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Bermuda in the summer
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Posted by
krackerjak (
My Page) on
Sun, May 1, 11 at 8:24
| the question of mowing heights has been asked before about bermuda, but I am curious. I do not own a reel mower, just a plain self propelled rotary mover. I have Tifway 419 that I placed as sod about 12 years ago. Every year I start by mowing low, as the summer progresses, my neighbors yards start to look greener than mine. My wife insists that I should allow the grass to grow taller like our neighbors so it will look as green. I always give in and adjust the mowing height up. It does start to look greener. In the earlier part of the season my grass is definitely thicker than theirs. If I don't give in and adjust the height up in the middle of the summer,(or perhaps adjusting up is the right thing to do)how do I keep it nice and green? I do fertilize about every 6 weeks, perhaps less fertilizer more often? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Bermuda in the summer
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| My guess is the answer is water. When you keep grass short, it needs more water because it evaporates faster. |
RE: Bermuda in the summer
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| Also, with a rotary mower, around an inch is about as low as you can go. |
RE: Bermuda in the summer
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| Your fertilizer sounds okay. How are you watering? How much/how long? and how often? |
RE: Bermuda in the summer
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| I set my mower at the lowest setting, not really sure of the height. As for watering, it all depends on the heat and the rain. I water more often and longer than the neighbors who let theirs grow longer. I guess I will try watering more often this year. In the past I have went with 34-0-0 after my first application of weed and feed. Is that ok? Also in the past I have purchased the 34-0-0 at Lowes or Home Depot...this year neither place has it in stock. Any suggestions on where I might find it. |
RE: Bermuda in the summer
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| Tifway 419, Sahara, common Bermuda, and maybe others have the growing characteristics you described. They start out growing close to the ground and looking great early on the season. With fertilizer, water, and sunlight these types of Bermuda grow quickly and get super dense. It cannot be mowed at the same low settings and still look as green as before. If you continue to mow that low it will expose the yellow under growth and sometimes takes a while to green back up. I've been doing this for years. Last year I mowed everyday in the spring and early summer in preparation for a wedding in my backyard. I have 2 fairway mowers among others. Even so the Bermuda outpaced the mowing and began to get super dense and was growing half an inch a day as I expected. To compensate I raised the mowers a minimal amount every so often to keep that dense green canopy intact. By mid summer I was mowing around 2.5" and the Bermuda looked like a dense hunter-green carpet. The only way around the height increase is to have super low growing hybrids that are sod only. Golf courses use these hybrids in many locations. In my case sod was too expensive and I am happy with my Sahara Bermuda. The mowing height adjustment is no big deal. |
RE: Bermuda in the summer
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| How often are you mowing? Once a week will not be enough. You may have to slowly raise you mowing height and then when it gets to high for your liking you can drop the height down near your starting point which will give the lawn a good haircut. Then start the raising mower thing all over again |
RE: Bermuda in the summer
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| I have tifway and here in the Nashville area we are not at full green up yet. In fact, we are supposed to get down to 32 tonight. Having said that, I'm mowing every other day at 7/16. I'll keep it there till it starts getting too hot. Like ray said, by that time, I'll have a carpet of Bermuda, and will raise the height to 3/4. This will happen late June. Through July and august, I'll go up to one inch, as it won't be raining much. In September I'll raise up to 1.5 inches, to get ready for that first frost and winter. I'll go dormant around Halloween. Just add 1/2 inch to these heights for common Bermuda like rays sahara. |
RE: Bermuda in the summer
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| Tifway-I (aka 419), and improved Tifway-II are fine bladed hybrid grass best suited for high-end home lawns, sport fields, and default choice for golf fairways and tee boxes. FWIW not suitable for putting greens. It is best maintained at 1/2 to 3/4 inches or easier said @ 1 inch or less. There are many lawns, commercial, residential home sites that have Tifway or Tifway II being mowed at higher mowing heights with rotary mowers. In those cases, the grass is mowed at heights between 1.5-2.0 inches (and even up to 2.5 inches). While these varieties may look adequate in the spring and fall at the above elevated mowing heights, they may become "stringy" and scalp during summer months during adequate rainfall. This happens because the tall grass do not maintain leaves at the lower end of the stolons and removal of 1/3 of less of the lawn height ends up removing a large portion of the existing leaves leaving you with stubble. |
RE: Bermuda in the summer
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| I don't think the suggestion was going to be to water more frequently. I think the suggestion would be to water longer and less frequently. |
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