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why does my bermuda lawn have streaks?

8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago

for the past few months, been watering it daily. this week I cut back to twice a week and one inch of water. but every time I mow the lawn it looks like this. notice the blotches.

Comments (9)

  • 8 years ago

    Where do you live?

    Even in the hottest heat of a Phoenix summer you should never water bermuda on a daily basis. 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.

    That watering advice won't address your brown spots, but it is very important that you get the watering under control. Referring to your picture, what direction is the camera aimed? I need north, south, east, or west or some mix of those.

    Would you characterize your soil as perfectly even and level or does it have holes that catch the wheels of your mower? How high/low are you mowing it?

  • 8 years ago

    yea, with my sprinkler system, one inch translates to one hour per zone.

    that shot is facing north. and incidentally, I'm in central texas.

    yes my lawn is bumpy. I don't know what setting the lawncare guy uses, but I know that it's "low"

    I guess the real question is, "assuming I water properly and cut properly, will the grass recover?" my neighbors have the same grass except nice and green.


  • 8 years ago

    mystery solved. incidentally, the weed killer guy came today and I asked him about it since they also do the fertilizer treatment.

    he said that the streaks are caused by the lawnmower. it's too low. (and yea there are circular burn marks in some places where I hadn't noticed!) as for the brown spots in the photo next to the brick wall, notice that it's next to a make shift garden. so that grass is stressed from overwatering.

    the grass will be fine though

  • 8 years ago

    The area to the left of the wall will never grow decent bermuda because it does not get enough sunlight. You might want to think about a different kind of ground cover there.

    Do some research in this forum on the topic of leveling. Leveling is a big weekend DIY project. Basically you fertilize and deep water before scalping the grass down as low as you can. Then drop bags of sand as necessary to fill the low spots without raising the general level of the yard. Use a drag to level the sand. Then water it, add more sand as needed to fill any new low spots caused by the watering, water it again, add more sand, water it again, and that should get you 95% there. There are several examples here in the forum. After that the surface should be nearly as flat as a golf putting green. Usually people are ecstatic about the results from leveling. You'll be able to mow at the mower's lowest setting and never see the circular scalping again.

  • 8 years ago

    sounds like a lot of work. and yes, that part of the yard receives a ton of sunlight. as I said, the issue is overwatering.

  • 8 years ago

    Are you growing the three sisters there?

  • 8 years ago

    huh???

  • 8 years ago

    The ol corn/squash/beans combo?