To start quite over seeding your Bermuda. The sod is a high quality Tifway-I. The seed is garbage from Lowe's.

You also chose the poorest performing herbicide money can buy. Hlat's or pendamethalin the active ingredient in Halt's and a few other manufactures. The problem with it is its half life of 30 to 45 days which means it has to be re applied every 30 to 45 days. So think about that for a moment. You put Halt's down now or in the next few weeks and think you are protected right? Wrong. Crabgrass does not get active until warm weather arrives. By the time it starts growing actively the Halt's is long gone.

If you are going to use pre-emergence products you need to use the longest acting herbicide you can buy and use it year round with 2 to 4 applications per year.

Look into Barricade, Dimension, or Amaze all of which are safe with pets and children.

I think TW's keyboard is acting up. What he tried to say was to quit overseeding. And his reasoning is that you started out with (almost) the best grass money can buy and overseeded it with the worst grass money can buy. That's a shame but what's done is done and cannot be undone without a full renovation. Now you have a lawn that is essentially average bermuda.

The good news is your lawn has full coverage except a few spots. The secret to keeping crabgrass out is proper care. First of all, find and download the Bermuda Bible. Texas Weed wrote it several years ago after a career of operating a bermuda grass sod farm. You cannot get better advice. Follow the advice (memorize it) in the BB and you will be on your way toward a weed free lawn.

Crabgrass does not necessarily come back year after year. It only comes back when you have bare spots and water the lawn too often. It doesn't look like you have bare spots so the only issue is proper watering. This time of year you should be watering only once per MONTH. If it rains it rains and then you don't water. The idea is to keep the soil surface dry as long as possible until the grass roots need water again. It is the moist surface of the soil where crabgrass seeds germinate. They will not germinate on dry soil. Gradually as the temperatures increase, the grass will green up and start pulling more moisture out of the soil. Keep the lawn mowed fairly short (this is a bermuda trait) and gradually increase the frequency from every 4 weeks to every 3 weeks. Watch the grass for signs of wilting and then water. Do not pay any attention to how dry or hard the soil is. Soil surface appearance has nothing to do with grass performance. When you water, water a full inch. You can measure how long it takes your sprinkler to get a full inch by using cat food or tuna cans placed around the yard. With my system it takes 8 full hours to get an inch. My neighbor's sprinkler puts out an inch in 20 minutes. Every system is different, so measure yours.

Follow the BB on regular mulch mowing, infrequent watering, and monthly fertilizer apps with a high nitrogen fertilizer and your lawn will look fine with no weeds or herbicides.

Thank you for the responses. I'm taking the Halts stuff back to the store this week!

texas-weed: I appreciate your information about the pre-emergents and am interested in trying one of these out. What exactly are the differences between these? I see in another discussion where you described Amaze has a half life of 120 days and the other two about 90 days. Does that mean Amaze is better? I tried looking for a good comparison in the forum for these products, but couldn't find any.

Also, are these products normally carried in the local hardware/feed stores? If so, I'll try calling around Monday. I've tried locating some online. Are these the ones you are referring to?

For Amaze: http://www.hardwareworld.com/40517-Grass--Weed-Preventer-2-pGJXHPW.aspx?gclid=CMaA_Yf78LUCFQbqnAodokUAlA

For Dimension: http://www.hardwareworld.com/Ultimate-Crabgrass-Preventer-With-Dimension-18-Pounds-pPFKK5N.aspx

For Barricade: http://www.hardwareworld.com/Ultimate-Crabgrass-Preventer-With-Barricade-20-Pounds-pEC0SUH.aspx?gclid=CPfko8r38LUCFelaMgodzxsAFw

Can you verify these are the ones you are referring to?

dchall: that is very good information! I will certainly look for the Bermuda Bible. I'm looking forward to learning more about my lawn.

I'd like to clarify on the overseeding. We didn't spread bermuda seed over all of the lawn, but we did do that for bare spots. Also, there is a section of the lawn where we unfortunately had some emergency field line work done about 2 years ago and that was filled in with bermuda seed.

Is there seed that is worth buying, maybe online? Or should purchase sod from a local farm? Of course, I may very well find out the answer to that question on the Bermuda Bible.

Thanks again to both of you! (with special thanks from my dogs, too!)

Also, texas-weed, I'm curious. How do you know that we have high-quality Tifway-I? Can you tell by looking? Or is that an assumption based on what sod companies typically use?

Those are the products. With that said only Amaze is a brand name made by Green Light. Barricade and Dimension are trade names and available from multiple manufactures. Dimension and Barricade can be found at just any store that carry lawn and Garden products. Amaze is a little hard to find but Home Depot and ACE Hardware are a couple of the retailers that carry it.

As to the grass Bermuda Variety question Tifway-I aka 419 is default standard for builder contractors because it is very inexpensive. But do not let that fool you into thinking it is low quality because it is at the top of quality list for Bermuda grasses. Secondly sod farms do not grow or sell common seeded variates with the exception of maybe Princess aka P-77

A decent common or seeded varieties are Yukon, Riviera, and Princess. Best results are obtained with a blend of the top seeds. But I will warn you any of these three Bermuda seeds are expensive of around $20 to $40/lb. You can get a pallet if Tifway-I which is 500/ft2 for around $75 to $90. Call around to local sod farms. Even Lowes, Home Depot and Nurseries carry it in the spring.

TW,

I ordered two bags of the Amaze. I have a few questions about using it. First, I tried to verify your claim that it was safe for pets, but I just can't find anything but a label on the bag that says keep away from children. Is it indeed safe, or safer than the Halts? It's really important to me, as I have three small dogs and a border collie and I really don't want to risk them getting sick. If it is okay to use, is there a time limit in which I need to keep them off the lawn?

And, finally, how do I apply this? Should I water it in? Avoid watering it for some time? And at what setting on my Scotts spreader should I apply this with?

I'm sorry to ask so many follow-on questions, but I really do appreciate the time you've taken so far to answer my previous questions/concerns.

Relax it is safe if you follow directions, most importantly do not over apply the product and water it is after application. The active ingredients are?

Benefin 1%
Oryzalin 1%

The amount you apply is based on length of protection you want. For 4 months you want to apply the product at a rate of 3-lbs/1000/ft2. On your Scott's Spreader 1000/2000/3000 set it to #2 and make two passes at right angles without over lapping, and water it in. Keep the kids and dogs off the yard until dry. Or about 24 hours.

Just be careful around flower beds or anywhere you intend to sow seed. It is a Pre-emergent herbicide which means it keeps seeds from germination.

Don't freak out about the granules you see left behind as it is only kitty litter (98%). the other 2% is the chemical which is released with water.

Thanks for the reassurance.

So, by "two passes at right angles" you essentially mean that I'm going to use this setting and go over the yard twice, once vertically and another horizontally, right?