re: centipede to bermuda plan... (updated with pic 8/11/24)

I'm still going strong mowing low and often. I've not put down as much nitrogen as I should, but it also stopped raining and I can't water as much as I'd like to/need to. I am, however, still fighting the good fight against dallisgrass. Basically I'm spot spraying every sprout (and there are plenty) with glyphosate and just hoping that if I put down some fert I can get the bermuda to aggressively take over the dead spots. Please send prayers.

Obviously the ground is pretty dry around here.

You might try waterimg the bare areas a lot, manually aerate, liquid aerate, spray RGS, and fert every week or two.

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With this heat and no rain how often and how long are you watering your yard? I'm trying to figure out the right combination for my yard.

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whole yard? Not much. I see it as a good opportunity to hurt the weeds. I'm also using PGR, which is supposed to reduce the need for water.
Oh, and our toddler broke our largest sprinkler...

However, I'm sprigging a small area where I want expansion. I've been hitting that sometimes twice/day with the small sprinkler.

100% chance of rain this afternoon (it says....)!

I have some common Bermuda that I seeded last year in bare areas to have green and stop the weeds. It actually did help the job with fairly little effort.

But here I am a year later, and it still won’t lay down and run. I’m sure I would see better results with tighter and more frequent mowing, but still would have expected some of it to lay down, and perhaps takeover at this point.

Around the same time last year some Bermuda started growing naturally that was really nice and tight, ran on its own and covered a good bit of the side of my house. I’m assuming this came from the golf course somehow, but it looks just like that Bermuda. However it hit the brakes at some point, it’s still there and looks pretty good, but stopped running.

Throughout the entire yard, I have what appears to be centipede running, and they are the nicest parts of the yard (I have every grass/weed species). I really don’t know what to do, I just want to have grass with minimal weeds, I don’t really care which one, but they each seem to thrive in different parts so not sure which one to promote. The centipede seems to be the only one that is taking initiative, I honestly don’t hate the way it looks but don’t really understand its drawbacks.

My house was torn up after Ida, reconstruction and got rid of trees, so it is fairly new to have grass to manage. However, it filled in pretty well on its own, with me helping it along, I’m ready to take the next step but don’t really know which way to go. I’m really just hoping to get grass cover in all the bare areas by fall, but would prefer to promote one or the other to get myself off to a better start in the spring.

ETA: I put some big box weed and feed down last week that appears to have done nothing. I have what appears to be spurge in the front that didn’t blink at it.

I know this is a wall of text. Just looking for advice on a long term plan that doesn’t involved tearing it all up or killing it all. I’m willing to put in the work but don’t want to waste effort.

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Well the first question is, where is the shade? That will cause Bermuda to stop running every time.

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Funny enough, the wild stuff grew in the shadiest areas on the south side of the house. With the trees gone the rest of the yard gets plenty, maybe not the very front part between street and circle drive, haven’t really tried to get the Bermuda to start there but it’s in spots, still have St Aug in most of that area that’s been there forever. The stuff I planted gets cooked right outside the house on west side. I actually just gave it a buzz cut, shorter than I have before. It’s starting to get crowded out with carpet so trying to give it a chance, we will see how it goes.

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I’d like to see a picture where you seeded Bermuda and it won’t lay down. I’m not entirely sure what that looks like.

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I should have snapped one, but it basically looks like it does when it first sprouts, it’s gotten tougher from mowing, but more like individual plants than a turf. Stands straight up and gets tall quick. Very sparse growth with gaps. Just never grew horizontally. I will get a pic and report back next week.

The total lawn looks pretty darn good cut. One of my issues is scalping the high spots, and the guys that removed the trees “fixed” their ruts with a MS beach’s worth of river sand. So the mower grabs turf and peels it back from the sand in places I wouldn’t expect. Oh and we got our first dog the produces toxic piss that works better than round up.

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You’ll get there. It’s doable!

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Appreciate the support! Never thought I would be a lawn guy, but I also had 10+ oaks that wouldn’t allow it which made it easy. I get compliments on it, but need to get it more consistent, get rid of the carpet and other weeds. It really has come a long way in a couple years.

Ah yes, I know what you’re talking about. You might need to aerate for it to tack down and spread.

The rest is just regular mowing, fertilizing and watering.
Mow 2-3 times/ week
Fert every 4-6 weeks
Water heavy 1-2x/week

Are you consistently mowing the Bermuda short? That’s going to help more than anything.

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Ah yes, I know what you’re talking about. You might need to aerate for it to tack down and spread.

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I was honestly impressed it took and maintained long enough for me to start cutting it. There as to be a ton of construction debris there, I didn’t my best to dig it all out but it was a demos site. It was basically a natural clay layer on the ground, and I just spread a nearby ground tree stump and added top soil. So yeah aerate is definitely in line, it’s dense under the little soil layer.

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Mow 2-3 times/ week

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Yeah I’m actually glad to hear this, I need to up the frequency. We had a guy doing it and it was inconsistent so I bought a riding mower so I don’t mind those non weed eating cuts at all, probably .5 acre of grass/weeds that act like they are grass.

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Are you consistently mowing the Bermuda short? That’s going to help more than anything.

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Starting today, I’m going to just ride the Bermuda every couple days. The stuff that is growing naturally is super nice, it’s in random spots nobody would ever see so I’m going to try to plug/sprig. If my whole lawn was that grass, I would be plenty happy. That seems like the easiest path. I’ve read a lot of TD posts this year, appreciate your comments in this thread and others.

And I got my first good rain in nearly a month after a short cut. Feels great out, not a bad day.

You turn into an old man fast people.

Add some nitrogen and water it every other day.
It'll fill in in no time without plugs.

I wouldn't say I scalped, but went from 1.5" maintenance back to 1"
With the PGR, the grass at 1.5" just started to look like arse.
Too thick for that height, too clumpy.
It looked like it needed to breath if that makes sense.
Since I don't have a verticutter (yet), I felt I had no option but to get rid of as much material as I could.

I'm thinking it may recover quite well with all the rain. Added Green Max this morning.

Put down my 2nd pgr application Tuesday.
Conversion of backyard is now complete.





Front yard progressing well the last 2 weeks.
Yellowing is from quinclorac on the centipede.
Bare spots from the scarifier.