North Texas Lawn Disaster

7 years ago

We live in North Texas. Last year, we purchased a home. Prior to our living there, it had renters. I don't imagine the renters did much for the lawn. We have every weed available in this lawn, and a little bit of Bermuda grass.

I fertilized with Texas Tee and alfalfa every 3 months. We also mowed regularly, but just trimming the top of the grass, so as not to go too short. My neighbors kept advising me to use chemicals.

This fall, my lawn was overcome with roadside aster. I spent hours pulling it out, including that super long root, but didn't get very far. Now that the aster has died down, I have every kind of other lawn weed imaginable. I haven't taken the time to figure out what we have, but the lawn is covered. My Bermuda is dead, but the lawn is alive and well.

At one point last fall, I laid down corn gluten meal. It rained so much after I put it down that it molded.

Any suggestions on where to go from here? I purchased some Pulverize, and started to spray that, but I realized that I need to spray my entire lawn! Short of purchasing a chemical pre-emergent, what are my options? I have children, and we have hopes of redoing the front bed and planting something in the back yard this year. The renters left us with two trees and some grass in the back, so we'd like to plant a tiny garden. At this point, though, my first priority is to get the lawn some food, choke out the weeds I can while killing the others, and putting some native plants in the front and take out the overgrown bushes.

Thanks.

Featured Answer

bostedo: 8a tx-bp-dfw

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

How much sun does the Bermuda get during its active months? It will likely struggle anywhere it's getting less than 6, maybe 7, hours of full sun per day. Some newer cultivars claim to get by with less, but they're unlikely to be what's growing in your yard. Just checking, because Bermuda lawns declining once the trees get big is a very common pattern. You will not be able to rehab it well in any spots it gets too much shade from trees or buildings. Virtually all of the original Bermuda lawns on our ~50 year old tree-lined neighborhood streets have been converted to St. Augustine and shade tolerant groundcovers.

The lawn care schedules posted by the Wells Brothers Farm Store folks in Plano are pretty good starting outlines for north Texas. They address both synthetic and organic/all-natural programs.

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Comments (6)

lou_spicewood_tx
7 years ago
Bermuda lawn is not fun to care for. It is very high maintenance... To get rid of current weed crop now, you have to spray to kill them... AND to prevent from weed seeds to germinate, you have to put down pre-em weed control like Dimension that you can get from Home Depot. Google for Texas Weed's Bible for Bermuda.... Also, bermuda tend to like high amount of nitrogen to stay thick round year. First fertilization won't be till Mid-April to early May when it's warm enough (consistently 60s overnights)
suseyb
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you.
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girlnamedgalez8a
7 years ago
Bermuda needs to be kept short. Frequent mowing and fertilizer will help the Bermuda to spread and thicken.
suseyb
Original Author
7 years ago
All but one corner of the lawn gets full sun. Under that tree, we have no grass. It's ok, I just want the front to look better than it does right now. I have a ton of those purple flowers now, and i'm pretty sure my hoa is gonna have a fit soon.
bostedo: 8a tx-bp-dfw
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
If by "purple flowers" you mean henbit, you could always eat them ;-) Otherwise, at this time of year, you're left with pulling them or an herbicide as Lou already suggested. In our north Dallas area, they're probably our most prevalent winter weed. Well timed fall preemergent application(s) will keep them under control. We get almost none with a single fall application of one of the dithiopyr/Dimension brands (Hi-yield, Bonide,...) found at the big box stores. Corn gluten meal will slow them down, but have found the seedbank still grows a bit each season, so eventually return to a synthetic application for a reset.... this has been about every third year in our case.
B in 8a DFW
7 years ago
I had this problem in the same situation: bought a rental house with an unkempt yard. I used weed'n feed every few months in the spring and summer, and then pre-emergent in the fall and February. Then, I spot killed with roundup on warm weeks in January. At one point I nuked part of the hell strip and re-soded. It took three years but finally all cleared up to pure bermuda.