Fall feeding is not so much for the top of the plant, rather it is important to
the root system of the plant. In this case, bermuda. Even though it goes
dormant on top, the roots continue to develop and when the moment soil warms in
the spring, there is plenty of fertilizer there to get it through the early
months of February, March and some of April.

To maintain turf which is trampled or walked on consistently, I would suggest
you either pay someone or rent a core aerator and do two passes with this
equipment. I use a man with a small business. His name is Mike Stangle and
it's Aeration King, Inc. 619-5302. It truly is the best thing you can do in the
fall for turf which is used a lot. I also recommend you use a slow release,
fertilizer. You can either use LadyBug Brand sold at Home Depot or Many other
garden centers, or if you want less expensive, Milorganite which is a sludge
product, stinks, but is a very effective turf fertilizer.

TAMU is correct, fall feeding is the most important, and they also tested best
fertilizers for Austin and LadyBug Brand outperformed all the synthetic
fertilizers. Particularly the 8-2-4 formula.

Victoria


On 15 Oct 2003 19:30:40 -0700, (Doug Lassiter) opined:

I maintain a small well-used athletic field in the Austin area that is
mostly common Bermuda. Soil is somewhat clayey. Is there value in
applying a winterizer fertilizer to it? A TAMU ag website says that
fall feedings of turf are more important than spring feedings, but I
can't help wonder whether since Bermuda is about to go dormant I'm
just going to end up feeding weeds (like Dallis) especially using the
time-release stuff, which seems to be the norm these days. A "can't
hurt" from folks selling fertilizer doesn't make it, as my turf
dollars are fixed. If it goes to winterizing, not as much goes to
summerizing. Experience appreciated.