Late frost and bermuda

I live in north GA and have a bermudagrass lawn. All has been going well, grass was greening up nicely and was about 50% green. I aerated the lawn and a few days later, a freakish late frost came around and has since turned the grass that was greening up brown again. I have been holding off on applying fertilizer until the grass had really started to green up (on the advice of a local expert) and after I had aerated. I was planning on doing a little restoration of the yard because it has some thin spots so I decided to aerate and re-seed. I have yet to reseed but was planning on it soon. I have addded a very thin sprinkling of topsoil to the thinning areas and raked it in. Im afraid at this point I may have done more harm than good since the frost came in. Anyway, now that the grass is brown again, Im not sure when to fertilize & reseed. Any ideas?

Reply to
robv60
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I'm in your same situation - late frost here in N. GA. The only difference is that I have Zoysia, which was mostly green.

The thing to remember is that it is almost impossible to kill bermuda. The only thing that seems to slow it down is shade. So, simply take out the mower, mow the grass down low, and it'll come back in a week or two. Once it is nice and green, fertilize. In your bare spots, why are the spots bare? Shade? Packed soil? Traffic? Unless something bad is happening in those spots or they are large (say a couple of feet across), the bermuda will probably cover the areas this summer assuming you mow often, fertilize, and water.

If you need to re-seed bermuda, you probably need to wait until mid-May. Right now, the soil temperatures probably won't give you a good germination rate.

KB

Reply to
Kyle Boatright

My guess is the bare areas are a mixture of shade and somewhat compacted soil. There is a tree on either side of my yard that the bermuda has trouble growing under. These areas are usually the slowest to green up and tend to be somewhat thin, not bare, but thin, The branches of the trees arent real low but do cast some "filtered" shade. The trees are both in flowerbeds but the branches hang over the grass some. I recently aerated the lawn, a little early I know, but it was the only time I could get the aerator for a while and the grass was growing pretty well already so I figured it would be ok (albeit not the ideal time) to aerate. I have a feeling the bare spots will never look like I want them to unless I have the trees taken out. Worst case, I may eventually expand the flower beds out into the yard to cover the areas where the grass in thin.

Reply to
robv60

That's probably your solution...

Reply to
Kyle Boatright

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