breaking 6 inches of rain today so I will try to take some to post tomorrow.

From what I observed it isn't a devastating amount of grass that has turned brown, but it's enough to concern me and I'm afraid of it continuing/spreading. Thoughts?

I believe that is one of bic9's golf greens. That is nice!!

Modern organic fertilizers have no salt. Bic9 may be under the influence of the old style (Rodale school) of fertilizers made from composted cattle dung or even uncomposted cattle dung. That's not the case anymore, except for the Rodalians still clinging to compost. Modern bagged commercial organic fertilizer is practically salt free. If you buy raw ground grains at the feed store, those might have salt added to make it palatable to livestock, but not enough to make a difference. A few years ago morpheuspa tried to overdose his lawn with organic fertilizer by applying, if I'm not mistaken, 50 pounds per 1,000 square feet every week for the entire growing season. He has not mentioned any salt build up during that time, but it would be an interesting question to ask him.

Definitely time to mow the tall bermuda. You'll scalp it at first, but that's okay. Take it down gradually, one notch lower every 3-4 days until you're at the bottom notch. Then raise it up one notch.

Shampoo is used to soften hard soil. Core aeration is also used to soften hard soil. The difference is that core aeration seldom works, but shampoo seems to work every time. It works by breaking the surface tension of the water allowing it to soak in deeper and faster into the soil. The deeper moisture extends the time for evaporation which keeps the soil a little cooler over a longer time. That cooler and moister soil is the perfect environment for the beneficial fungi which do the work of softening your soil. It takes them a few weeks to repopulate the soil, but when they do, they redevelop your soil structure opening up bazillions of microscopic pores for air and water to penetrate. They swell when moist to push the soil particles apart. They shrink when dry to allow air and water in more easily. You asked, so sorry for the biology discussion. Shampoo is not a trick. Surfactants have been used for generations only on sports fields, because the only surfactants thought to work were very expensive. Well, when you boil it all down, shampoo is a surfactant almost identical to the expensive ones. Shampoo only costs you a few cents to try it. The rate is 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Use any shampoo you can see through. Apply the shampoo and follow up with 1/2 to 1 inch of water. If it is not soft the next time it rains or you water deeply, apply it again. I applied to my lawn twice in 2011 and it still gets almost too soft to walk on after it rains. If you want to check how hard or soft your soil is, try sticking a screwdriver into it now, before you spray, and a couple weeks after you spray. If you do that before and after core aeration you'll find no difference, but with shampoo you'll definitely see a difference.