Bermuda Lawn Advice Needed

[ccope]

My lawn is in its third season and it's never really gotten established. I've fertilized and watered regularly but its still is pretty spotty. I think when they sodded yard they didnt prepare soil very well. I'm going to aerate this weekend,should I top dress with a layer of sand? If so, what kind of sand? I can get a bunch of free mortar sand from a house that's being built next door. Any advice or tips appreciated.

[donia]

top dress with a "super soil" type mixture...sand, humus, topsoil(?). sand will only help break up the clay, but organic matter added will decompose in the soil, both breaking up the clay giving roots room to grow and feeding the lawn. i'm on year 4 of aerating followed by organic ammendments, and can remember when first starting that most of the core was clay...now only the tips (of 3"-4" cores).

core aerate, let cores dry a bit, throw out organic matter, drag to pull organic matter in holes/break up cores, and water deep and infrequent (2" or so every 7-10 days). aerating will cut rhizomes, causing new growth and spreading. the lower you can mow it without scalping, now while still somewhat cool at night, the more it will spread outward..then raise deck as the heat rises and you should have a nice dense 2"-3" lawn - shades soil which helps retain moisture and causes roots to grow deeper, keeping them closer to moisture in times of extreme heat (low grass, shallow roots..high grass, deep roots).

may not work for everyone, but works for me and my yard that was cow pasture for many decades

[donia]

when you aerate, make many passes...not just one...north and south, east and west, diagonal. the more punctures, the better.

[kb7722]

when you aerate, make many passes...not just one...north and south, east and west, diagonal. the more punctures, the better.

What type of core aerator do you use: manual pull behind or powered aerator?

[donia]

What type of core aerator do you use: manual pull behind or powered aerator?

i've used both. for small lawns, powered core aerator (plugr is the brand i rented) is fine...you'll know you've been behind it when you're finished, but you can find the sweet spot pretty easily after wrestling with it bucking around for a few minutes. make sure you water the soil to soften it up, but it doesn't need to be tacky (won't pull cores, just punch compacted holes).

if you have enough lawn to make big turns and the transmission in your mower to handle it (or non-locked rear diff atv/utv, so it won't rip soil while turning), the pull type is MUCH better to operate, but the tines are spaced out more, so you have to make more passes - mower is doing the work, though. the one i rented was a husquvarna with water fillable jugs for weight..it is made by bluebird for them and msrp is $1300, so renting it for $48 a weekend is the way to go if you aren't using it commercially (both were rented from western auto here, but most equipment rental places carry them).

powered type
http://www.hayesequipment.com/pl400aerator.htm

pull type
http://www.husqvarna.com/us/landscape-a ... arna-ta36/

[DuckDeke]

How much sunlight does your lawn get each day?

[ccope]

How much sunlight does your lawn get each day?

Full sun.

[DuckDeke]

In that case, lower the height of your grass. Get it pretty short without full-on scalping the lawn. You don't want to stress the grass, just get it shorter. You are a little late in the season to aggressively scalp the lawn as everything has greened-up already. Top dress with what most suppliers in my area call Sod Dressing which is basically organic material, sand, topsoil, all mixed into one. Core aerate your lawn from at least two different directions with a mechanical aerator. I always end up renting a blue bird but any motorized aerator should do fine. Top dress with above mentioned material. Rake into the surface of the grass very well. The best thing to use is the flat side of a lute which is just a wide rake. You can pick them up at Lowe's or HD...or just make your own. The reason a wide rake is better is it acts like a screed does in concrete...you get a much more level finish product without as many dips and bumps. Keep the grass watered and you should see favorable results over the rest of this season. Fertilize as needed.
Do the same thing next year. Year after that you can top dress with sand only to completely level out any imperfections. When you do top dress with sand, use masonry sand which is finer and will allow greater density of the lawn. Do not use river sand which can have clay and weed seed in it. When the grass starts to grow back through, keep it mowed fairly short. Try to keep your mowing frequency to a rate where you are not cutting off more than the top third of the leaf blade. It is hard work but your grass will look great. Good luck.

[donia]

^good advice...