(Joe Doe) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Doug Lassiter) wrote:

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.


As you know Bermuda is a summer grass and puts on most of its growth when
soil temperatures are above 60-80 F. As others have pointed out, fall
offers a window when top growth is slowed and root growht can occur at the
lower temperatures. This allows the plant to store food reserves, which
will allow a faster greenup and winter hardiness.

Since you are managing a "well-used" athletic field however your real
problem is letting the grass recover from the intense use. Bermuda is
well suited for this because it responds fantastically to fertilizer (it
can tolerate and responds to phenominal amounts of Nitrogen). So you
really need to fertilize heavily in the summer months too when your field
will be used heavily, so that the grass can recover from use. This
brings its own problems (susseptibility to disease and insects) but given
its use, you may not have much of a choice.

A very good book is Title: Turfgrasses : their management and use in the
southern zone / by Richard L. Duble. This has extensive chapters on all
common grasses we encounter and a lot of scientific background on their
management.

It is available at the Austin Public Library:

https://library.ci.austin.tx.us/web2...r=1home&item=5

Roland


Excellent. Thanks much. I look forward to getting the Duble book. The
winterizers tend to be kind of pricey compared with the
nitrogen-knockout summer mixes, but it sounds like a good plan.
Getting speedier greenup in the Bermuda is actually useful, as it
makes for better competition with the Dallis grass.

With regard to Dallis, which is a problem, my understanding is that
mowing short in the spring is helpful in getting the Bermuda to
overrun it. I'm not ready to bite the bullet and MSMA the whole place.