What to do about yard

10 years ago

Moved into a new home about 2.5 months ago. Yard looked really good and seemed to grow in strong then all a sudden everything started to turn brown. Front yard still looks ok but back looks like it is dying

located in San Antonio if that helps

Featured Answer

dchall8 .

10 years ago

Bermuda does not die. It goes dormant. It looks like it's drying out. Where do you live? Here's more on watering.

Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.

Having said that, you can start now with the cat food cans. That will be your first watering period that counts. If you get runoff before you fill all the cans, then stop watering and let the water soak in for 15 to 30 minutes. Then resume. Continue on and off until you get the full inch. Since this is new sod in the summer, you might need to water slightly more frequently than once a week or every 5 days (if you're, say, in Phoenix).

You can improve penetration of the water by spraying the lawn with shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Give that 3 weeks to work, but it will work.

Bermuda is not going to work on the north side of fences and buildings. It will also not thrive on the east and west sides of fences and buildings for about 10 feet out. For those areas you'll either need a different ground cover or some sort of flower bed.

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Comments (12)

Richard Lee
Original Author
10 years ago
Little more info. Lawn is common Bermuda I'm guessing tif no sure though. We got a good couple of weeks of rain when we first moved in which allowed the grass to get set in. Once it stopped I started watering 3x a week adding up to 1 in. I also keep the yard mowed at about 2in. Couple of weeks ago I applied Melorganite to the yard. Do you feel that the yard is mostly dead? Is it salvageable or do I just need to start over next spring?
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Richard Lee
Original Author
10 years ago
Are you sure my yard is not dead in the brown spots. There is no green left at all. Here are some closer pictures
Richard Lee
Original Author
10 years ago
Just talked to the people that built my house. House pretty much sits on top of rock. Their standard practice is to only bring in 2in of soil before they lay sod. Is this enough or will the grass just burn. This maybe what is possibly happening.
joe renalds
10 years ago
ok looking at how lush it was. With the fullness of you're grass it simple seems like a watering problem. Ive had Bermuda roots run a inch or two and thrive in a north Arizona zone 12.
James Watson
10 years ago
This might be a long shot but, San Antonio has hard water. Do you have a water softener in the house? If so, does it bypass the softener to go to the spigot outside, or are there bypass levers near it so you can spray city/well water before it goes through the softener? Throwing down salt water would destroy a lawn.
Richard Lee
Original Author
10 years ago
I do have a water softener but it only filters the house water not the outside spigots.
reeljake
10 years ago
Oh wow, as a Bermuda lover that hurts my soul! Are the sod squares rooted, or does it just pull right up?
Richard Lee
Original Author
10 years ago
I would say they are but I am not sure now after cutting out a little square. I can easily pull out the green grass. On the brown spots I can't pull out the runners. The dead leaf blades come off quickly but it still feel tile the majority is rooted in the ground. The square shows that a bit but I thought there would be more roots.
dchall8 .
10 years ago
I'm pretty sure it's dormant. When was the last time you watered a full inch?
Richard Lee
Original Author
10 years ago
I watered half an inch a few days ago. I will give it a full inch tomorrow morning.
reeljake
10 years ago
It's good you had a strong grow-in the first few months, it rooted in OK. Not great, but I bet you'll get 50 to 70% of that grass back if you can keep it watered going into next spring. Luckily Bermuda isn't picky about soil & will drill roots straight down & around loose rock. It won't penetrate a boulder or anything, but scrabble is fine as long as you continue to feed it properly & give it an inch of water per week. The said, do find a source for more Bermuda sod for patching the spots that don't come back.