The box stores do a big disservice by putting out bermuda seed in the early spring rather than waiting for a more appropriate time (early summer). You easily have three months to sort out an answer to your question. Bermuda seed must have HOT soil to germinate. You might set your watch to go off on June 1st and then start thinking about this topic. Put it down before then and you are just wasting that money you are light on.

All seeded varieties of bermuda are variations of common bermuda. Apparently some are slightly better than the common common, but none will approach the type of turf you see in hybrid bermuda lawns. Tif 419 became the elite southern turf to have back in the 70s, so the grass farms responded. Now, because the supply is so great, it is the cheapest sod grass you can get - and still the best bermuda short of specialized sports turf.

What is your back yard like now? Where do you live? What grass is (was) there?

What are your watering habits? How long and how often?

Have you found and memorized the Bermuda Bible? Google it.

Yes, I've read the bermuda bible multiple times. right now, i have rye in the back where the dogs are. no, i'm not planning on putting down seed right now. i'm definitely going to wait until early summer. i'm just doing a little preemptive research. right now, i'm just curious if anyone has had any experience with the gold glove strain, in particular. i've never heard of it until this year and was just curious.

i live just south of dallas/fort worth....75054, in a newer residential development. it was sodded with bermuda. i assume it was tif 419 b/c it is so popular, but i'm not positive.

i probably should have been more clear. i'm not looking to overseed the tif 419. i'm looking to repair bare spots that develop during the seasonal transitions of the grasses. when the rye starts to die off and the bermuda comes in, there are inevitably, bare spots where my dogs spend most of their time. over the past several years, i've found that i'm best suited to section those areas off from the dogs, till, compost, and seed. i tried just aerating and breaking up the top layer a little, and keeping the dogs off, but the bermuda simply doesn't come back in those spots. i don't know if they kill it with compaction or what. it would spread back into and through those spots throughout the summer (fill in), but doesn't work as quickly as the till, compost, seed combo, with a few weeks of keeping the dogs off. the roots are still there i would assume, it just doesn't come back doing it one way vs doing it the other. or hasn't for me at least, but i'm no turf pro.

i try to core aerate and compost about twice a year, just to keep up with the compaction from the dogs. i'll also admit that my yard doesn't have great drainage and that just exacerbates the compaction. i need to install a french drain, i just haven't had the money lately to do it.

if you have some other suggestions, i'm all ears.

OK my 2-cents worth. Does the area you have trouble with have good sun light? If not there is no fix other than giving the area more sun light.

Now for the bad news. If it does get get good sun, there is no fix if the dog traffic is as extreme as you state. There is no better grass variety for wear and tear as Bermuda. Of the Bermuda varieties non are better than Tifway-I (aka 419) other than TifSport which is still a sod only product. So yes you could use a seeded variety, keep the dogs off until it germinates and gets growing, but as soon as the dogs return they are going to beat it down again and you will be right back where you started.

I understand your frustration as i am a dog lover myself. I have three of them, a German Sheppard, English Bull, and a Boston Terrier. Back home in TX we lived on a farm with a huge yard of many acres. So there was no problem with the dogs beating down the grass. Move to Prescott AZ with a normal size residential yard, and if the whole yard was grass I would have a problem too. But up here the portion with grass is small in the front yard for cosmetic purposes and the dogs cannot get to it. Plus the fact they got a whole golf course to play in helps a bunch too.

Point I am making here is small yards and dogs do not mix. You have to give up something. Is there a way you can sub divide the yard with a fence to keep the dogs off the maintained areas permanently?

To replant your bare areas, you already have a perfect match with your existing yard as your seed stock. All you need is a tool to take plugs and transplant them. But you have to solve the dog issue first. Your move.

Watch this video It will show you the tool and how to make plugs. It will take you about an hour and cost $50.

the yard gets sunlight for most of the day in the summer.

It seems that about a month after the seeds are sowed, i can remove the fence and it holds up pretty well the rest of the summer...as long as i keep it washed with a baby shampoo concoction. i have a lot of clay, so this seems to help with that. watching it grow in the summer, there's a noticeable difference from when i don't use it. it's not a real big area that doesn't come back...about 10x15. the rest of the yard does fine.

i really like your plug idea. that's something i haven't thought of. i have two side yards that i could take from. they actually seem to have a little bit better soil too...not as much clay, it seems. that's a great suggestion. i actually got a plug tool from my grandfather but have never thought to use it...imagine that.

thanks for the help guys. they're great suggestions.

texas-weed,

i've read a lot of your posts on here. you're very knowledgeable. are you still farming sod? i'm just curious.

it's hard to get too mad at the dogs. it's not their fault they're in a small yard. i would rather have them than a grassy back yard though, but i like sweating, and a challenge.

thanks again for the reply

Nope i retired for the 2rd time. I passed it along to the family. My middle age Son now owns and operates the farm, but i still got a toe in it. The boy is doing excellent. Did something i never thought about. He got a contract with TDOT and all that grass you see on 121, DN, and other Highways around DFW is ours.

My first wife died several years ago, but I remarried a couple of years ago to another high school sweetie. She is a retired Lawyer. We stole a house up in Prescott AZ a couple of years ago and moved out here. Now I am on my 3rd career as a golf course superintendent. Wife is on her second career a Wine Snob (Sommelier I think is what it is called?) at a local restaurant.

At 59 years of age and enjoying life. I understand your appreciation of dogs. My Side Kick and shadow is a 110 pound German Sheppard named Adolf. The other two are what I call my clowns and keeper of the wife's cats. Got a Boston named Rocky, and English Bull called Buster. Both are big lovable teddy bears. Everyone answers to Adolf as he is 2nd in charge after me. Poor wife is in the middle of the pecking order only out ranking her two cats. :>)

Whats the answer?

Sean, I think the answer was, no. I would suggest starting a new topic about your yard and what you want to do. Please mention where you live and whether there is shade in the lawn area, so we can home in on your specific environment and soil issues. If you are contemplating seeding bermuda, you have at least a month to get ready. The soil has to be HOT for the seed to really take off. Unless you're in the desert southwest, it's not hot enough, yet. Also in your post, mention something about your budget. Bermuda might not be the perfect turf for you, but anything else is going to cost more.

Thanks a lot. I live in Tampa. I went to Home Depot and they use Gold Glove Bermuda. or, I could buy Yukon or Arden 15 from Hancock. Should I just use Home Depot Bermuda or is Yukon Better? If I intermix them, do they have the same color? I would prefer to just get it from Home Depot but if Yukon is better, I will get that.

I got my answer here. http://www.sroseed.com/Files/Files/SRO_USA/Articles/Bermudagrass/Bermuda_Classification.pdf