Lawn Care

[Midtowner]

Amid all of this talk of xeriscaping and brow beating about how our lawns are wasteful, some of us enjoy them. I, for one, enjoy my lawn when it isn't 100 degrees for three months.

I have a 1/3 acre lot planted with bermuda. I have irrigation, possibly not enough of it. I started off in July of 2021 with a mostly dorman lawn full of weeds. We've mostly eliminated the weeds with copious amounts of roundup. Things began to fill in nicely until the heat really started taking hold.

How much should you water right now to keep things green?

When is fertilizer safe in Oklahoma? What kind do y'all use?

How often do you mow? What height is recommended?

Any protips?

[TheTravellers]

Here's my mowing height post from the other thread, along with more info.

I've been told by a greenskeeper for multiple country clubs (and read online also) that for Bermuda, you should start at your lowest notch (1.25" for me), and raise it a notch on Memorial Day, another on Independence Day, and again for the last time on Labor Day.

I generally mow when I can't stand looking at it, that may be a week or it may be three (this year has been about 2-3 weeks in between). I don't water much, only when Acenitec fertilizes (I'm on their basic plan), usually, since I have all Bermuda and the more I water, the more I mow. I don't care if I don't have a golf-course-quality lawn.

I need to do dethatching and aerating, didn't do that this year and we need to do it more regularly since this yard is basically 72 years old and pretty compacted.

Also, we've used Adam from Eco Garden OK to examine our yard, plants, trees, etc. The previous owners planted *horrible* things all over the yard (removed a dozen rosebushes that had witch's broom, some chaste trees, moved some dwarf bamboo, a newton plum tree got knocked over by the wind, removed tons of little landscaping rocks, had a ton or two (literally) of dirt trucked in to fill low spots, removed 2 crape myrtles and another huge tree, thinned out lilies and irises), it's taken us 6 years to get our yard to an acceptable state. Adam came in and told us what was good to plant (native is always best), what needed doing, removing, etc. He might be good to contact and have him give your yard a once-over, I think it cost about $100 to have him come out and look...

[FighttheGoodFight]

Dont forget to get a soil sample done by OSU. It is 10 bucks and you can do it at your local extension office. They will tell you what to add to your lawn to help it out. I do it yearly. https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-s...l-testing.html

[TheTravellers]

Dont forget to get a soil sample done by OSU. It is 10 bucks and you can do it at your local extension office. They will tell you what to add to your lawn to help it out. I do it yearly. https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-s...l-testing.html

Yes, I second this, had it done and found we needed to do some extra things WRT fertilizing (nitrogen, I believe).

[Brett]

This DIY lawn care forum is full of great information. https://thelawnforum.com/

I personally enjoy watching YouTube videos from Pete who owns GCI Turf Services out of Reidsville, NC a suburb of Greensboro.

[gjl]

Bermuda grass should do fine with 1 inch of water once per week all at once. On that day try and get that inch put down in the morning before noon. You can't go wrong with a 10-20-10 fertilizer. The more nitrogen you use the more water it will require. And you should only be using Roundup for weed control very early in the year while the Bermuda grass is still dormant. Usually before April 1. Once it is growing only use something with 2-4-D for broad leaf weed control. MSMA is still the beat thing for crabgrass control. It is still available to buy if you look around.

[April in the Plaza]

Amid all of this talk of xeriscaping and brow beating about how our lawns are wasteful, some of us enjoy them. I, for one, enjoy my lawn when it isn't 100 degrees for three months.

I have a 1/3 acre lot planted with bermuda. I have irrigation, possibly not enough of it. I started off in July of 2021 with a mostly dorman lawn full of weeds. We've mostly eliminated the weeds with copious amounts of roundup. Things began to fill in nicely until the heat really started taking hold.

How much should you water right now to keep things green?

Roughly an inch per week. Run the tuna can test (see youtube) to figure out how long it takes each zone to deliver an inch.

When is fertilizer safe in Oklahoma? What kind do y'all use?

Milorganite is always a safe option, but you get a better value sourcing fert (and just about everything else) from Ewing Supply or SiteOne. Let your soil test inform what you spread on the lawn. I usually send mine off to Waypoint Analytical in Iowa. Much more comprehensive than the county extension.

How often do you mow? What height is recommended?

At least once per week. Trying to maintain it around an inch. Nice thing about Bermuda is you can almost always reset the height of cut if things get out of control (i.e., after a long vacation). On the next cut, go slightly higher and you should be right back to having a nice green lawn.

Any protips?

Next level stuff would be:

upgrading from a rotary to a powered reel
keeping a lawn notebook (or excel spreadsheet) to track ferts, chems, etc.
overseeding in September with a quality perennial ryegrass or a similar cool season turf

my thoughts in bold

[gjl]

Why would you over seed a Bermuda lawn with rye grass or a cool season grass? That makes no sense. I work very hard at keeping other grass types out of my Bermuda lawn. And reel type mowers are for grasses like tiff green or sun turf, (putting green grasses) not Bermuda.

[thunderbird]

Bermuda loves to be cut short, it does great with a reel mower.

Overseeding with rye can be done with a annual or perennial variety. I usually go with a deep green perineal variety and spray the lawn with roundup to kill off the rye while the Bermuda is dormant. Annual varieties will die off on their own once temperatures start climbing.

[Thatguy15]

Why would you over seed a Bermuda lawn with rye grass or a cool season grass? That makes no sense. I work very hard at keeping other grass types out of my Bermuda lawn. And reel type mowers are for grasses like tiff green or sun turf, (putting green grasses) not Bermuda.

This couldn't be more incorrect. Bermuda loves to be mowed with a reel. I mow my bermuda yard with a reel mower and I overseed with perennial rye every Sept/Oct. I spray out the rye in late March/early April. Both look fantastic

Go check out www.thelawnforum.com for more examples.

[gjl]

I never said it cant be mowed with a reel but a rotary mower is preferred and way more common to use on Bermuda. I would bet more than 99% of Bermuda grass lawns in Okla are mowed with a rotary mower. How many commercial lawn crews do you see using reel type mowers? Mulching the grass is better for the lawn too. Returning the clippings back to the lawn finely chopped. Something you can't do with a reel type mower. So you plant grass seed just to kill it off a few months later. FWIW I worked at a lawn mower shop and sold lawn equipment for 10 years and we never recommended reel mowers for Bermuda lawns.

[thunderbird]

I never said it cant be mowed with a reel but a rotary mower is preferred and way more common to use on Bermuda. I would bet more than 99% of Bermuda grass lawns in Okla are mowed with a rotary mower. How many commercial lawn crews do you see using reel type mowers? Mulching the grass is better for the lawn too. Returning the clippings back to the lawn finely chopped. Something you can't do with a reel type mower. So you plant grass seed just to kill it off a few months later. FWIW I worked at a lawn mower shop and sold lawn equipment for 10 years and we never recommended reel mowers for Bermuda lawns.

Both total environment and sharper image use reel mowers. Most people don’t use a reel mower because you have to mow every other day. But yeah, regular Joe’s should stick with a $500 toro from Home Depot.

Source: I know more about grass than anyone you’ll ever meet.

[thunderbird]

This couldn't be more incorrect. Bermuda loves to be mowed with a reel. I mow my bermuda yard with a reel mower and I overseed with perennial rye every Sept/Oct. I spray out the rye in late March/early April. Both look fantastic

Go check out www.thelawnforum.com for more examples.

You’re braver than me. We always spray out around Valentine’s Day.

[Thatguy15]

You’re braver than me. We always spray out around Valentine’s Day.

I can't do it. It looks sooo good in March and April

[thunderbird]

I can't do it. It looks sooo good in March and April

I know, it’s tough! I’m running tifftuff for the first time and didn’t want to wait too long and smoke it.