Ok, so I am pretty stressed right now and don't know what to do.

I had sod of bermuda laid about 3-4 weeks ago. The grass was brown in spots so I watered it occassionally and figured it needed fertilizer. Then the mistake happened. I got Scott's Bonus S and went to town. I spread the fertilizer and then watered it in.

I have read that this can kill Bermuda, so I guess I am keeping my fingers crossed.

So now what do I do?? I do not have a sprinkler system, so I guess i need to go to the local co-op and get one I can attach to the end of my hose. Do I need to do this and water water water? How much (time, etc)

I am a newb to this whole bermuda thing. I want my yard to flourish and look amazing so help me out!

Thanks all!

It can kill Bermuda yes. At the same time though Bermuda is very resilient and just about impossible to kill ALL of the Bermuda even if round up was sprayed all over the yard.

All you really need to do is get an oscillating or impact sprinkler and water, water, water and water more. And after that water even more.

Starter fertilizer would have been the choice you needed to make either just before, or just after the sod was placed.

Once it's been about 30 days after you put the Bonus S down get yourself a high N fertilizer, maybe one with Iron in it. I remember last year Vigaro had a fertilizer called Super Green that was high in Nitrogen and had 5% iron. The iron will make it GREEN as can be. This year Scotts has a fertilizer that's much the same as the Vigaro with the iron but I can't remember the name of it. Of course after you've placed that fertilizer water it in.

You're lucky that you've started out with Sod. I had that with my first house a couple years ago. If you really want it to look great all year (even in winter when it's dormant) you can fertilize once a month. Bermuda is a Nitrogen HOG so you can get away with fertilizing once a month. And if you use the above mentioned fertilizer with iron it it it will be green as can be. If you're lawn is too big for the cost of buying the stuff once a month than you can go to every 6-8 weeks with not that much of a difference.

Hope this helps.

Great! Thanks so much for the reply. This is my first go at owning a home and caring for a lawn (or at least a lawn with real grass). I will pick up a sprinkler today and go to town on the yard.

Can I in fact over water???? This is something I do not want to do as well!

I will keep an eye on it and hit it with some of the fertilizer you mentioned in about a month. and then month to month after that! I believe this is the fertilizer that you were talking about?

http://www.s-brand site/smg/catalog/productTemplate.jsp?proId=prod10370005&itemId=cat50034


Thanks

you are going to have to change your username after a mistake like that. just kidding.

you can overwater, especially with sod, you'll get a white looking fungus on the bottom of the sod that will eventually kill it. Hopefully you have good drainage and only water in the early morning, that should keep this from happening. don't water in the evenings or at night if you can help it. one thing to remember, any sign of browning or disease on lawns or any type of plant, the worst thing you can do is fertilize to try to correct it, you will only compound the issue.

what part of northern alabama do you live? We've been up there a few times in the winter the past few years and see some awesome green lawns, always wondered if people like to overseed a cool season grass for the winter or simply choose between warm or season as their main grass. seems to be on that line of whether which one to do.

That's the one. You may get the Vigaro brand a little cheaper but both will do the same. And don't wait 30 days (1 month) from this day, 30 days from the day that you put the Bonus S down.

Lol I know! I should change it to something like YardKiller.....

Sounds like a plan! The good news (or maybe bad news) is that I only put the Bonus S in the front yard and a little bit of the sides. So the back yard is still good to go! Except no one sees the back yard really lol!

Picked up a sprinkler today, so will get that hooked up after work!

Hey guys, figured I would give an update on the ol' yard, see what you thought, and maybe to see what some next steps would be.

As you all know I put down some Bonus S on 6/17/10....well the yard is starting to see the effects. These brown spots are everywhere. I have been watering 1-2 times daily for 30min or more each time.

Any ideas on what I could do to fill in the dead spots?

For a newly sodded lawn, it doesn't look too bad even if you did try to kill it. The brown spots might be dollar spot or it just could be portions of sod that did not root properly and died.

I am assuming the latter, where it didnt root properly and died. What can I do to fix this? sand?

Time. And perhaps reseeding in just those spots, although I'm not sure how much time you have left with Bermuda.

However, the stuff tends to spread like crazy anyway.

Personally, I'd step down the watering at this point, since you run the risk of setting of a disease issue (I can't tell from the photos if those spots are disease problems, but they could be on new sod).

So on the first I hit the lawn with some Scott's green max and have been watering twice a day, once in the morning at 6:15 and once and night at 6:15 as well.

Here is an updated pic! What do ya think?

I still think there are some dead spots!

BUMP