Advice with Bermuda please

[laynlow]

Hi,

I have a bermuda lawn, and I was not happy with the density or amount of green seen last season. The lawn still has the dead shoots from last year, approx 2 inches tall. The new shoots are just beginning to show up.

The problem last year was even though the lawn was green and growing, there was a large amount of the brown dead stuff remaining all year long. I was wondering if scalping the lawn now, to bag and remove the dead would be of any benifit. How about de-thatching or aireating(sp)?

The lawn is cared for by a professional, but I handle all mowing and trimming. I normally mow once or twice a week, and bag all the time. I was planning on lowering the height this year to about 1 - 1.5".

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

[rkbrown]

laynlow:

I am not a professional, so please take what I say with a grain of salt (I won't even dream of giving you advice, but will relate my experiences).

I lived in Lubbock, Texas, for a few years and we had bermuda. I would scalp the lawn when I thought the last frost had taken place, and when the outermost edges of the lawn were starting to get a hint of green. I used a reel mower to get as low as possible.

Usually, however, Murphy's law prevailed and there was another light freeze after I scalped. Fortunately, the last frost never did much damage.

Rob

[laynlow]

Thanks for the tip. I spoke with my lawn care guy today, and he said that on the yards they mow, they also cut short in the spring. His advice was to at least cut the dead stuff shorter than I plan to mow in the season. I am having him aerate also, so hopefully the lawn will come back to what it was year before last. Interestingly, I have not had a problem in the backyard, just the front.

Laters

[Scotlawncare]

laynlow, if you want a deep very dense green on berm have your lawn cut at 3". shorter cut grass doesn't get as deep a green as longer cut. All my yards i cut at 3" or longer. I don't go over 4" due to the grass laying over sometimes and being at the point of puting too much strain on my mowers on the next cut. Also when you allow the grass to stay longer it tends to spread and thicken up faster to me.

As far as scalping, I go just low enough to cut all the layed over dead grass. one other option you could try is to mulch your grass clippings instead of bagging. the mulched clippings add moisture and added nutrients too the soil.

Try mulching for a season. you will be happy with the results.

Scot