I should add what else I've tried or at least considered:

Riviera -- was sold to me as the greatest thing since sliced bread. I got 0.0% germination and I'm no rookie at seeding grass.

TifTuf / TifGrand / Tifway -- I've seen them, I like them, I would use them except I can't afford to sod. Can you sprig any of those varieties and if so what is the success rate?

LaPrima XD -- I used it at my last house. It looked good the first season but the next season I could barely distinguish it from the common bermuda. (I don't have a reel mower so mine will be cut at least 1.5 inches and probably more like 2 or 2.5 inches.)

Blackjack-- some guy at our local garden center (the same guy who convinced me to try Riviera) told me that a lot of his customers really liked Blackjack. But from what I've read online, there are at least 10 or 12 seeded varieties that would be nicer looking and probably more suitable. Am I misinterpreting anything on Blackjack?

Fescue - I've tried all the premium fescue mixes out there and they are all great until late May or early June and then my yard is deader than 4 o'clock.

Ryegrass - I overseed every winter with Pennington annual rye. It's cheap and serves its purpose. I've thought about trying some perennial to overseed this winter and maybe some of it will fare better in the shady spots? Or will it die off like the fescue?

 

@mbaisley buffalo is out for anything less than 8 hours of direct sun per day. Based on what you described, I would attempt to get Celebration bermuda sprigs.

 

Thank you @Spammage.

I've seen Celebration mentioned favorably on here.
I'll add it to my short list and do some investigation.

You think it's too late to sprig this year? Or you think there is still time? Our first frost is usually early November and our high temps usually stay in the 80s and sometimes even low 90s well into September.

 

You think it's too late to sprig this year? Or you think there is still time? Our first frost is usually early November and our high temps usually stay in the 80s and sometimes even low 90s well into September.

I think you should be fine, if it's done within the next week or so. Celebration is very cold tolerant as well as being shade tolerant (for bermuda) and is by far the most aggressive spreading grass I've seen, so fill in should be quick.

 

You may need to consider a dual lawn. Many people have fescue for shadded back areas and bermuda for sunny front lawn. If you dont get 5 hours of sunlight i dont feel Bermuda will thrive. DO you have pictures? Have you killed off the native grass weeds yet. How do you prep the lawn? If you had 0% germination with riviera that is troubling. Yukon is very very slow in my shaded area. I have spots on the north side of my lawn that hasn't filled in and Im on year 2 after seeding.

Dont overseed with rye the 1st year after seeding.

There are a lot of people in your area on this forum. Sprigging Bermuda with less than 5 hours of direct sunlight is a gamble. And sprigs can require more water than seeding.
With over an acre to cover it will be hard to have complete coverage if you start this year. But it has been done.

 

From what I've read -- because I considered it also -- wouldn't your area be almost too wet for Buffalo grass even without irrigation? I thought it did best at under 30" of rain per year (IIRC).

I still might consider planting some of it in my back yard next year in areas where I don't want to irrigate. Unfortunately I'm in semi-arid territory, which right now is more like desert. A golf course I play has some buffalo growing and it looks okay mixed in with the bermuda as long as don't expect perfection.

 

From what I've read -- because I considered it also -- wouldn't your area be almost too wet for Buffalo grass even without irrigation? I thought it did best at under 30" of rain per year (IIRC).

I still might consider planting some of it in my back yard next year in areas where I don't want to irrigate. Unfortunately I'm in semi-arid territory, which right now is more like desert. A golf course I play has some buffalo growing and it looks okay mixed in with the bermuda as long as don't expect perfection.

Thanks @Chocolate Lab for the reply. I don't know if our area would be too wet, but we'll soon find out.... I just ordered 2 lbs of buffalo from Hancock to experiment. Could be interesting to watch.

 

Thanks @Tellycoleman. All good advice. I actually read your renovation journal before I settled on Yukon. Then I got the crazy idea of doing a 50/50 blend with the Arden 15.

The thought occurred to me after seed was already down that one might germinate much faster than the other and shade out the slower one.... would have wasted a bunch of money on seed that will never see the light of day. Who knows.

 

@Tellycoleman, I also wondered about whether I should or should not overseed this first winter....

Question for you or anyone else on that subject: isn't there also a protective function that the ryegrass serves while the Bermuda is dormant over winter?

And doesn't the ryegrass also continue to improve soil tilth and add organic matter if mowed and cared for properly?

And wouldn't the ryegrass help me get a head start on weed control in the spring as the Bermuda starts to come out of dormancy?

All questions that I'm sure there are opinions on both sides.

Thanks again everyone. I'm getting more and more fired up about getting this done over the next year or two. I might start a journal on here to track progress.

 

I'm still learning as I go on some things, but what I can be confident about is that my seeded Zenith Zoysia has done quite well in my backyard, and has filled in MUCH faster than my "test plot" of plugs. It's tough as nails, and is green as can be, while the cool season stuff is wilting in this heat.

 

Thanks @Chocolate Lab for the reply. I don't know if our area would be too wet, but we'll soon find out.... I just ordered 2 lbs of buffalo from Hancock to experiment. Could be interesting to watch.

Cool! I hope it works. Seems to me that there isn't that much info out there about this kind of lawn. A regional seed company near me had some photos from a customer's buffalo lawn and it looked great. I wouldn't have thought a native grass could look that good.

If I didn't care about chipping some golf balls in my back yard I'd grow this kind of lawn. As dry as it's been here and as bad as our soil is, I wish I had it right now.

 

Do not overseed rye the first year. I like to experiment and over seeded my year 1 Yukon. It still hasn't filled completely back in. it is almost there but still has a ways to go. I have been showing my progress in 3 week intervals. Maybe 3 more weeks from now and I will be good. Just in time to overseed again 😁

 

Lol @Reel Low Dad I was about to mention you as far as overseeding the first year.
Yes the root cycle does continue if you overseed providing additional carbon and breaking up the soil. I feel that during the 1st winter after seeding the grass will not have established enouph to compete with the rye grass during the spring. You and reel low dad are in the same area and he still has rye grass alive from his 1st year overseed.
As far as competing with weeds
It would be better in my opinion to put your lawn on a good pre emergent program to prevent weeds and baby your 1st year Bermuda to help it pop out early in spring and grow fast.
1)Rye grass has properties that prevent other grasses from growing it's called allelopathy. If you overseed your 1st year your Bermuda will have to compete with the rye. 2)your Bermuda will get hurt pretty bad when you spray out or kill the rye and have to recover. 3) depending on the HOC you may have a good thatch layer built up because of the rye.
To play it safe I would heed the advice of your fellow Knoxville citizen and wait.

 

Thanks everybody for the replies and advice.

A new option was brought to my attention yesterday by good friend who is a golf course superintendent. He described the "bluemuda" concept to me and I am very intrigued.

Particularly since it is so late in the season for sowing Bermuda grass, I think I might give this a try. My buddy says it might be a suitable solution for my shady areas. I think it would probably help to minimize any dramatic color and texture differences between the sunny areas, where I expect the Bermuda to have a slight competitive advantage in the summer, and between the shady areas, where I expect the Bluegrass would have a competitive advantage.

Anyway, someone please tell me if I'm crazy or if I'm about to make a big expensive mistake. Barring that, I think I'm going to place an order for some HGT bluegrass seed today and start interseeding it with the young Yukon / Arden 15 blend that I have emerging after seeding about a week ago.

I guess I've always enjoyed being a guinea pig on things like this. Stay tuned friends!

 

Thanks everybody for the replies and advice.

A new option was brought to my attention yesterday by good friend who is a golf course superintendent. He described the "bluemuda" concept to me and I am very intrigued.

Particularly since it is so late in the season for sowing Bermuda grass, I think I might give this a try. My buddy says it might be a suitable solution for my shady areas. I think it would probably help to minimize any dramatic color and texture differences between the sunny areas, where I expect the Bermuda to have a slight competitive advantage in the summer, and between the shady areas, where I expect the Bluegrass would have a competitive advantage.

Anyway, someone please tell me if I'm crazy or if I'm about to make a big expensive mistake. Barring that, I think I'm going to place an order for some HGT bluegrass seed today and start interseeding it with the young Yukon / Arden 15 blend that I have emerging after seeding about a week ago.

I guess I've always enjoyed being a guinea pig on things like this. Stay tuned friends!

Funny you mention this. We will find out soon

 

Nice @Reel Low Dad !!

I had about 5 lbs. of Wild Horse KBG seed from last year so I just went out and broadcast it over the baby Bermuda that I have coming in. We'll see....

 

Thanks everybody for the replies and advice.

A new option was brought to my attention yesterday by good friend who is a golf course superintendent. He described the "bluemuda" concept to me and I am very intrigued.

Particularly since it is so late in the season for sowing Bermuda grass, I think I might give this a try. My buddy says it might be a suitable solution for my shady areas. I think it would probably help to minimize any dramatic color and texture differences between the sunny areas, where I expect the Bermuda to have a slight competitive advantage in the summer, and between the shady areas, where I expect the Bluegrass would have a competitive advantage.

Anyway, someone please tell me if I'm crazy or if I'm about to make a big expensive mistake. Barring that, I think I'm going to place an order for some HGT bluegrass seed today and start interseeding it with the young Yukon / Arden 15 blend that I have emerging after seeding about a week ago.

I guess I've always enjoyed being a guinea pig on things like this. Stay tuned friends!

Funny you mention this. We will find out soon

@Reel Low Dad how is your "bluemuda" doing? My Yukon / Arden bermuda is still coming in slowly and the KBG that I threw down hasn't germinated yet.

Anyone know what the recommend compatible varieties are? I read somewhere that some turf expert was pairing Celebration bermuda with Barenbrugs new "Barvette" HGT. Anyone know if that's the best combo or are there others who have been successful with something else?
.

 

@mbaisley i have some germination. Not a whole lot. Has been super hot and even with PGR the Bermuda loved the extra water so it grew quite a bit.

 

I'm starting to get pretty good germination on the KBG. The bermuda was still low and doesn't need mowing yet, so I think the KBG got some momentum. I'll try to post some pictures in the next few days. We got a ton of rain today so could get interesting.