That depends on what you want... LOL, I use roundup, rather than fertilizer!

I really am not found of if.

At this time, I am not sure, if fertilizer is needed. It is getting close to going dormant.

Someone else will surely chime in with a more correct answer.

Moni

Isn't spitting on it as you walk by exceeding the care requirements? :)

I'll be spending this fall digging up all the Bermuda and any other grass/weed-like substance between my house and the neighbor's. It will all be pitched in the trash...unless someone wants to come and dig it all out and take it? If so, I promise not to be overly public with my affection. I do know how to show restraint and conduct myself with dignity and will make every attempt to do so.

The upside of planting this back in the day when suburbia was being built, was because it didn't need water in summer since it went dormant without dying.

This post was edited by GreatPlains1 on Wed, Sep 4, 13 at 5:41

Vegetable gardeners hate Bermuda Grass!! IF you decide to fertilize the stuff (but why?) now is definitely not the time to do it. In spring right after it breaks dormancy is the only time it needs feeding. (IMHO) Now if you have a 10 acre Bermuda field like my dad does that he mows for hay in late May, fertilizing is justified. Bermuda makes great hay for horses.

Thanks everyone. It was here when we bought the house and is staying. I can't afford to replace it. Everyone in this neighborhood has it. thanks to who ever the builder was.It looks really nice but does have lots of weedsl I'm working on that.
I'd rather have another kind but it's not going to happen. But if I have a yard I'm going to take care of it! So I will water it fertlize it and take care of it. Just glad to hear it doesn't need much water or fertlizer

Everyone has it here too.

This post was edited by GreatPlains1 on Wed, Sep 4, 13 at 5:42

When you start spending every evening pulling lush Bermuda out of your flowerbeds...you will shake your head and say, "ahhhhh, now I understand." :)

Bermuda has its place. It is a tough grass that will take all sorts of abuse. Dalis grass may be at the top of my hate list at the moment.

Do you drink coffee? You can throw your grounds in your lawn. Also, mulch your grass instead of catching it. Both of those can help your grass fairly painlessly.

I will have to post a picture of my neighbor's yard. I am not sure what type of grass they have back there but it could seriously be baled for hay.

lisa, Does that grass you are describing look like this? I've been noticing Dallisgrass taking over lots of yards and the parks in the last few years. It grows so fast and produces new seeds, about a week after mowing. Its getting out of hand here where I live. If the stuff next door is worse than this, its pretty bad. This one threatens to take over the world.

This post was edited by GreatPlains1 on Fri, Aug 30, 13 at 2:24

The previous owner of my house was very proud of the thick, lush Bermuda grass. She would be shocked to see the front and back now. It's all gone. It's been replaced with flowers, herbs, vegetables, fruit, etc. I get lots of compliments from people in the neighborhood and even random people driving by. It was a lot of work....I did it all....by hand. The neighbors on my left are excited about my plans for the side yard because they've given me permission to dig it all up right up to their house and plant whatever I want. They are looking forward to less mowing and more beauty. :)

Here's the neighbor's yard. At this point they had not mowed all summer. I'm not quite sure how they accomplished it since....tractors won't fit through our tiny gates!

GreatPlains, yes, that looks like dallisgrass. It's horrible stuff.

I am in the process of covering much of my garden with Bermuda grass clippings. I wont be able to grow a fall crop or a cover crop and I figure this is the best way to keep the winter grass down. Bermuda grass is a pain, but in this part of the country you just have to learn to deal with it.

Larry

Thanks everyone for your comments. I'll do what I can and not worry about the rest!!
I do want to have more flower beds than lawns eventually! Big plans for only being here 2months!!! We will see. I'd have to do all the work as DH isn't able.

Oh my, Lisa, that is, uh, well, I am a bit speechless here. That looks like Skeeter Heaven. I know that grass, I see it growing along the roadside but do not have an ID. Oh dear. Does it have grasshoppers popping up and down in it all day long? Noises coming out of there at night? My neighbor has tree saplings in all stages coming up thick and I am dealing with that so I feel you visual pain. I bet the raccoons like it. Garter snakes would be happy, hopefully they are the only kinds.

Okievegan you have my complete respect and admiration! I love hearing other stories like that. My neighbors are letting me 'invade' their space to the east replacing bermuda with a strip of Salvia greggii, lantana, Hot Lips Salvia, and other cuttings of xeric plants I can come up with from my overstock. I no longer have to keep the bermuda trimmed from the east side, just the west side in front from the yard with the invasive trees in the back yard. In front its bermuda, in back its vinca, trumpet vine, Hackberry seeds by the zillions, privet shrubs and its very ugly + about three feet higher than my property so its high up on the visual line. I am doing a silent, persistent gradual guerrilla warfare in this area about 6' into the property line for a buffer zone with wild Lantana, Silver King Artemisia and bush sage that I have been rooting and planting. I'm fighting aggressive plants with a thicker hopefully more aggressive plants that are attractive, pulling and replacing little by little. I have the vinca etc cut back a good 6 feet now and removed all the saplings. This guy just doesn't care because he never comes out to look or anything.

If you have ever seen the series "Life After People" on the History Channel, you can get the picture with the trees.

Lisa, That clump on the front left looks like Johnsongrass to me. It's been a great year for Johnsongrass. Johnsongrass makes good hay too, but terrible lawn grass.

I really need new pictures of my daughters front yard. This was last year, oh, no, it was two years ago....:

{{gwi:1106391}}

and this is in the back yard:

{{gwi:1106392}}

Yes, I am very proud of what she has archived there. Before it was all bermuda grass.

Moni

We have a bermuda grass lawn, with fescue (and dirt) under the shade trees, as is most common here in my area of OKC. We fertilize in the spring a few times, and in the fall and winter, the focus is more on weed-killing and pre-emergent to keep spring weeds from sprouting.

We use a mulching mower (to return the clippings to the ground to help break down and fertilize the grass) and my DH mows pretty much weekly during summer. We have not had to water the lawn much this summer, maybe once or twice so far, but might have to step it up now that we've not had the rain for a while.

We used to do it ourselves but had such a difficult time with weeds that we eventually hired someone. We have a lawn company apply weed and feed the lawn for the most part (except in the area around my veggie garden where they do not apply anything), and they do six treatments a year. It's not a set schedule, it depends on how soon it warms up in the spring, but in general they come early in the year when the grass is dormant, like Feb, to do pre-emergent, then again late Mar/early April for fertilizer and spot weed spraying, then again probably May & June - some weed sprays for persistent weeds like Dallisgrass only work in hot temperatures so they have to spot treat when it is warmer, but when it is starting to get into the heat and drag of the summer, you do not fertilize the grass because it encourages growth at a time that the grass would normally be going dormant from the heat, and we are keeping it from doing so by watering (or, rather, the rain did). They come back again twice in the fall for weed treatment and pre-emergent.

It goes completely dormant in cold weather, and we usually give it a final mow to keep the brown grass a uniform appearance over the winter. Some people get in to de-thatching (removing the built-up layer of grass clippings at the dirt level) or aerating (removing small cores of earth to allow "air" to get to the roots of the grass) but we've never really been those people, I just don't think it's necessary since our mulching mower chops the grass so fine, it degrades quickly and we don't really have a "thatch." Some people overseed in the winter with rye grass to have a green lawn all year long - the rye grows, the bermuda stays dormant, and when it warms up, the rye dies out and the bermuda takes off - but I welcome the winter season off mowing the yard so never have. Our neighbor did it once and it was a PITA for us because the rye invaded our lawn (perhaps he let it go to seed, I don't recall) and of course, we don't mow in the winter, so it looked like crap.

I know a lot of people's feelings range from mild dislike to hate to loathing of bermuda (see comments above, ha ha!) and I surely do cuss it when it's invading my flower beds or veggie garden, but it's what we have and we're working with it! Our home's lot is over a third of an acre, not all of it grass by any means - with a rear-load garage we have a ginormous driveway and turn-around that eats up a lot of square footage, and a swimming pool and deck, but still more grass than we would think of replacing with another type/something else. We're converting parts to a big veggie garden, installing patios, planning a greenhouse, planting fruit trees, etc. We love the look of a lot of flower beds and color and lush landscaping surrounding the perimeter of a great, healthy lawn. I've thought about (threatened my husband) to landscape curb-to-curb and eliminate the lawn but he would kill me - he'd rather have a great soccer field! As we bought this house to grow our family, at this time I agree with him... subject to revision, of course!

Good luck with your projects at the new house!

Sorie, aren't you glad Mia is part of this forum. SHE told you everything you need to know.

I love Bermuda grass. If the soil is good and it gets water, it will out compete almost all weeds and then you don't have to mow as much. Plus it looks wonderful and is very easy to control with glyphosate with 2 or 3 spraying on the edges each year. Bermuda only causes me great pain around my blueberry beds.

I save my hate for nutsedge, plaintain, and dalisgrass. Plus johnsongrass in the pecan grove.

Great Mia thanks. Could you post some pics please of your place?
Your DD yard is lovely!! Thanks.

This post was edited by sorie6 on Sun, Sep 1, 13 at 7:45

OH, yeah, nutsedge...I don't have a problem with it in my grass, but it is in my flowerbeds...ugh.

Moni, that is just beautiful. The use of tiles is something I would not have thought of and it works and I like the large paver stones. The garden looks like it would be a joy to work in and she can go out even after a heavy rain. Very very nice. Thanks for posting those.

Thanks, Dorothy, I never thought I would be one to champion bermuda grass, but sometimes circumstances call for making the best of what you've got!

Sorie, do you want pictures from me (or Moni? We've got similar names and are both in OKC so it can be confusing! But it is her daughter's yard - I believe DD is okievegan - pictured above). If you want pics, let me know, and give me an idea of what you want to see, and I'll post some.

Scott and Lisa - amen. Nutsedge is currently the recipient of all my ire. It had snuck into some of the fescue, where it's hard to tell it's there and gets mowed every week, then migrated into the adjacent flower bed and I cannot seem to get rid of it by hand pulling, even after some of those deep soaking rains. I'm going to have to get some kind of spray, I think.

You can get Image in a spray bottle I think. There's other brands too.