I'm assuming when you say N rate you meant nitrogen? I can already see where I will have some gaps in the growing and trust me the weeds are already coming up. Before we moved it took me about a year to get my yard in good condition.

Yeah N is Nitrogen. Wait until it's June/July and see what weeds you have. There are some weed killers that work great in really hot temps.

Not sure if this is the right thread for this, but is there anything you can put in your yard to deter mosquitos? My back yard backs up to a large retaining pond so makes me a little nervous that they'll get bad as the weather warms up

Others should chime in with what they like. Lots of options. Personally I like Demand CS and Tekko mix. Demand has a very long residual. I spray it on my landscape beds where mosquitos hide during the day. Tekko is an insect growth regulator and makes them sterile if the other insecticide doesn't kill them. I know there are a couple hose end option sold at box stores with the same AI(Active ingredient) as Demand (lambda-Cyhalothrin). Cutter has one and I forget the other 1-2. I buy the concentrate and mix my own.

Derek

We are in North Texas. We ended up with two varieties of Bermuda in our lawn which in itself if bothersome. In 2022 we had a bad round of fungus (that I got a late start on fighting) then l last year we lost almost the entire growing season to Stage III water restrictions. This left me with some very thin spots.

I'd like to over-seed the entire lawn with Tifway 419 or TifTuf and pray for enough rain that the water restrictions are eased. I have a couple of questions around this:

1] What spreader do I use for a 1/2 acre lawn? Those tiny seeds kind of scare me.

2] Since I planned on over-seeding, I've skipped the Weed & Feed. I need to spay or spot treat the weeds that are popping up. Is Celsius WG a good option this time of year and how much time between spraying weed and over-seeding?

Thanks in advance.

419 and Tuf are hybrids and only available via sod. All seeded bermuda are some variety of common. Though there are very improved varieties. I'd look at Yukon, Monaco or Rio. Use and rotary broad cast spreader and make wide passes and small opening. At 3lbs per 1000 you'll need about 60lbs. If any of those come in a 50lbs sack I would just go with that. I would spot spray with roundup right now. Zero wait time from treating to seeding with round up. Use the 41%.

Thanks Oh Great Oracle of Lawns.

Derek with it so warm already when are you going to start fertilizing? We’re going to have a completely green yard in the next 2 weeks at the rate we’re going now so I’m all screwed up on everything this year. We’re about 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule so I don’t know if I need to get after it or wait?

I'm not going to rush it too much. I'm really green. At least my front is. Back faces north and a little slower. I plan on scalping this weekend which is 1-2 weeks ahead of schedule for me. I had planned on starting fert March 30th. I'm going to resist the urge until March 23rd. For now.

Hey Derek,
I had to cut my Bermuda grass yesterday because the weeds were too high. Couldn’t scalp because it was still wet. Will it hurt the grass to scalp maybe next week after things dry out?

You’re good to scalp at anytime. Won’t hurt anything to wait until it dries up,for you.

Lawn Guys scalped my lawn like 5 weeks ago.

I have scalped/vacuumed mine twice this spring already.

^^^And it's done no real good yet. The only thing I am missing besides grass is dandelions. I have lost the war against Dallis Grass and crab grass. I have had a good yard here for 18 years and it looks like I am starting over. The SA in the back is fine mostly but thin. I had no henbit this year like usual and hardly any clover. You can see the roots/runners of the SA in all the pics.

Here is the only SA that's come in (up front) and it's up next to the house. The yellow growth in the bottom left corner is new SA. It's always come in yellow turned dark green once in.



This is the portion that was burmudagrass. It's not really coming back either. Most of the green is weeds. It's in direct sun 100% of the day. To the left is the yard of a rent house full of stickers and dandelions. I mow way over there to keep their crap from getting too close.



This stuff is everywhere. It doesn't grow larger in diameter as it matures like Dallis grass, it just gets rounder and taller in the middle.



I pulled out about 40 pounds of Dallis grass from a 20X20 foot area in the first yard pic. There's not as much of this as there is the one above (by numbers) but this stuff gets large in diameter and obviously mowing doesn't help because it grows so flat.



Here is a pic of my front yard in the summer of 2022.

Put out some new sod, doesn’t look like it would take too many pallets

My daughter wants to seed her lawn. She had St Augustine but says sodding is too expensive. Lawn is pretty shady so I don think bermuda is a god option. What else is out there that you can seed that is shade tolerant?

I’m in the exact same boat with my yard. I’ve always had a great SA yard the whole time we’ve lived here but the last 2 years it hasn’t come back as thick as normal and it’s covered with Dalis Grass and this year new weeds have moved in not even sure what it is, looks kind of like clover but they’re tall with purple flower blooms. I’m almost ready to resod the whole thing and be done with it.

Lot of questions. 0% chance you shouldn't have a banger bermuda lawn on 100% sun. Maybe you got hammered with disease? Questions to start are. Do you have irrigation, do you fertilize on a regular base/schedule, Give me your basic lawn year program of what you do.

Stick with St Aug. Pretty shady is hit/miss and makes me Larry David meme. She can buy and plug a few squares of St Aug. Cut them into pieces and plant those. St Aug will take off and spread well. Address what the issue is. You say she "had" St Aug. She still at the same place and it died or she at a new place and wants St Aug?

Only one small section (approx 25X25) of the front is 100% sun. It's the only part that had Burmudagrass in the 19 years I have lived here. It has nothing now. The rest was St. Augustine, and still is ... only coming in slow and late with a lot more weeds. The burmuda did not come back, the SA is trying to. The south side of the house is in the sun 85% of the day but because of the grade of the site, it gets enough run off and underground water to be fine with SA. The rest of the yard gets partial sun with exception of the small area in the back where the garden is that is also full sun.

House built in 1971 and I have a 20-year old (approx) live oak in the front that is about 22' tall. Front faces east. In the back I have a very large sycamore that is probably close to 40' tall and it provides shade in the late afternoon. All irrigation is manual using impact sprinklers and city water. Most summers that means each area gets a couple hours of water per week, usually starting in late June. I have had SA/burmuda combo lawns since 2001 and have always had the SA take over the Burmudagrass a little each year. Never had them both struggle to start.

Late winter/early spring 2023 I manually applied some aggressive liquid (spray) weed killer (not Round Up) in spots to the pre-emerging weeds. When the SA came in, it failed to do so in those areas at first (rightly so) but eventually filled in during early summer. I used to put down granular store bought Scotts Turf Builder Bonus S twice per year but got off the norm during Covid. I still had a great yard in 2022. This year I put some garbage down I got from The Home Depot. I'll post a link. Says safe for both SA and burmuda (because SA is a broad leaf weed basically). CLICK HERE is what I put down in February.

I do nothing in dormancy. About the time the live oak starts recycling leaves in late winter/early spring I cut the grass very short and usually bag it because of oak leaves and newly seeding weeds. I put down some of the Scott's mentioned earlier timed with rain. I keep cutting it short to knock back weeds until I see the grass is coming in better than weeds. I raise the mower as the grass gets thicker and in years past, I'd need to mow twice a week from around the end of April until mid-June. Mother nature usually takes care of the water until late June. When dormancy starts to set in, I start lowering the mower again. After the leaves from neighborhood trees fall, I clean them up and scalp it (not to the dirt) for winter.

There is likely several things I do or did that are not ideal but I have had good lawns for decades and then this...

The Bio Advance isn't a bad product. It has Indaziflam which is a hardcore root pruner pre emergent with a very long residual. I could see it doing damage if applied in spring or during the growing season. I use Indaziflam in the fall for a Poa pre emergent and it's the best there is for it. I could see using that product late September for a last Nitrogen application and pre emergent. For most of NTX I like a more balanced fertilizer like the Sta Green 13-13-13 at Lowes for $25 and it's a Ammonium Sulfate based nitrogen or 15-5-10. Rarely do I see a case in NTX that needs a Nitrogen or almost only Nitrogen program like Scotts Turf Builder which is like a 32-0-10 I think. Most soils are low to very low in Phosphorus here and some needs to be added. I like the Scotts Turf Builder and use it time to time, but I use it as my last fert app of the season to give my grass a little N and K boost going into winter.

I didn't think February was too late to put the Bio Advance down but the lawn disagrees.

So you're saying put a 13-13-13 down now and not deal with the weeds this time of year?

Maybe the grass will come in and choke them out by June.

No. If I was in your situation I would blanket spray with 41% Gly and kill all the weeds. Then seed, sprig or sod.

Neighbor I’m helping. First pic is late March last year after I blanket sprayed it with 41% Gly. Went a little spicy at 2oz per 1000. The next two are today. The one pic where you see all the Dallis and weeds butting up to his is what his lawn looked like last year. He did have bermuda underneath the weeds and we just needed to kill all of those. It’s the only spray app I’ve done on his lawn and he’s on the Sta Green T13 every 4-5 weeks. No irrigation and manually waters.