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| I would appreciate any advice. Background: I have a yard that was established 3 years ago. The front and side yard is tiff 419 and the back was established with Bermuda triangle seeds. I try to practice the advice (mow height, fertilizing, watering) for Bermuda grass as detailed in the Bermuda bible and other places.
Issue: Up until a month ago everything was looking good. Since then the back yard has rapidly started going grey until now the entire back yard is dormant grey. This is extending to the sides as well and a few spots in the front. This has been a very rainy year in South Georgia, in August we had 11 inches. I have not ran the sprinkler system since early this year. Not sure what actions I should take. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Could be drought stress if the rain wasn't there when the grass needed it. Could be insect damage. Been a few armyworm problems in various parts of the country. Could be scalping. Could be any number of things. Lets narrow this down. Do you know what drought stress looks like? Go out in the lawn in the evening and inspect things closely. Look for caterpillars on the grass. Spread the grass apart and look all over for them. Armyworm damage can show up overnight. Maybe look UNDER the grass, in the dirt, for grubs. |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Thu, Sep 6, 12 at 20:23
| The good news is it was bermuda and almost nothing really kills bermuda. You are just set back. Is there any chance you have drainage issues in the back that you do not have in the front? Standing water anywhere? Was the grass still green before August even though you had not used the sprinkler? Y'all must have got our rain. I knew someone had to have it. |
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- Posted by indy_hawkeye (My Page) on Thu, Sep 27, 12 at 8:48
| Just wanted to follow-up on this issue. My yard had a major armyworm invasion. I have treated this and killed off the armyworms. I then applied fertilizer and the grass is slowly coming back. I am still surpiced at how fast the damage spread. It started with a small patch and I went away for a few days when I came back wow 80% of my lawn was effected. |
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| Glad you got it under control! How did you finally see them? Just got down there and looked closer? Those little suckers can make quick work of a lawn, can't they? And like you saw, they are surprisingly hard to catch before they do a lot of damage. All should repair nicely, though. Won't even be able to tell they were there. |
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- Posted by indy_hawkeye (My Page) on Thu, Sep 27, 12 at 15:48
| Thanks for your initial input! I first noticed a few in the driveway. I then poured 2 gallons of water/dish soap mixture on a few random spots in the grass and several of armyworms came out of the ground. Thinking the whole lawn was saturated with them. Well they ate good but I got them in the end. Pretty much gona have to wait till next year for the grass to come back all the way. |
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