Bermuda Grass Lawns | Planting and Maintenance

It is estimated that turfgrass, as the largest irrigated plant in US, covers an area of about 163,000 square kilometers, consumes nearly 70 million tons of fertilizer, and nearly 11.3 billion cubic meters of water annually. According to the adaptability of lawn plants for climate can be divided into warm season turfgrass and cool season turfgrass. Warm season grass is most suitable for growth at 77-95℉, when the temperature below 50℉ will appear dormant; cool season turfgrass grows best at 59-77℉。

Bermuda Grass, also known as Dogbane, is a common grass for lawns in the southern United States, mainly used for golf courses, yards, commercial areas, sports fields, and highway lawns. It has rhizomes and stolons, which allows the plant to extend horizontally to form more grass. It can germinate in 12 days after sowing and can become a lawn in 30-40 days. It can be considered invasive and is heat, drought and trample resistant. The grass’s ideal growing temperature is 68~89℉, but its cold tolerance is weak so it is best suited for warmer climates.

 Lawn Planting

Bermuda Grass is a typical warm season grass, so the time for sowing should be chosen from March to September when the temperature is relatively warm. Before planting, you need to clean up the site, remove the debris, and set a slope of 0.5~3% to solve the drainage problem of the turf. In addition, check the quality of soil to prevent bad soil conditions from affecting the quality and life span of the lawn. It’s always a good idea to apply sufficient organic fertilizer as base fertilizer. This will provide healthy support for the grass to grow off of.

 Lawn Maintenance

 1、Irrigation

 Bermuda lawns need to maintain a frequency of 4-8 days watering in order to maintain a healthy grass. Keep watering until the soil moisture reaches 30-40% for best results. If it rains for several days, there is no need to water. In hot and dry days, you will need to increase the watering frequency. In addition, when entering the winter dormancy period, you can significantly reduce the watering frequency to once every 3-4 weeks. (Tip: If the grass doesn't bounce back after light stepping and pressing, it's time to water.)

• Watering time:Early morning or late afternoon
• Suitable humidity:30%~40%
• Watering method:Spraying or watering
• Watering frequency:4-8 days/time
• Depth of penetration:10-15cm

When you have a lawn to take care of, it helps to have a fully automated watering system. People who use the RainPoint Smart WiFi Sprinkler Timer can a make lawn watering simpler. Simply preset the control program, set the start time and end time, and the system will automatically cycle irrigation. With the added soil moisture sensor, the watering frequency can be intelligently adjusted according to the soil’s moisture levels.

For Bermuda Grass, you can open the valve for sprinkler irrigation when the soil humidity is lower than 40%. You can do this by presetting the value of humidity required by the plant, so that you can strictly control the irrigation water volume. This is especially advantage for anyone looking to save on water. In this particular instance, the user will save 30%-50% of water compared to manual watering.

2、Fertilization

Fertilization is the basis for maintaining a good lawn landscape. Insufficient fertilization will lead to poor growth and extensive dieback. Excessive application of fertilizer is not only harmful to crops, but also harmful to the soil, causing imbalance in soil nutrient structure, excessive harmful metals and harmful pathogens in some plots, leading to deterioration of soil properties.  Bermuda grass is usually fertilized in spring and midsummer. The main chemical fertilizers are urea, calcium superphosphate, potassium chloride and compound fertilizers. Talk to your local nursery specialists for best fertilization practices in your region.

3、Mowing

Mowing will control the height of the lawn, keep your yard tidy, and suppresses diseases caused by overgrown branches and leaves. Recommended lawn mowing frequency is 1 to 2 times / month. Keep the mowing height at 1/3 stubble height (1.3 ~ 3.8cm). While keeping an eye on the growth rate is important as it will inform your decision making on the frequency of mowing and maintenance.

Summary

Planting any kind of plant should understand its habitat, so that you can raise a perfect green world. Bermuda has a good economic value, it has a strong survival performance, can adapt to the external environment through its own excellent performance, even in the hardy winter can also grow tenaciously, if you can do a good job of maintenance measures according to the different growth habits of grass species, you can certainly achieve a better greening effect.