How do I grow or establish good turf or Bermuda grass in my front yard?
Question:I have just recently taken on the hobby of landscaping and yard work. I live in the southeastern US where most of the grass here is Bermuda grass. There are several different weeds like the dandelions, crab grass etc. I would like to get rid of those and establish only turf grass. I was told that Drexel is good to kill the weeds and Vigoro or Scotts is good to grow up green grass. Is that true and if so how long does this process take?
Answers:
I use Ortho Weed-Be-Gone. Once the weeds are under control, all you have to do is Fertilize...water .and mow. Do all of these regularly and your lawn will look great. If your lawn is pretty well established, it will be about 6 weeks till it looks good. Make sure you mow every week, if not twice a week. It will keep down the weeds and promote thick growth.
scotts is the best and what is used here in Ky
The best weedkiller on the market for Bermuda Grass is called "MSMA", it is commonly referred to as crabgrass killer. This product will kill all weeds but will not harm the Bermuda. It cannot be used on St. Augustine. Unless you have a lot of money, just take your time and implement weed treatments, fertilizing, and proper watering schedules and your Bermuda should be fine. You can also overseed areas to accelerate thickening of the grass. Bermuda is a very tough but beautiful grass that does great in the south. Over time you will find that just a little extra care goes a long way, neglect goes even further.
I was going to say move to Georgia. It comes up there like crazy. But if you live in the southeastern US, you know that. We always used the little tiny round seed (where the seed pealing had been taken off) It comes up in a hurry. No problem. Just scratch the dirt a little and seed and water it. Maybe put a little straw over it to hold in moisture. That will rot and help fertilize it.
Hope you aren't expecting it to be green in winter. Just over-seed it with a little rye or some other winter grass and you're good to go.
To establish a new yard I kill the weeds with Round-up. You could use weed be gone or some other product as well. I then till in maneur, and a LOT of it and till as deep as the machine will allow. This gives your grass a good base for season after season of growth with less reliance on chemical fertalizers. Heavy is the key. I will also till in fish parts and the like because I have access to a lot of that and hate chemical fertalizers due to the cost.
If you opt for chemicals, use Scotts. They really do have the best product. You can use other products but the weed and feed is really great with scotts and the other brands are garbage.
If you are saving an existing yard, Scotts weed and feet will do the trick. Read the package and do what it says but apply it 3 weeks apart, 3 times and you should be weed free. Weed-B-Gone is suposed to work for saving your lawn also but I have not used it so can't speak from experience here.
Scotts also has a product with Crab Grass preventer that works really well. I have used that and it is worth the cost, as is the weed N feed
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