Group,

I bought a new house with a mix of cats and dogs grass in the front
yard (Louisiana).

It is about 1/3 bermuda right now, the rest St. Aug. I think bermuda
got in there by accident.

Would it be possible to verticut the lawn and overseed centipede over
the bermuda? Or is bermuda just too darned agressive for this to work?

One solution might be to overseed with bermuda, but bermuda is less
common as a lawn grass in Louisiana.

Anyone have comments on a bermuda lawn in the deep south or the
possibility of overseeding it with centipede?

Thanks!
Tom

Over seeding bermuda with centipede usually works fine in full sun, but
you may have a lot of St Augustine growth when you water to get the
centipede established.

Bermuda survives with less water than either centipede or St Augustine.
Centipede needs less water and mowing than St Augustine, but because the
St Augustine grows faster, and better in shade it may run over the
centipede. Just my experience in Ga.

Regards,

Hal

On 24 Mar 2003 05:32:58 -0800, (Tom M) wrote:

It is about 1/3 bermuda right now, the rest St. Aug. I think bermuda
got in there by accident.

Would it be possible to verticut the lawn and overseed centipede over
the bermuda? Or is bermuda just too darned agressive for this to work?

I did this years ago. Cut the Bermuda short before seeding. The trick
explained to me by the folks at Centi-Seed worked although it will
take a few years. One of the tricks is not to use much fertilizer.
That will stimulate the bermuda at the expense of the centipede. I had
been using several hundred pounds of 12-12-12 on my bermuda every year
for a couple of years. When I decided to seed centipede they told me
not to fertilize my lawn for at least 3 years. The centipede will
gradually although after about 10 years I do still have some bermuda.
Don't think you can ever do away with it completely. Centipede does
not have to be mowed as often though so when I do cut it I am cutting
back more than a 1/3 on the bermuda so it is stunted a little more
each time I do mow. It has been worth the time however because I now
rarely have to mow more than once every 2 weeks and only water 3 or 4
times a year in the case of almost drought conditions. I live in the
northeast Texas area. About 60 miles from Shreveport.

Bruce

On 24 Mar 2003 05:32:58 -0800, (Tom M) wrote:

Group,

I bought a new house with a mix of cats and dogs grass in the front
yard (Louisiana).

It is about 1/3 bermuda right now, the rest St. Aug. I think bermuda
got in there by accident.

Would it be possible to verticut the lawn and overseed centipede over
the bermuda? Or is bermuda just too darned agressive for this to work?

One solution might be to overseed with bermuda, but bermuda is less
common as a lawn grass in Louisiana.

Anyone have comments on a bermuda lawn in the deep south or the
possibility of overseeding it with centipede?

Thanks!
Tom