What is the best to cut, high or low? Everything online says to cut low, 1/2 or higher. My turf care guy that sprays says to cut high, and a few of my neighbors cut high and it looks good. The problems I see with cutting high though, is I have a few spots of dallis grass that the turf guy, or myself are having a hard time killing. (any tips tokill this are also welcomed)Also Im not a fan of brownish bottowm third when you edge......so does mowing lower promote a healthier bermuda?
OT- Bermuda Grass
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What is the best to cut, high or low? Everything online says to cut low, 1/2 or higher. My turf care guy that sprays says to cut high, and a few of my neighbors cut high and it looks good. The problems I see with cutting high though, is I have a few spots of dallis grass that the turf guy, or myself are having a hard time killing. (any tips tokill this are also welcomed)Also Im not a fan of brownish bottowm third when you edge......so does mowing lower promote a healthier bermuda?
cutting low is recommended. the key is to cut often. will help prevent weeds especially since you have a spray program. will also help prevent thatch. better to water for long periods than watering often for short periods
However if you are going to cut low you have to cut more often because if cut more than 1/3 of the height in one cutting your grass will look brown for several days. Say if it grows 1/2 inch a week and you have been cutting it to a 1/2 inch high, then you cut 50% of the height of the grass and it looks brown. However if you are cutting it to one inch and it grows a 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches tall you are only cutting a1/3 of the height. Neither height is wrong or rightjust personal preference but if you want short grass you probably need to cut about every third day. However, during the hot and dry times (like it is now) it is much less stressful on your grass if you let it get a little taller and don't cut it as often.
Which if you live in 95% of the country in a drought right now, it's a good thing. I have St. Augustine in the front and side yard, and bermuda in the back (don't ask me, the previous owners did it) and I have them both mowed every two weeks. The bermuda looks surprisingly good right now considering it rains twice a year.
I laugh at that but I swear thats what it seems like.....I have been cutting on level 4 on my push mower, but it was like the dallis grass was loving that. I called turf guy back out to spray, 2 weeks later, the spray didnt phase it. So I got tired of looking at them and went down to a 3, which was suprisingly a big difference, but at least I dont have to stare at the dallis grass for a coupe of days. Granted, the turf guy told me it would take a year to get it under control. I just bought this house in June, and everyone in the neighborbood has perfect lawns, and the people i bought from didnt do much to keep it up.
.... Also, there is a new herbicide out that works for a lot of grasses including st. augustine. It is for broadleaf and weedy grasses. I used it on my St. Augustine this year and I am really happy with the results. My dad used it on his bermuda and was happier with that instead of mixing combos of msma and other stuff.
http://www.backedbybayer....nt/herbicides/celsius-wg
I used the medium rate in late March on the St. Augustine. My dad used the high rate on his bermuda. A few things you should know though.
1. It is expensive. $100 a bottle. Covers 3 acres at the high rate of application.
2. It only suppresses dallisgrass at the high rate. You can add Revolver to it to kill dallisgrass, but only add revolver to it if you are applying to Bermuda. As I said, I used the medium rate on my st. augustine. Letting the St. Augustine grow taller and flourish has helped get rid of the dallisgrass. Spot treat dallisgrass early with roundup. Let the good grass fill in.
3. It only lasts about 3 months after the application. I didn't have any crabgrass at all until late July from my March application. That's impressive.
4. Bermuda can handle just about anything except atrazine. It is a pest in my yard. I usually put an application of fertilizer with atrazine to help keep the bermuda back in my st. augustine lawn.
5. Also, do not apply it at the high rate on St. Augustine and especially don't spray it after temps get above 90. It will stunt the st. augustine and that's when the weeds fill in.
*forgot how to reply.
http://www.backedbybayer....nt/herbicides/celsius-wg
I used the medium rate in late March on the St. Augustine. My dad used the high rate on his bermuda. A few things you should know though.
1. It is expensive. $100 a bottle. Covers 3 acres at the high rate of application.
2. It only suppresses dallisgrass at the high rate. You can add Revolver to it to kill dallisgrass, but only add revolver to it if you are applying to Bermuda. As I said, I used the medium rate on my st. augustine. Letting the St. Augustine grow taller and flourish has helped get rid of the dallisgrass. Spot treat dallisgrass early with roundup. Let the good grass fill in.
3. It only lasts about 3 months after the application. I didn't have any crabgrass at all until late July from my March application. That's impressive.
4. Bermuda can handle just about anything except atrazine. It is a pest in my yard. I usually put an application of fertilizer with atrazine to help keep the bermuda back in my st. augustine lawn.
5. Also, do not apply it at the high rate on St. Augustine and especially don't spray it after temps get above 90. It will stunt the st. augustine and that's when the weeds fill in.
*forgot how to reply.
How the hell do you prevent this from germinating? This is the biggest problem in my old lawn. Hours of pulling up knowing that those tiny seeds were falling all over the place only to come back next year.
Currently in new house and have Tift 419 Bermuda front and back yard. It was sodded in around early April. Spot treated crabgrass and have yard under control right now...but, really want to make sure no Poa Annua comes in winter/early spring.
Interested in knowing everyonesmost successful pre-emergent herbicide & winterizer for hybrid Bermuda.
Much thanks.
Currently in new house and have Tift 419 Bermuda front and back yard. It was sodded in around early April. Spot treated crabgrass and have yard under control right now...but, really want to make sure no Poa Annua comes in winter/early spring.
Interested in knowing everyonesmost successful pre-emergent herbicide & winterizer for hybrid Bermuda.
Much thanks.
height. For the dallisgrass get some 21-0-0 fertilizer and pour enough on there to cover the plant, about a handfull should do it. It will turn everything the dallisgrass and everything around it brown. the bermuda will cover before the dallis grows back. lokks like shat but works. Mowing lower does not promote healthy turf, the more leaves the more roots is a healthy plant. The brown edge is all just part of it, grin and bare it.
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drturfdirt
Guest
Poa annua control - new product from Bayer active ingredient is indazaflam (trade name Specticle) can offer Poa or crabgrass control for up to 8 months from a single application. Short of that I like prodiamine (Barricade) and dithiopyr (Dimesion), there is a lot of triazine (atrazine, simazine) resistant Poa annua in MS so their effectiveness is not what it once was. Poa annual begins to germinate in the fall when the soil temperatures get below 70. This is somewhere in the Sept 15 to Oct 15 period. For your preemerge to work you must apply before this. Since we no longer have MSMA to work with pre-emergent crabgrass control will become more important. Quinclorac (Drive) works well on young crabgrass but not on well tillered crabgrass. Dallisgrass is also tough, if the spots are small consider digging them out and plugging or sprigging those spots. Foramsulfuron (Revolver) does offer some dallisgrass suppression. Often after the first fall frosts have taken the bermudagrass off color - brown and the dallisgrass is still green a timely application of glyphosate can be made. This is somewhat risky. Rate is about 1 quart per acre but rates are hard to control in a spot spraying situation.
MSMA is no longer available (legally) for homeowner use or homelawn professionals. You can use up what you have.
Mowing - somewhat determine by equipment unless you have a reel mower you cannot mow well at less than 1.25 inches. Reel mowers can go all way down to <0.1 inch as on some golf greens. To go less than 0.25 inches you need a greens type bermudagrass. Many bermudagrass cultivars easily tolerate the 1/2 inch cutting height but you must mow every 3rd day and your lawn must be smooth (consider a sand topdressing program). The closer you mow the more often you mow, but the denser your turf becomes. Follow the 1/3 rule and never remove more than 1/3 of the foliage. Rotary mower are very effective at mowing heights above 1.25 inches. In my experience once mowing heights get above 2.5 inches the canopy opens up and weeds come in. For a home lawn I like 1.5 to 2 inches mow about every 5 days. If you only want to mow once a week then 2 to 2.5 inches is better.
MSMA is no longer available (legally) for homeowner use or homelawn professionals. You can use up what you have.
Mowing - somewhat determine by equipment unless you have a reel mower you cannot mow well at less than 1.25 inches. Reel mowers can go all way down to <0.1 inch as on some golf greens. To go less than 0.25 inches you need a greens type bermudagrass. Many bermudagrass cultivars easily tolerate the 1/2 inch cutting height but you must mow every 3rd day and your lawn must be smooth (consider a sand topdressing program). The closer you mow the more often you mow, but the denser your turf becomes. Follow the 1/3 rule and never remove more than 1/3 of the foliage. Rotary mower are very effective at mowing heights above 1.25 inches. In my experience once mowing heights get above 2.5 inches the canopy opens up and weeds come in. For a home lawn I like 1.5 to 2 inches mow about every 5 days. If you only want to mow once a week then 2 to 2.5 inches is better.
I have been hearing that it will be unavailable for over two years. I can still get some where I live and the owner said he can still get it.
Maybe because it is sold by the 2 1/2 gal. size?????
Maybe because it is sold by the 2 1/2 gal. size?????
But seriously I had Bermuda and cut it high but fought some weeds and for some reason it didn't look that great even after I would fertilize. I cut it up, put down zoysia, fertilized like I did the Bermuda, and it is like shag carpet. There was too much of something, or not enough, in the soil that the Bermuda didn't agree with that doesn't bother the zoysia.
My dad's yard is full of it. He started using a light rate of roundup to take care of it with some MSMA (I wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless you know what the hell you are doing). For years we have seen in our fields where we sprayed roundup and there happen to be patches of burmuda grass and all it would do is brown it for about a week and then it would come back out green. Started doing it on the yard with the same results.
Is that a good thing??? I thought shag went out of style about 30 years ago.<div>WalkTheDawg said:
</div><div>I had Zorro zoysia sodded in April and it's doing well. Zorro is a very fine-bladed variety, and also very thick and very tough. Feels nice and soft on bare feet though. It's really a chore for my Honda rotary mower to get through it some times, so I'm considering buying a McLane reel mower in the spring. And cutting it lower will reduce thatch buildup, and it also looks a lot neater than leaving it tall. The grass is a little lighter green than a good hybrid Bermuda, and I consider that a negative. But it's not nearly as invasive as Bermuda, which is a great feature. Also ... it's a myth that zoysia grows slowly. I'm mowing twice a week (I mowed Sunday, and again today).</div><div>
</div><div>For the past many years I've had fescue. We're in the transition zone, which basically means that you can grow either cool season or warm season grasses ... but neither does really well. But with the warmer summers we've been having the past several years I made the change. Fescue got extremely stressed with the heat, and was also very prone to fungus.</div><div>
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And when I mean kill I mean kill it in a few hours. It destroys kudzu or anything pretty much with a broad leaf.
Easy way, hit it with a hot shot of MSMA 3 x per growing season. Easiest applicant method is a hose end sprayer at 5-6 oz per gallon. Grass will brown but come back in a couple of weeks. Throw some 13 13 13 on it right before a rain and boom, new yard. Keep some mixed in a 2 gallon sprayer and use for spot application. Fire spray service, use $ to hoard MSMA.
Intersesting comment on Bermuda being roundup resistant. I would like to hear more.
Intersesting comment on Bermuda being roundup resistant. I would like to hear more.
In the Panhandle Phosporous runs high in the soil so you want to keep that middle number low. My question is about the 1/3 rule. We have had non stop rain here (Sorry OP4 and the rest of the country). So if I can cut for a week and a half can I cut a third one day, a third the next, or do I have to wait an extra day to get the grass back to 1 1/2?
after that I don't guess it matters. If you want a thick lawn, longer is typically better. Then weed and feed it every quarter, you should be good to go. <div>
</div><div>With the dallis grass, you basically have to spot treat that stuff. Just use Round Up and be careful. Crabgrass is also a problem, you have to put out the pre-emergent in the Spring, that's the only way to get rid of it. You will just have to live through it the rest of this year. Weed and feed will get rid of most weeds, but not crabgrass.</div><div>
</div><div>Long term, seed your yard heavily with centipede and just let it go. Unless the rest of your neighborhood is bermuda, then you may be stuck.</div>
</div><div>With the dallis grass, you basically have to spot treat that stuff. Just use Round Up and be careful. Crabgrass is also a problem, you have to put out the pre-emergent in the Spring, that's the only way to get rid of it. You will just have to live through it the rest of this year. Weed and feed will get rid of most weeds, but not crabgrass.</div><div>
</div><div>Long term, seed your yard heavily with centipede and just let it go. Unless the rest of your neighborhood is bermuda, then you may be stuck.</div>
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drturfdirt
Guest
When things get away from you due to not being able to mow, or if your want to drastically lower a height of cut (think golf course converting rough to fairway). It is very difficult to lower the cutting height slowly enough that you don't break through the green canopy and get into the brown below. If you want to get back to green asap (maybe a month) scalp the grass down to height you desire in one shot, pick up the clippings generated and compost them or use them as mulch someplace. Fertilize and get ready for great looking turf in few weeks, but ugly for the first couple. This works May to August when bermuda is growing well.