Lawn doesn’t look too bad!

• I would hit it again with the herbicide
• Definitly don’t want to overseed Bermuda. You want it to fill in and spread itself. Overseeding will introduce multiple types of grass and possibly weeds and will just set you up for more headache down the road. Bermuda can spread fast with proper care. You can even look into plugging which can speed up the process.

- Bermuda will need 1 inch of water per week and also 1 lb of N per 1k per month. Whether that water comes from irrigation or rain, it needs it to thrive. Same with the Nitrogen. You can also get a soil test to see if you are lacking other nutrients.

- Try and mow twice per week or more. Frequent mowing encourages the Bermuda to spread laterally instead of vertically.

Hope that helps. Search “Bermuda Bible” on this site and you will get all this info and more. Good Luck!!

 

Awesome. I love this forum already. How long after I re-apply herbicide do you think I should wait to put down the N?

Also, would it be a bad idea to (and this is my lack of patience speaking) put down something like Scott's Weed & feed (28-0-3) instead if doing herbicide/fertilizer separately as mentioned above?

 

Go to Lowes and pick up some 20-0-0 and apply it at 5 lbs/1,000 sq/ft and water it in really good. Do that at least monthly and mow twice a week and you should be pretty filled in by the end of the season.

 

I don’t think the timeframe matters between herbicide and fertilizer.

I also have zero experience with weed and feed so I would wait for others to chime in on that

 

Reading the Bermuda Bible on here really helped me learn a lot in just a few short weeks.
Bermuda Bible Link

 

I would hold off on the herbicide right now and feed the lawn and get it growing really good and then hit the weeds again with just Celsius, the Speedzone can harm the grass above 85F plus you will get a better kill with actively growing weeds plus once the Bermuda starts growing it will choke out a lot of the weeds.

 

Sounds almost like what I am dealing with in central NC. I killed most of the weeds (some are starting to come back) and am watering the heck out of the yard daily. There's no SiteOne near me, so I bought the 20-0-0 at Lowes. LOTS of Bermuda growth! It was suggested to do a total kill and sprig a hybrid, but I am going to see how the common does through the end of the season. I'm currently plugging and sprigging existing common so as not to introduce any other strain. Hoping to fill in as much bare area as possible during the summer.

 

Seems like it would be cheaper to send your samples directly to Waypoint or a local Extension Office.

 

Well, it depends what you test for. If I just want macro then yes. SoilKit does, Macro, micro, boron, and organic matter. That would cost me $46+shipping at Texas A&M soil labs. Do I need the micros and OM? Probably not.

Last year I had a take all root rot issue. Come to find out I have a deficiency in manganese. Would not have caught that with the basic test from A&M. Caught it with the SoilKit test. I am also low on Boron. TE would say that Boron does not matter but manganese is one of the only micros to take a hard look at.

Unfortunately, I ordered a few bags of manganese with my Main Event Iron order and just watched a TE video that said to use granular manganese. Still learning. With all that said yes you might save a few bucks searching for a lab but ordering from Amazon and an easy to use system sometimes may be worth it.

Personally, I am not a Waypoint fan. Nothing on their website seams easy for the average lawn guy. The forms do not even have a price list. With SoilKit you pre-pay $32 and get 17 tests with Melich 3 in 7-10 days without having to go past your mailbox.

 

Waypoint soil test S3M is only $20+shipping so if you are taking more than one you save on shipping and you get all the same results as the SoilKit and turn around is pretty much the same if not a little faster. Once they receive it I usually get the results within a day or two. I agree it's a hair more complicated to fill out the form but it's not hard by any means and you can always call them and they are more than helpful with any questions I have had.

As far as TE goes, I think people(me included) try to simplify what he promotes as Nitrogen only but he does say that spray Iron works and sometimes Manganese which you obviously have found out. Also he's not 100% opposed to a soil test and has said that it is good to have one as a base to go off of so you can see if anything is dangerously low so you have a reference to go off of but you shouldn't use it as some kind of Rosetta Stone or road map. This isn't directed at you @cldrunner just some general info for anyone else reading this thread

 

@Mightyquinn I might try a Waypoint test next time because visually I think their reports are some of the best I have seen. SoilKit on the other hand can be confusing.

 

Yea, Soilkit can be confusing. They should add ranges / graphs so people can interpret their results without having to google the ranges themselves.

 

@Mightyquinn Here is the link to the video: