Seeding Bermuda Right Now

I seeded a large portion of my backyard last year around Sept 15th. It came in fine and was able to survive the winter and is thriving this year. I’m one of the ones recommending Royal TXD from Hancock.

You need to prep and get it down ASAP. Spread some starter fert, then seed at 3-4 lbs/ksqft, lots of water and care. You should get enough growth to be able to cut it a few times before it goes dormant in November or so.

Bermuda will usually start to sprout at 7-10 days, then have enough growth to cut after ~21. Then you can continue to water less frequently and cut it once a week. No herbicides until next year.

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In areas with existing grass or weeds, should I scalp it or spray it beforehand?

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Are you trying to renovate these areas? If so, you may be behind the curve.

You’ll need to spray the areas you want to renovate with glyphosate (only glyphosate, not a soil sterilizer or anything extra). Glyphosate takes 1-2 weeks to fully kill the plant. However, you can likely spray everything, wait a week or so, cut/scalp as low as you can (some people even use a string trimmer), then till/break up/heavily disturb the soil to prep for the seed.

You may have a fair amount of weeds to deal with along with the Bermuda, but you’ll have to manage those in the future. The worst part of seeding on relatively short notice is dealing with the initial sprouting of weeds. But it’s fine and nothing to be discouraged by.

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Kick it off with triple 13? Something more N heavy?

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If talking about the seed, this late I’d go light with the N. Starter fert at first. I usually do half app at seeding and half app a week or two later after it germinates. You may can do another light app of a balanced fertilizer at 1/4-1/2 lb of N/ksqft since our growing season extends until November or later.

My process of renovation:
Glyphosate
Wait ~10 days
Scalp as low as possible
Wait ~2-3 days
Glyphosate
Wait ~2-3 days
Till/Disk the soil and level
Bring in extra soil as needed
Measure out area and spread starter fertilizer at 1/2 rate
Spread seed at ~3 lb/ksqft
Water with sprinklers on a timer (3-4x a day; monitoring for rain)
Once germination starts at 7-10 days, reduce sprinkler time slightly
~2-3 weeks spread starter fertilizer at 1/2 rate and cut back to 1x day on sprinklers
After 3 weeks, mow as needed, water only as needed

I do look forward to the project of getting it turned around, but I am worried that it’s too late to really do it right. I’d hate to put the work in to have to not pan out. Like you said, it might be a safer play to get down a cool season grass and then come back with the Bermuda in the spring.

Personally I would overseed with annual rye in a couple months and seed/sprig the Bermuda in the spring.