Reviving my Lawn

Soil test from LSU Ag. Amend with recommendations to start.

Is there a good way I can transition at least part of it to a good type of grass? I’ll definitely add sand to the low spots

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Is there a good way I can transition at least part of it to a good type of grass?

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How much do you want to spend, time and money?

I converted my 4 acres from swamp and Bahia to decent Bermuda. I sodded around the house with Palisade Zoysia, inadvertently believing I could seed Zoysia for the rest. Realizing my error, I decided to use improved Bermuda seed and am happy with how it turned out. It’s not perfect, but it’s a million times better than before.

But it took probably 3-4 years, a whole lot of dirt, and a ton of time/sweat. I have a tractor and was able to do most of it myself. I hired out to a dozer when I brought large quantities of dirt to speed up the process.

darn...double post.

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Is there a good way I can transition at least part of it to a good type of grass? I’ll definitely add sand to the low spots

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Kill a portion of it with glyphosate, spraying it twice in 3 weeks time.
Remove dead grass, till up the soil, lay tiftuf bermuda sod.

Only do this in a location that you can water consistently.

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Do take the advice given here though. quote:

But it took probably 3-4 years, a whole lot of dirt, and a ton of time/sweat.

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No doubt. It’s a process, but an enjoyable one.

Number one thing - mow as often as you can. I’ll save you the trouble of research, it’s universally accepted as the best way to establish a turf.

Two - transplant, plug and sod. Plugging IMO spreads much faster than sod. Once you have a grass on your property you like, plug it in random areas after a big rain. If the ground is soggy you can get away without even watering (zoysia and Bermuda do better at this than centipede and at aug - empire zoysia is a beast and handles this the best). Sod large areas, but small enough that it’s easy to just take a hose to in one pass. Do 2-3 areas a year. It will take about a year to really establish and start to spread.

Type of grass - In south LA, zoysia and Bermuda perform a lot better than st Aug and centipede. St Aug isn’t worth it IMO, for as good as it can look, it will struggle for an equal time. Centipede is a similar story, but at least you can seed it. Centipede also looks pretty good with empire zoysia, similar blades and colors with enough rain, so I basically use it (or let it be) as a filler. Bermuda and zoysia can just recover so much more quickly because of its rhizome growth, so work to establish that. Start with sod, not seeds.

Don’t bother with chemicals for now, except some basic fert. Mow what you have, the Bahia will actually help control a lot of weeds (it’s the most dominant weed haha).

Fill in holes with dirt, use that now bare area for plugs. You still have time this year to get a better grass going in your yard. After a year of mowing diligently, at this point last summer I had decent coverage of every grass imaginable, I started laying down sod in bare spots and planting plugs. Transplanting works great, with water. Some of those plugs even died back to the point I thought they were gone, but started to see some aggressive growth during the summer in those same spots. Cut up sod and bury it level and it will actually help control as a plug and spread faster.

It can be done, if you don’t know what to do, jump on the mower.

If and when you decide to get rid of some or all of the Bahia, apply MSM Turf. It’s cheap and effective. It won’t harm Bermuda or Zoysia. Maybe use the Bahia as a nurse grass for larger areas seeded with Bermuda. Once established, nuke the Bahia.

Use DEF on it