Bermuda Grass Won’t Germinate

[Mr Tee]

I recently tried renovating a yard and the grass is not coming up after one month. I scalped it, sprayed it with a nonselective herbicide, waited a weed and sprayed again, mowed and bagged it several days later. Applied a bag of Scotts premium seed rated for 5,000-15,000ft2 even though the lady’s yard is only 3,500ft2, covered with straw, and set 2 sprinklers to water for 30 minutes every morning. It looks horrible. I tried seeding it last July after only spraying to kill the weeds. I used power rake and the grass only came up in 1/3 of the yard and I assumed it was because I waited too late. This time I had the seed on the dirt. What’s the trick with Bermuda. She’s a widow from my church and she can’t afford sod and I work by myself. What should I do? Her yard is still a wasteland.

[stevef1201]

Lawn care business tips

Hate to tell yo this but you wasted your money on the seed. You have to wait at least three weeks after you last spray roundup to plant new seed, 4 or 5 weeks would be better. It takes that tlong for the glyosphate to disapate in the soil.

[Grass Doctor]

Originally Posted by stevef1201

Hate to tell yo this but you wasted your money on the seed. You have to wait at least three weeks after you last spray roundup to plant new seed, 4 or 5 weeks would be better. It takes that tlong for the glyosphate to disapate in the soil.

thats Right my friend and you need to water at least 3 times a day for around 15 min for at least 7 strait days seed needs to be humid to germinate.

and i belive that now u are to late to try tell the customer you will do it back in fall for her and ask around in this forum there is more than one way to do this.

[Mr Tee]

Aw man! I used Killzall and the bottle said you can reseed within 24 hours. The reps at the lawn and garden store said to wait a week just to be safe. I waited 2 weeks. I really tried to follow directions. Unless there are better recommendations. I guess I'll bag up the hay, reseed, and increase the frequency on the sprinklers. Thanks

[Steve]

You have to wait at least three weeks after you last spray roundup to plant new seed, 4 or 5 weeks would be better.

With such a long wait period, is it better to avoid using such sprays before spreading new seed and instead, just tilling it and adding a new layer of topsoil?

[Grass Doctor]

Originally Posted by Mr Tee

Aw man! I used Killzall and the bottle said you can reseed within 24 hours. The reps at the lawn and garden store said to wait a week just to be safe. I waited 2 weeks. I really tried to follow directions. Unless there are better recommendations. I guess I'll bag up the hay, reseed, and increase the frequency on the sprinklers. Thanks

for what are u saying it sound that what it went wrong was he lack off watering like i say that seed need to stay moist (i like that) i have never use hay to overseed a lawn and i have 99.00 % success growing Bermuda and centipede grass, how spreading hay has work out for u

[Steve]

i have never use hay to overseed a lawn

When is it good to use hay and when isn't it?

[Mr Tee]

I talked to the owner of the garden center and reread the product labels and they all agreed that what I sprayed does nothing to the soil. Killzall said "This product has no soil activity and thus will not affect nearby untreated plants or sterilize the soil." The Roundup label said planting is safe 1 day later. Tim Holcomb said Roundup was invented by farmers so they could spray and plant in the same day.
I usually overseed and I don't have much experience with renovations. The seed seedlings begin to come up after 2-3 weeks and I was thinking the lawn should already look full but short. Maybe I'm just being impatient. When I went to her yard yesterday I did see some baby Bermuda here and there.
I removed most of the straw, scattered 1/2 the recommended amount of seed over the yard, adjusted the sprinklers to run for 15 minutes every 6 hours (it was either 6 or 12 with the timers). Mr Holcomb thought the water might be inadequate. I haven't measured it with rain gauges. We've had temps in the 90's lately and he said to have the home owner make sure the ground never looked dry and crusty. He also suspected I might have applied too much straw and if it forms a mat then the seed won't germinate because it needs sun. She asked for straw and I did also when I went to the store. I heard straw is good because it helps keep things moist (but shade is supposedly bad so how does that work?) but hay is not good because it has seed head and all sorts of things will start to grow. What they gave me still looked like wheat or grain and they didn't have 2 different stacks. It was expensive, dusty and a pain so I don't think I'll use it again.

[Grass Doctor]

im sure you will have nice grass by the end of fall most of the existing lawn will benefit from that watering and some of that seed might pop out here in there, i grow grass for a 60% of my existing clientele, try to by your self a lawn aerator spread the seed before the aerating procedure, water 7 to 15 days in a row ull have nice lawns my friend customer love when this happen and its awesome for advertisement. if u are that hot already u have to be in south, an aerating is the best for our climates.

[Steve]

I heard straw is good because it helps keep things moist (but shade is supposedly bad so how does that work?)

The straw or hay can also help keep birds from eating the grass seed which can be a problem as well.