too late to revive???

[Zeta09]

Hello everyone.

I am a new owner of a property out in Phoenix, AZ with a back yard that is 1250sf. I had a sprinkler system put in and had decent results with the perinnial rye I placed in there last fall. I planted Pennington Bermuda Hybrid summer grass and put it down in May. I did NOT till just placed the seed on the dying rye and added a vigiro 16-16-16 fertilizer 6 days after the seed was placed down. I watered 3 times a day for the first week then every other day thereafter. The sprinklers seem to get decent coverage

I have not had good growth with the bermuda. It is sporadic at best and unfortunately crab grass and some weed has taken over in parts of the yard.

1) Is it too late to salvage this yard??
2) What must I do next year when I try the summer grass again??
3) Does seed brand really matter??
4) Is an every other day watering schedule enough???

[ed2hess]

In our area we start with bermuda sod then in Sept we strip it back and plant the rye. This is done on many commericial properties and it works great. If you would have stripped/bagged that rye, then planted it should have done okay.

[Zeta09]

Perhaps this is my problem.


I originally started with BobSod installed in March 05' and then planted the Pennington P-Rye in October. The rye came through quite well actually and seemed to get good roots.

I cut the rye down as much as my mower allowed but I did not Till so I don't know if that is what you mean by "bagged".

I did overseed the bermuda but it still did not take and some of the seeds are still visible even at this point. I can't go back in time so I need to know what I'll need to do for next year (May 07').

Thanks in advance

[ed2hess]

Perhaps this is my problem.


I originally started with BobSod installed in March 05' and then planted the Pennington P-Rye in October. The rye came through quite well actually and seemed to get good roots.

I cut the rye down as much as my mower allowed but I did not Till so I don't know if that is what you mean by "bagged".

I did overseed the bermuda but it still did not take and some of the seeds are still visible even at this point. I can't go back in time so I need to know what I'll need to do for next year (May 07').

Thanks in advance
Bagged means catching all the clippings...essentially we cut the grass down to the dirt level. Obviously the runners are still there but that allows the seed to get to/into the dirt easily.