Bermuda Grass not re-establishing...what do I do? (2013, Home Depot)

[amboo8]

We had bermuda grass sod installed last year (March 2013) and it stayed looking nice until about October. Then we overseeded with rye this past winter. The rye never completely took (it always had brown spots), so we just let it die and then waited for the bermuda grass to come back in. However, it still hasn't come back in, it's completely brown. Sometime in mid-April, we fertilized and started watering 4 days/week for 20 minutes (the sprinklers come on at 4:00 am). I had a landscaper come look at it at the end of May and he didn't know why it hadn't come back. He suggested we fertilize it and increase the watering to everyday for 25 minutes. We have been doing that since the beginning of June and it still isn't coming in.

Does anyone know why it's not coming back in and what we can do? We don't want to re-sod since we just did it last year. We have thought about just pouring some seed over it with, maybe, some mulch to see if that helps. Any tips?

[8to32characters]

Xeriscape.

This is the desert--stop trying to turn it into Flahrida with cacti.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by 8to32characters

Xeriscape.

This is the desert--stop trying to turn it into Flahrida with cacti.

This type of 'what's good for me is good for everyone else' attitude that a lot of people have here, sucks. He asked for advice about his grass. He wasn't asking for alternatives.

[LBTRS]

It should be in by now...you should be watering it every day until it comes back.

If it is still brown now it is probably dead, which is unusual for bermuda grass. You're sure you had bermuda sod put in?

I'd get it figured out soon as that sucks to be dumping all that water on dead grass. Can you get help from the people that installed the sod?

[CLees]

Originally Posted by 8to32characters

Xeriscape.

This is the desert--stop trying to turn it into Flahrida with cacti.

Lol I was hoping for an answer like this.

[wit-nit]

OP...you must have had a Bermuda Hybrid tiff grass installed. Bermuda itself is seed only. It is generally recommended that first year sodding should not be over seeded with rye until the new sod has fully established itself after that first year.
Your rye grass more than likely got a combination of too much fertilizer/burning the roots or you watered your winter rye too much whereby you developed a fungus (noting your brown spot comment) which in turn probably affected the roots of the newly sodded grass too.
Without seeing the yard it is difficult to say what you need to do other than scalping the yard down to the ground and installing new sod or spreading plain Bermuda seed and start all over again.
Note: Improper watering is the number 1 cause of plant failure.

[amboo8]

I think we'll probably go the re-seed route. Do you have any recommendations for the type of seed to get? Should I just get what's available at Home Depot/Lowe's? Is there specific types of bermuda grass that I should look for?

[LBTRS]

Seen this on a bermuda grass site...

Risk of late plantings
Bermuda seeds planted too late in the year, runs the risk of not producing and storing enough food reserves to last through the winter dormancy period. Basically the plants starve and then die because not enough growth occurs after planting to store the needed food in the root system. Dormancy is not a complete stopping of activity, so even when dormant the plant still needs nutrients and water to survive.

Overseeding Bermuda Grass With Ryegrass
It is common practice to overseed bermuda lawns with ryegrass in the fall/winter to maintain a green lawn after the bermuda goes dormant (in the cooler areas of adaptation) and turns brown. In general planting ryegrass during the initial establishment of your bermuda grass in the fall, increases the risk to the Bermuda seeds & seedlings becoming established in the following spring. Any grass that is already growing in a lawn area such as a ryegrass is competition to the little seedlings when they start germination --- which means that some seedlings will not survive the competition from the ryegrass (or weeds) once they germinate. Most all turf experts recommend that you DO NOT OVERSEED WITH RYEGRASS during the first fall / winter season after planting Bermuda. Allow your Bermuda time to establish and mature before overseeding with a ryegrass for winter color.

Some information on reseeding bermuda from the same website. http://www.bermudagrass.com/seeding/#.U6j-GPldVBk

[amboo8]

It's unfortunate that the landscaper didn't know this (we used the same landscaper that installed the sod to install the rye grass). I'm debating whether I should contact him to re-install the sod, contact another landscaper, or just let it go and plant seed on our own. Thanks for the help. At least now we know what probably caused it to die.

[LBTRS]

I think you may find planting it yourself a tough job. It is very hot now and is going to take a lot of water to keep the seed moist enough to germinate. The water evaporates very quickly at this time of year and you're not going to have enough mulch down to hold the moisture you're going to need to get it established.