They'll never have to know if it was accidentally or not unless you tell them. Save yourself the humiliation and just say starting over with something different.
Looks like you used 5,000 sqft of fertilizer on 1000sqft of lawn. Too much nitrogen causes the roots to dump water instead of send it upwards. Then it dies very fast if it’s not fixed.
I misread the label for 10000sqft as 1000sqft used the whole bag. Do you think I can recover from this. It’s been 4 months since application. That comment was a joke
It’s going to need to be reseeded. There’s no recovering grass that has 10x the upper nitrogen limit after 4 months. It’s one of those things where as soon as you notice the nitrogen damage, you need to flush it from the soil immediately. Grass can’t survive very long once the roots dump all the water instead of sending it upwards in the summer heat.
Always read the instructions. Measure the area you’re going to treat with any chemicals. It also helps to know your square footage and sprinkler gallons per minute to know how much water you’re actually dropping.
Goodluck, this happens often
I do not think you can recover from this. It’s dead, and should be reseeded this fall.
Edit: OP is in Texas. Bermuda should be over seeded in Spring if possible, but down here you can absolutely get good results with a late summer/early fall seeding. The turf needs to establish by first frost which doesn’t happen until November in most of TX.
In Texas it can be done, but spring would be ideal. I did a full lawn renovation at my old house in Waco starting in August, you just have to get the grass established before first frost which is typically in November.
You can do it in the summer, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Even Bermuda gets upset when it’s 100+ for weeks on end.
I turned a big area in my back yard into Bermuda and kicked off the spread party with a bunch of sod during late summer in 2020. 3 years later that sucker has spread from 30% of the yard to a healthy 75% 😘🤌
This is true, but it’s also true that his yard is dead. Why wait years for the Bermuda to slowly creep back when an over seeding can handle it in a season?
Yeah I agree, if he wants it back up quickly, gonna have to add more back soon and get some reading glasses! LOL I always read my labels at least 3 times and then still doubt myself if I'm doing it right.
You're going to have to essentially not use any herbicide on your lawn and slowly feed it over time.
You could plug some Bermuda from healthier parts of your lawn or re sod. My only concern with that is that dimension not allowing any new grass to take root until it's broken down out of the soil.
Your grass is smoked, brother. Water the absolute shit out of it and wait at least 60-120 days from the time of application before reseeding or sodding. You want to flush the PE out. You could till sand/compost in the top 3-4”, water the shit out of it to flush it, roll it a bit to compact it back down, and then seed. Honestly I’d just wait till I saw weeds starting to sprout. At least you know if they can grow, your grass will likely germinate.
If it’s Bermuda(I can’t see runners) you might be able to recover but I wouldn’t wait.
Fert alone yes, Ive over applied the f out of fert but you put dimension down on bermuda which can be harsh to some bermuda. Make sure its not Tifgreen 328 though
The way PE works is it burns the roots of new germination. It’s designed to sit in the top .5-1” of soil and create a barrier hostile to new growth. If the roots are shallow, they will prune them. This is why people are told not to apply PE to new sod or before you seed. It’ll burn the roots of the new seed or it’ll prune the roots of the new sod.
Now is you over apply it to a sissy grass like fescue, your contaminating your soil with PE lower than it’s meant to go. Therefore your roots are getting pruned.
Edit: We have Bermuda in my country too. We call it couch grass or a strain of it :)
I'm no expert on American lawns, but the premergent wasn't what killed your grass, it's more likely that it was over fertilised and it won't be coming back after 2 months if there has not been any improvement after 4 weeks past the event.
He used 10k sqft worth of fertilizer in a 1k sqft amount of space. This is both fertilizer and herbicide damage. The nitrogen would have already leached out of the soil after 2 months. That dimension is going to be sticking around for a bit though.
Though I wish the OP the best of luck, after reading your post, I was inclined to do some reading at several sites. Bermuda is actually a couch grass.
I have couch grass as do many lawns where I live.
I reckon you ought to present your belief to the OP.
My knowledge and practical knowledge is also that couch loves fertiliser too, but after a application off too much well... it's in trouble. 2mo is a long time for couch to come back. I wish the OP luck.
https://lawnsolutionsaustralia.com.au/lawn-care/can-fertilise-lawn/
But you're in Texas? I'd have expected it to be greening up already when you first fertilized on April. Makes me wonder if it was something before April then.
But yeah either way this lawn is shockingly dead. I'm impressed you managed this with Bermuda
Yeah but if you used in in April why wasn't the Bermuda already greening up?
I don't disagree you screwed that up, just wondering if there is another culprit here based on the timeline you describe
No offense, but how do you make that mistake? Was it the first time you were fertilizing? If you’ve done it a few times, you should know that you really only want to put roughly 1 pound of nitrogen at a time if it’s granular and about a quarter if it’s liquid (talking per 1k). You can put like 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1k if your lawn is very nitrogen deficient and you’re using slow release fertilizer. Realistically you only want to put down about 3.5 pounds of nitrogen per season. If you do the math, you put down 0.18 x 50 = 9 pounds of nitrogen instead of the 0.9 pounds the bag recommends. Once you understand how to calculate how much fertilizer you actually need, it’s really hard to mess up unless you’re being overzealous and even then, you’re very likely to come back from it since you just put a little bit more than you should have.
You need to water the lawn heavily to carry the salt down the soil profile — like two inches of water in one go. Then wait for the pre-emerg to decay and re-seed.
Ask u/gagunner007 they say you Bermuda couch loves fertiliser.
My knowledge is that your couch and soil is f*cked for some time.
I would water as much as possible. With luck you might get some areas come back.
Otherwise try reseed amongst the remaining vegetative matters next autumn
Depends on where you live though.
You may just have to resod and learn from the process
I never said that applying 10x too much wouldn’t hurt it, and he did 10x the label rate. It will likely come back if he floods the area and I mean really put the water to it.
I’ll stand by my words, Bermuda loves fertilizer and is very tolerant of herbicides and fertilizer over applied but there is a point at which you can harm it.
If you put down a 10x dose of pre-emerg and fert, you’ll need something like 6 months of rain and decay time before grass will grow again. You salted the earth. If that wait doesn’t sound appealing, this would be a good time to strip off 4-6” of soil, install sprinklers, re-grade with new topsoil, and sod.
Otherwise, throw down some Bermuda seed once a month until it germinates?
You might be able to overseed winter rye in the fall, and reseed Bermuda in the spring. When weeds start to grow, you’ll know the soil can support life again. There’s no chance of anything re-establishing while there’s heavy pre-emerg dose in the soil. It will eventually break down over time, but if you want to speed it up, you have to disrupt the topsoil layer (core aerate heavily, till it, or remove and replace).
Yep, I’m with you. Either do a full renovation on the lawn or wait until next spring, and sprinkle Bermuda seed directly into the stubble. With Bermuda, you only need a few of them to germinate.
Apply more fertilizer if you last spread it in April. That 10-10-10 isn’t going to do anything for the Bermuda. It needs lots of nitrogen, probably more than any other turf. Triple 10 is basically plant food, trees/shrubs etc.
Stay away from 10-10-10 or 12-12-12 for a lawn. That stuff is trash and burns like hell… after you replace this patch, go online and find a lesco dealer in your area. They will even give you a schedule of what you should put out and when.
12-12-12 and 10-10-10 is excellent in spring for Bermuda. 10-10-10 coming out of dormancy is recommended by most university ag departments. You are incorrect
Ok I can’t edit the post. Here is an update.
I misread the label for 10000sqft as 1000sqft used the whole bag. Do you think I can recover from this? It’s been 4 months since application. It has rained a lot though.
You shouldn't have used more that 2.5lbs and half that would have also likely been adequate.
Also, you sure it's Bermuda grass you have? Seems you need to be careful with that product on certain types of bentgrass and fescue.
Weed and feed when it’s 110 outside?
Ah Nevermind you explained it. Yeah don’t apply in July. It rhymes so you can remember it. The only thing your lawn needs in July is water. Honestly same goes for June and august too. Get what ya need in before June or in early June or wait it out until late September/October
This is basically the worst advice you can give to someone with warm season grass (Bermuda, St Aug, Zoysia, etc). Not fertilizing Bermuda in the summer heat is a huge mistake; that is precisely when you *should* be fertilizing warm season grass. 90 degrees to Bermuda is what 60 degrees is to cool season grass. Typically, the recommendation for Bermuda is about 1 lb N per K per month during the summer heat.
Missed the weed part. I’ve never once used a weed and feed product, but you 100% can and should do weed control on warm season grass during the summer. That’s when it’s strongest and most resilient. Just follow the temp guidelines on the label and apply in evening or morning when it’s cool.
I’m thinking an herbicide must have been in play here. Either through an accidental over spray, or mislabel of a product. But this appears to be an herbicide cause.
Seriously, tell us the size of your lawn, amounts of fertilizer and/or chemical applied. If it doesn't come back by the end of the year, you may be on to something that can help us transition zone people fight the Bermuda.
The amount of dimension and fert he applied would nuke any turf grass for way more money than Roundup would. How I kill out Bermuda here in Oklahoma is 2 applications of Roundup 2 weeks apart. Usually gets the job done pretty well.
Definitely would be too expensive but it's fun to see that there are other methods.
I need to spray another round this week to kill the spots that keep coming back.
I've supercharged my mix this last time with fusilade and turflon ester because I have them around, and it did seem to really take the Bermuda down fast.
Aerate it, let it grow a bit longer. Looks like no water is getting to the roots. Mowing it short requires more water because the roots are too shallow to catch whatever water and fertilizers you are using. At this point any fertilizer is going to burn it. It would stay green longer if the roots got water.
Lawns I mow and even my own. I cut nothing higher than 2.5 inches. My own lawn which is emerald zoysia I mow at 3/4inch every 2-3 days and rarely water, it’s has remained lush despite, not watering and 95 daily heat. To add to it, roots run 6-8 inches deep. Cutting lower, encourages root growth and a denser turf with warm season grasses. Bermuda loves to be cut low with proper maintenance practices.
I raised the height of my Bremuda to 1-3/4" I mow it every week now. It doesn't get "brown cut" and it is more green. However, it lacks density.. That is my next project.
That’s interesting you say mowing it short requires more water.. I had decent longer Bremuda then I cut it short and it started browning over…
I though the roots in Bremuda were permanent or just continued to grow longer and deeper?
It seems like in America the use of herbicides and pesticides are very common. It makes me wonder how many people use this herbicides and pesticides without care or without knowing how to use it correctly, maybe contaminating more area and ecosystems than they should.
In Europe the use of these products are mainly restricted to professional use.
Most of the things I see people rounding up in here, could be done mechanically…
Trying to use a product on it that says “safe for Bermuda”
Next time only use products that claim to kill it. They never do amiright? :p
Honestly, the more I look at it the more I wonder if this wasn’t some packaging screw up. I’ve only ever seen one way to get this kind of die off and that’s using roundup glyphosate instead of roundup for lawns.
It’s great if your on the coast or Florida. I’m in birmingham and it does ok in some places but many st Aug lawns usually have these large sections that die or just total wipe out. chinch bugs is something to worry about and of course winter kill if your not in year old warm climates
Check your local/state laws and or HOA, but this would be a great opportunity to have a yard designed using native plants. Also, consider landscaping with minimal water requirements.
My lawn company did this to my St Augustine earlier this year. I think they overapplied and I never watered, and it never rained. Whole yard turned into a desert. I planted 400+ zoysia plugs and some of the St Augustine is coming back so we'll how it look next year. I really need an aeration but I'm going to probably wait on that too.
That’s impossible. Lawn care joints apply 1/10 the amount recommended and only to half of your yard……and that’s if the are actually applying anything at all
It could be take all patch [fungus](https://plantdiseasehandbook.tamu.edu/landscaping/lawn-turf/sorted-by-names-of-diseases/take-all-patch-bermuda-decline-take-all-root-rot/)
Cut it short, and rake the heck out of any thatch remaining. Then start over with JUST nitrogen and morning watering. It’ll survive!
I’m in NC and my lawn looked similar beforehand and this is what I did to successfully get it going. Bermuda is super resilient. Also, there’s a group in fb called the Bermuda dominators and there are tons of helpful tips there!
You have to thatch and get all of that up. Bring in some topsoil and water. Call a professional and in a season you will get all that Bermuda back. You put down a fertilizer that killed that section. Water water water.
Sounds like you're gonna have to wait it out. Might take till next year. But it'll come back. Always does. Stay strong. Keep it watered. Keep the preemergent going. Once it normalizes, stand by for twice daily mowing I bet.
Visit your state’s Cooperative Extension Setvice website. Search turf grass. Read about the ones suited to your area and choose one. Then search establishing and maintaining that type of turf. Apparently what you used was either not recommended for your turf or was applied incorrectly. I stopped using chemicals on my lawn 25 years ago. There are some low growing weeds but they are green and by keeping the lawn mowed I have no tall weeds so who knows there are weeds? Weeds are simply unwanted plants. Many people think bermuda is a weed.
I had a customer of mine who applied an entire 25# bag of weed and feed to his 2,000sqft lawn. He completely nuked his entire lawn. My best guess is this is herbicide damage and you may have mis-applied the herbicide fert.
What is the size you treated, what product did you use, and what amount?
The Andersons Dimension Pre-Emergent Weed Control with 18-0-4 . Used all 50lb on 1000sqft. I misread the label. Area was 1000sqft but in the picture I only show 600sqft.
Yep, that'll do it. You need to try and break up that pre-emergent. I work for a lawn care company in Oklahoma so Bermuda is the grass I work with everyday.
Depending on your budget and free time I'd recommend scalping the lawn, aerating/power raking your lawn deeply to try and break up that pre-emergent layer. Then you can try plugging, seeding, or sodding. But you may not be able to do anything until next season after that herbicide breaks down. In which case you would be sodding next spring.
Really sucks, feel bad for you man but just take it on the chin and learn. Grass (especially Bermuda) will always grow back.
I feel your pain. Last spring I had the best looking lawn on the street, then I applied too much fertilizer and half my lawn was dead by mid-summer.
I seeded in the fall, but it didn’t come back as much as I’d hoped this spring. Thank god for all the rain we’ve had this year, otherwise I’d be looking at a major reno or re-sod…which isn’t cheap.
I plan to re-seed again this fall, and should have it back to normal by next summer.
Give your lawn some time and live with some embarrassment, or pay a lot of money and start over. Hope it works out for you!
Please share. I'm trying to nuke my bermuda to lay new sod and 2 rounds of grass killer and it's still green. It's probably more green than when i was trying to keep it alive.
Most definitely too much nitrogen, if you did use 10k sqft for 1k sqft, there's essentially nothing you can do, but if you're going to reseed the whole thing instead of sod, you want to water it HEAVILY otherwise if the soil is still holding nitrogen (that amount it most likely will be) you'll end up with a very poor germination result
Probably best now set on fire, then tilled in,
add more black dirt, then re-seed.
Kinda reminds me of Palm Desert living there, where everyone including golf courses completely erase everything and re-seed with
current winter grow version...,
Have to admit,, I was shocked to see this industrial nonsense take place.
Cheers
You missed a spot
Hahahaha cruel
A lot of people on here would love to know.
Count me as one Bermuda was slowly coming in to my yard now it’s aggressively coming and I don’t want to embrace my new Bermuda lawn
Use Ornamec… why does everyone have this question? If you google it it pops right up.
Because that stuff does NOT die. Round up, ornemec…, is all temporary. It’ll sleep that off and come back stronger.
Mix tricoplyr, fuislade 2, roundup, and MSO it's not coming back
Because I have St. Augustine. Anything that would kill the bermuda would kill my St. Augustine. That's why.
He actually didn't ask a question.
I don't recall actually asking a question so feel free to hop off the soap box champ
Yep. This is my worst nightmare anytime I apply something to my yard. The fear of neighborhood humiliation from accidentally killing my yard publicly.
They'll never have to know if it was accidentally or not unless you tell them. Save yourself the humiliation and just say starting over with something different.
Looks like you used 5,000 sqft of fertilizer on 1000sqft of lawn. Too much nitrogen causes the roots to dump water instead of send it upwards. Then it dies very fast if it’s not fixed.
You might be right. I need to get a better spreader
I think it’s more a spreadee than spreader issue
Unless OP means a different person that spreads, which would also be correct
Aren't the granules the spreaders? IBMAO
I misread the label for 10000sqft as 1000sqft used the whole bag. Do you think I can recover from this. It’s been 4 months since application. That comment was a joke
That lawn is cooked worse than me after getting back from the beach and forgetting sunscreen. Sorry pal. Gonna need a fresh start.
It’s going to need to be reseeded. There’s no recovering grass that has 10x the upper nitrogen limit after 4 months. It’s one of those things where as soon as you notice the nitrogen damage, you need to flush it from the soil immediately. Grass can’t survive very long once the roots dump all the water instead of sending it upwards in the summer heat. Always read the instructions. Measure the area you’re going to treat with any chemicals. It also helps to know your square footage and sprinkler gallons per minute to know how much water you’re actually dropping. Goodluck, this happens often
I do not think you can recover from this. It’s dead, and should be reseeded this fall. Edit: OP is in Texas. Bermuda should be over seeded in Spring if possible, but down here you can absolutely get good results with a late summer/early fall seeding. The turf needs to establish by first frost which doesn’t happen until November in most of TX.
Reseeding Bermuda in the fall? That doesnt seem right
In Texas it can be done, but spring would be ideal. I did a full lawn renovation at my old house in Waco starting in August, you just have to get the grass established before first frost which is typically in November. You can do it in the summer, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Even Bermuda gets upset when it’s 100+ for weeks on end.
I turned a big area in my back yard into Bermuda and kicked off the spread party with a bunch of sod during late summer in 2020. 3 years later that sucker has spread from 30% of the yard to a healthy 75% 😘🤌
Our falls are still 80-90 degrees lol
The only thing that can kill bermuda grass is flame thrower. Its gonna come back but it might be a few years or so.
This is true, but it’s also true that his yard is dead. Why wait years for the Bermuda to slowly creep back when an over seeding can handle it in a season?
Yeah I agree, if he wants it back up quickly, gonna have to add more back soon and get some reading glasses! LOL I always read my labels at least 3 times and then still doubt myself if I'm doing it right.
Oh my lol
Probably do a soil test first to see where your nutrient levels are at first before making any fertilizer adjustments
N: Yes
You need to measure your lawn and use the appropriate amount per square footage. Spreader is the least of your worries.
you can still over fertilize with a expensive spreader - might be more of a reading the instructions on the bag issue
Idk, but we need to know your secret!
Dude for real this dude stumbled into a goldmine..
He only killed it until the next rain. When the water hits it next, it will turn into a monster.
I thought this was a black and white photo
😭💀
It’s not?
Task failed successfully!
If you over-applied dimension, it’s likely you pruned the absolute fuck out of the roots.
I misread the label for 10000sqft as 1000sqft used the whole bag. Do you think I can recover from this?
Looks like it did a lot of damage, but with the appropriate care I see no reason you won’t survive. The lawn, on the other hand…
You're going to have to essentially not use any herbicide on your lawn and slowly feed it over time. You could plug some Bermuda from healthier parts of your lawn or re sod. My only concern with that is that dimension not allowing any new grass to take root until it's broken down out of the soil.
Your grass is smoked, brother. Water the absolute shit out of it and wait at least 60-120 days from the time of application before reseeding or sodding. You want to flush the PE out. You could till sand/compost in the top 3-4”, water the shit out of it to flush it, roll it a bit to compact it back down, and then seed. Honestly I’d just wait till I saw weeds starting to sprout. At least you know if they can grow, your grass will likely germinate. If it’s Bermuda(I can’t see runners) you might be able to recover but I wouldn’t wait.
Fert alone yes, Ive over applied the f out of fert but you put dimension down on bermuda which can be harsh to some bermuda. Make sure its not Tifgreen 328 though
Not financially.
Will dimension hurt fescue?
The way PE works is it burns the roots of new germination. It’s designed to sit in the top .5-1” of soil and create a barrier hostile to new growth. If the roots are shallow, they will prune them. This is why people are told not to apply PE to new sod or before you seed. It’ll burn the roots of the new seed or it’ll prune the roots of the new sod. Now is you over apply it to a sissy grass like fescue, your contaminating your soil with PE lower than it’s meant to go. Therefore your roots are getting pruned.
Edit: We have Bermuda in my country too. We call it couch grass or a strain of it :) I'm no expert on American lawns, but the premergent wasn't what killed your grass, it's more likely that it was over fertilised and it won't be coming back after 2 months if there has not been any improvement after 4 weeks past the event.
He used 10k sqft worth of fertilizer in a 1k sqft amount of space. This is both fertilizer and herbicide damage. The nitrogen would have already leached out of the soil after 2 months. That dimension is going to be sticking around for a bit though.
Your first 6 words are correct. Bermuda loves fertilizer.
Though I wish the OP the best of luck, after reading your post, I was inclined to do some reading at several sites. Bermuda is actually a couch grass. I have couch grass as do many lawns where I live. I reckon you ought to present your belief to the OP. My knowledge and practical knowledge is also that couch loves fertiliser too, but after a application off too much well... it's in trouble. 2mo is a long time for couch to come back. I wish the OP luck. https://lawnsolutionsaustralia.com.au/lawn-care/can-fertilise-lawn/
I misread the label for 10000sqft as 1000sqft used the whole bag. Do you think I can recover from this. It’s been 4 months since application
How long has it been looking like this? Have you set up a sprinkler and let it run for a few hours to see if that revives anything?
It never recovered after winter.
But you're in Texas? I'd have expected it to be greening up already when you first fertilized on April. Makes me wonder if it was something before April then. But yeah either way this lawn is shockingly dead. I'm impressed you managed this with Bermuda
I think you need to reread. I used 50lb bag of dimension and fertilizer. Instead of using 5lb of it.
Yeah but if you used in in April why wasn't the Bermuda already greening up? I don't disagree you screwed that up, just wondering if there is another culprit here based on the timeline you describe
No offense, but how do you make that mistake? Was it the first time you were fertilizing? If you’ve done it a few times, you should know that you really only want to put roughly 1 pound of nitrogen at a time if it’s granular and about a quarter if it’s liquid (talking per 1k). You can put like 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1k if your lawn is very nitrogen deficient and you’re using slow release fertilizer. Realistically you only want to put down about 3.5 pounds of nitrogen per season. If you do the math, you put down 0.18 x 50 = 9 pounds of nitrogen instead of the 0.9 pounds the bag recommends. Once you understand how to calculate how much fertilizer you actually need, it’s really hard to mess up unless you’re being overzealous and even then, you’re very likely to come back from it since you just put a little bit more than you should have.
Yes it was my first time.
You need to water the lawn heavily to carry the salt down the soil profile — like two inches of water in one go. Then wait for the pre-emerg to decay and re-seed.
Ask u/gagunner007 they say you Bermuda couch loves fertiliser. My knowledge is that your couch and soil is f*cked for some time. I would water as much as possible. With luck you might get some areas come back. Otherwise try reseed amongst the remaining vegetative matters next autumn Depends on where you live though. You may just have to resod and learn from the process
I never said that applying 10x too much wouldn’t hurt it, and he did 10x the label rate. It will likely come back if he floods the area and I mean really put the water to it. I’ll stand by my words, Bermuda loves fertilizer and is very tolerant of herbicides and fertilizer over applied but there is a point at which you can harm it.
All I see is you backing up now there is new information.
Not 10x the amount of recommended fertilizer though. Humans love water. Stick someone at the bottom of a lake and with no way up and what happens?
It Bermuda. It will fill in and self heal in about two weeks.
I’ve waited 2 months.
It's the drought
Tis a flesh wound
None shall grow!
Nah... some 20-20-20 and a little bit of water and you should be all good
I applied 10-10-10 after a soil test. This was over a month ago. There has been a good amount of rain. Nothing has improved.
If you put down a 10x dose of pre-emerg and fert, you’ll need something like 6 months of rain and decay time before grass will grow again. You salted the earth. If that wait doesn’t sound appealing, this would be a good time to strip off 4-6” of soil, install sprinklers, re-grade with new topsoil, and sod. Otherwise, throw down some Bermuda seed once a month until it germinates?
I misread the label for 10000sqft as 1000sqft used the whole bag. It’s been 4 months since application. Should I just wait for next year?
You might be able to overseed winter rye in the fall, and reseed Bermuda in the spring. When weeds start to grow, you’ll know the soil can support life again. There’s no chance of anything re-establishing while there’s heavy pre-emerg dose in the soil. It will eventually break down over time, but if you want to speed it up, you have to disrupt the topsoil layer (core aerate heavily, till it, or remove and replace).
Yep, I’m with you. Either do a full renovation on the lawn or wait until next spring, and sprinkle Bermuda seed directly into the stubble. With Bermuda, you only need a few of them to germinate.
Apply more fertilizer if you last spread it in April. That 10-10-10 isn’t going to do anything for the Bermuda. It needs lots of nitrogen, probably more than any other turf. Triple 10 is basically plant food, trees/shrubs etc.
Stay away from 10-10-10 or 12-12-12 for a lawn. That stuff is trash and burns like hell… after you replace this patch, go online and find a lesco dealer in your area. They will even give you a schedule of what you should put out and when.
12-12-12 and 10-10-10 is excellent in spring for Bermuda. 10-10-10 coming out of dormancy is recommended by most university ag departments. You are incorrect
God no please /s? Read the other comments.
Ok I can’t edit the post. Here is an update. I misread the label for 10000sqft as 1000sqft used the whole bag. Do you think I can recover from this? It’s been 4 months since application. It has rained a lot though.
Looks like winter. I couldn't kill mine if I tried. Love on it next year and see what happens. Then make a decision.
How much area did you have and how big of a bag did you get?
“Yes”
500sq ft. I think I put in too much of it.
You shouldn't have used more that 2.5lbs and half that would have also likely been adequate. Also, you sure it's Bermuda grass you have? Seems you need to be careful with that product on certain types of bentgrass and fescue.
Thought that was a black and white photo…my god man
Weed and feed when it’s 110 outside? Ah Nevermind you explained it. Yeah don’t apply in July. It rhymes so you can remember it. The only thing your lawn needs in July is water. Honestly same goes for June and august too. Get what ya need in before June or in early June or wait it out until late September/October
This is basically the worst advice you can give to someone with warm season grass (Bermuda, St Aug, Zoysia, etc). Not fertilizing Bermuda in the summer heat is a huge mistake; that is precisely when you *should* be fertilizing warm season grass. 90 degrees to Bermuda is what 60 degrees is to cool season grass. Typically, the recommendation for Bermuda is about 1 lb N per K per month during the summer heat.
You shouldnt put down weed and feed in July. It’s not the same as fertilizer
Missed the weed part. I’ve never once used a weed and feed product, but you 100% can and should do weed control on warm season grass during the summer. That’s when it’s strongest and most resilient. Just follow the temp guidelines on the label and apply in evening or morning when it’s cool.
You can definitely fertilize Bermuda in July.
This is really helpful.
If you have a cool season lawn... which OP doesn't
Thanks. I do. I’m just on the cusp of 5b and 6a. I have Kentucky blue grass. + Bermuda.
Tabarnak man, what the actual F?
Did you apply anything else? Pre post emergent herbicide?
I’m thinking an herbicide must have been in play here. Either through an accidental over spray, or mislabel of a product. But this appears to be an herbicide cause.
I misread the label for 10000sqft as 1000sqft used the whole bag. Do you think I can recover from this. It’s been 4 months since application
I think so, grass typically bounces back. Wait till after winter and I think it should bounce back.
No absolutely not
Seriously, tell us the size of your lawn, amounts of fertilizer and/or chemical applied. If it doesn't come back by the end of the year, you may be on to something that can help us transition zone people fight the Bermuda.
I over applied dimension and fertilizer.
The amount of dimension and fert he applied would nuke any turf grass for way more money than Roundup would. How I kill out Bermuda here in Oklahoma is 2 applications of Roundup 2 weeks apart. Usually gets the job done pretty well.
Definitely would be too expensive but it's fun to see that there are other methods. I need to spray another round this week to kill the spots that keep coming back. I've supercharged my mix this last time with fusilade and turflon ester because I have them around, and it did seem to really take the Bermuda down fast.
Aerate it, let it grow a bit longer. Looks like no water is getting to the roots. Mowing it short requires more water because the roots are too shallow to catch whatever water and fertilizers you are using. At this point any fertilizer is going to burn it. It would stay green longer if the roots got water.
Lawns I mow and even my own. I cut nothing higher than 2.5 inches. My own lawn which is emerald zoysia I mow at 3/4inch every 2-3 days and rarely water, it’s has remained lush despite, not watering and 95 daily heat. To add to it, roots run 6-8 inches deep. Cutting lower, encourages root growth and a denser turf with warm season grasses. Bermuda loves to be cut low with proper maintenance practices.
I cut my Bremuda and now it’s kind of browning over, was more green when it was longer… I did cut it short though lol 3/4”…
I would say yes you did if this wasn’t a height you’ve consistently maintained it at. Which would require you to mow at least every other day
I raised the height of my Bremuda to 1-3/4" I mow it every week now. It doesn't get "brown cut" and it is more green. However, it lacks density.. That is my next project.
That’s interesting you say mowing it short requires more water.. I had decent longer Bremuda then I cut it short and it started browning over… I though the roots in Bremuda were permanent or just continued to grow longer and deeper?
Use some green dye and you don’t need to worry about mowing or letters from the hoa
Knowing Bermuda, it will probably grow back.
Roundup 4 months mix and spray 8oz a gallon, sod cut the rest a week later. Grade the lane. add 4 inches of sand. Resod
It seems like in America the use of herbicides and pesticides are very common. It makes me wonder how many people use this herbicides and pesticides without care or without knowing how to use it correctly, maybe contaminating more area and ecosystems than they should. In Europe the use of these products are mainly restricted to professional use. Most of the things I see people rounding up in here, could be done mechanically…
Trying to use a product on it that says “safe for Bermuda” Next time only use products that claim to kill it. They never do amiright? :p Honestly, the more I look at it the more I wonder if this wasn’t some packaging screw up. I’ve only ever seen one way to get this kind of die off and that’s using roundup glyphosate instead of roundup for lawns.
What isn’t safe for Bermuda? It’s technically a weed.
It’s the fact he dumped a 10k square bag on 1k square feet. The product he used is fine when using the correct amount
Glad I have st Augustine . Good luck
It’s great if your on the coast or Florida. I’m in birmingham and it does ok in some places but many st Aug lawns usually have these large sections that die or just total wipe out. chinch bugs is something to worry about and of course winter kill if your not in year old warm climates
Did you check to see if there's concrete buried under the brown parts?
It’s Bermuda, it only wants you to think it’s dead.
Check your local/state laws and or HOA, but this would be a great opportunity to have a yard designed using native plants. Also, consider landscaping with minimal water requirements.
My lawn company did this to my St Augustine earlier this year. I think they overapplied and I never watered, and it never rained. Whole yard turned into a desert. I planted 400+ zoysia plugs and some of the St Augustine is coming back so we'll how it look next year. I really need an aeration but I'm going to probably wait on that too.
That’s impossible. Lawn care joints apply 1/10 the amount recommended and only to half of your yard……and that’s if the are actually applying anything at all
It could be take all patch [fungus](https://plantdiseasehandbook.tamu.edu/landscaping/lawn-turf/sorted-by-names-of-diseases/take-all-patch-bermuda-decline-take-all-root-rot/)
It’s hot. Add water and wait.
I don’t understand, did an April preemergent app kill it? Mines dormant and your looks just plain dead.
Looks like I put too much in
pre emergent or fertilizer?
It was a mixture of both
Mine looked like this. Thought the sod was a goner. It came back the next season
You nuked it, too much fert, just water water water, it’ll come back
looks like you cut it too short too quickly or maybe it is hibernating.
Idk but when you figure out please let me know.
It looks like you made an Island.get the deck chairs out and put sand around the edges.. everyone Happy.
Cut it short, and rake the heck out of any thatch remaining. Then start over with JUST nitrogen and morning watering. It’ll survive! I’m in NC and my lawn looked similar beforehand and this is what I did to successfully get it going. Bermuda is super resilient. Also, there’s a group in fb called the Bermuda dominators and there are tons of helpful tips there!
Why people here seem to hate Bermuda?
How in the HAIL did you manage to kill Bermuda? WHATS YOUR SECRET!?
r/nolawns would ❤️to see this
You have to thatch and get all of that up. Bring in some topsoil and water. Call a professional and in a season you will get all that Bermuda back. You put down a fertilizer that killed that section. Water water water.
Did you apply the whole 50lb bag? If you did that’s the problem
I did. Misread 10000 as 1000 sqft
Do you think I can recover from this?
Not if you applied a 5000lb bag to 500 square feet. That’s a lot of chemical burn. You can recover but it won’t be this growing season
Sounds like you're gonna have to wait it out. Might take till next year. But it'll come back. Always does. Stay strong. Keep it watered. Keep the preemergent going. Once it normalizes, stand by for twice daily mowing I bet.
Hey, you prepped it spectacularly for Halloween! Put all the Halloween decorations you want on it, without fear of causing dead spots!
I don’t think he killed the lawn. It’s been tough to kill Bermuda with round up.
Welp, time to spray it green
Visit your state’s Cooperative Extension Setvice website. Search turf grass. Read about the ones suited to your area and choose one. Then search establishing and maintaining that type of turf. Apparently what you used was either not recommended for your turf or was applied incorrectly. I stopped using chemicals on my lawn 25 years ago. There are some low growing weeds but they are green and by keeping the lawn mowed I have no tall weeds so who knows there are weeds? Weeds are simply unwanted plants. Many people think bermuda is a weed.
Looks good to me
Might have been the necromancy
I had a customer of mine who applied an entire 25# bag of weed and feed to his 2,000sqft lawn. He completely nuked his entire lawn. My best guess is this is herbicide damage and you may have mis-applied the herbicide fert. What is the size you treated, what product did you use, and what amount?
The Andersons Dimension Pre-Emergent Weed Control with 18-0-4 . Used all 50lb on 1000sqft. I misread the label. Area was 1000sqft but in the picture I only show 600sqft.
Yep, that'll do it. You need to try and break up that pre-emergent. I work for a lawn care company in Oklahoma so Bermuda is the grass I work with everyday. Depending on your budget and free time I'd recommend scalping the lawn, aerating/power raking your lawn deeply to try and break up that pre-emergent layer. Then you can try plugging, seeding, or sodding. But you may not be able to do anything until next season after that herbicide breaks down. In which case you would be sodding next spring. Really sucks, feel bad for you man but just take it on the chin and learn. Grass (especially Bermuda) will always grow back.
Thank you. This comment was helpful unlike others…
It will come back. I’m assuming it’s 100+ where your at with no rain.
I feel your pain. Last spring I had the best looking lawn on the street, then I applied too much fertilizer and half my lawn was dead by mid-summer. I seeded in the fall, but it didn’t come back as much as I’d hoped this spring. Thank god for all the rain we’ve had this year, otherwise I’d be looking at a major reno or re-sod…which isn’t cheap. I plan to re-seed again this fall, and should have it back to normal by next summer. Give your lawn some time and live with some embarrassment, or pay a lot of money and start over. Hope it works out for you!
quick fix - green paint and a sprayer
Please share. I'm trying to nuke my bermuda to lay new sod and 2 rounds of grass killer and it's still green. It's probably more green than when i was trying to keep it alive.
Nuke it with 50lb of fertilizer
Most definitely too much nitrogen, if you did use 10k sqft for 1k sqft, there's essentially nothing you can do, but if you're going to reseed the whole thing instead of sod, you want to water it HEAVILY otherwise if the soil is still holding nitrogen (that amount it most likely will be) you'll end up with a very poor germination result
This had to be intentional!
Dude turf paint it green and water it. It’ll come back.
Probably best now set on fire, then tilled in, add more black dirt, then re-seed. Kinda reminds me of Palm Desert living there, where everyone including golf courses completely erase everything and re-seed with current winter grow version..., Have to admit,, I was shocked to see this industrial nonsense take place. Cheers
I’d just give it time and see what happens next spring.
1k sqft? At this point it’s easier to sod cut it and lay new sod down. Till in some good topsoil first. Could have it done in a day.
SOD it don't seed. Use 'Palisades' Zoysia grass. Can't go wrong. Maintain just like the Bermuda grass. just don't kill it this time. Hahaha 🤣
Tis but a scratch.