Menu
Having trouble with patchy grass? Thin grass isn’t great for the yard or the curb appeal, but it can also be a sign of disease, poor irrigation, or poor soil quality. With these 11 tips, you can make Bermuda grass thicker and make it look like a lush green blanket.
You shouldn’t let Bermuda grass get too big just because it can. Every week, mow your yard so that the Bermuda grass can grow sideways. It shouldn’t be more than an inch high.
This makes the grass roots, which are called stolons, grow outwards and cover those bare spots in your yard, turning your Bermuda grass into a thick haven. You don’t want to cut the grass too short, though, because that can leave the stems open to the weather and stop them from growing. Set your lawn machine to just under 1 inch.
A soil test shows you the pH level, the type of soil, and the amount of nutrients in the soil. Before you think about fertilizing your yard, you should do this step so you know what amounts to add to the soil to make it the best environment for Bermuda grass.
The pH of your soil should be between 5.9 and 7.0. Even though Bermuda grass can grow in pretty alkaline soils, it can’t handle acidic soils at all. To make the soil less acidic and help Bermuda grass grow thicker, you might need to add lime to your yard.
Bermuda grass is a species of grass that needs a lot of nutrients to grow well. To help your grass grow, you need to keep your lawn in good shape with a slow-release NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) fertilizer.
Before Bermuda grass goes to sleep for the winter, add the fertilizer in early spring. If you live somewhere that doesn’t have a dormant period, the best time to feed is in March or April.
You might want to ask a lawn care service for advice if you’re not sure what fertilizer amount to use. Most professionals in your area know about the temperature, grass species, amount of rainfall, and quality of the soil in your area. These factors can affect what kind of fertilizer you should use on your yard and how often you should do it.
If you test your soil, you might find that it is packed down. This can make roots shorter and less able to reach water and nutrients deeper in the ground. Core aeration once a year improves the health of your soil by letting more water, nutrients, and air move through it.
Soil that is better able to breathe lets water go deeper into the ground instead of staying on the top or running off as runoff. This makes the ground more resistant to drought.
It might be time to dethatch your Bermuda grass lawn before you start the fertilizing process if it already looks brown and dead and feels soft. As it turns out, dethatching and aerating services often go hand in hand.
Dethatching your yard means getting rid of dead grass and other debris to help the roots grow in a healthy way. Thatch blocks water, sunlight, and fertilizer from getting to your grass’s roots, which makes them stressed out and suffocated. You can wait until the thatch is at least 1 inch thick, but it should be at least 1/2 inch thick.
This is a good time to overseed (also called reseed) your yard after you’ve aerated and dethatched it.
Bermuda grass grows best when it is overseeded in the spring. This gives the grass the best chance to get thick before late spring and summer. This method also helps the grass grow evenly, which makes your lawn look nice.
If it hasn’t rained in a while, you might want to water your grass to help it grow. In the spring and summer, places that get less than an inch of rain a week need an extra inch of watering every week.
Every three to four days, sandy soils should get half an inch of water, while clay soils should be watered more often but for shorter amounts of time each week so that the water can reach the roots.
Native plants may look like weeds, but most of them are helpful and can survive in dry conditions. Other invasive species, on the other hand, take water from your grass, leaving your fields patchy and brown.
To give you an example, some weeds, like crabgrass, will choke and kill new Bermuda grass as it grows in the spring. To give your Bermuda grass a chance, either pull these weeds out by hand or use chemicals to get rid of them.
To keep weeds from taking nutrients from the soil in the summer, it’s best to start getting rid of them at the end of winter or the beginning of spring.
Infestations of bugs, bacteria, and fungi can also thin out your Bermuda grass, stopping you from having that beautiful, thick yard. Before you spend time and money on another answer that doesn’t work, you should make sure there aren’t any infestations.
Check your grass for bugs, such as brown and spotty leaves or roots and shoots that are turning a different color. If you find any, treat it with a fungicide or pesticide.
We’re not talking about your shades. A shady lawn can actually slow down growth, which means your Bermuda grass won’t be able to look thick and healthy. At least four hours of straight sunlight a day are good for this type of grass. If your trees are blocking too much sunlight, you should have them pruned by a tree service.
If these tips don’t help and your yard is still too thin, you might need to call in the experts. A lawn expert in your area knows all about the weather in your area and can help you find the best ways to make your Bermuda grass yard look like the yard of your dreams.
It’s possible that your Bermuda grass isn’t thick for a number of reasons. The main ones are not enough water, too much shade, compacted soil, draining problems, and not enough nutrients in the soil. Berber grass needs direct sunlight often to stay thick, so grass that is getting thinner is probably because it isn’t getting enough sun.
You should use an organic fertilizer that is high in nitrogen, low in phosphorus, and low in potassium if you want thick Bermuda grass. Because they keep water in the soil, support bacterial life, and improve long-term soil health, organic fertilizers help Bermuda grass grow stronger and healthier. That being said, this kind of fertilizer costs more than manufactured fertilizers.
You can feed your Bermuda grass too much. The roots will get burned if you use too much fertilizer. Follow the directions on the fertilizer.
Bermuda grass grows outward when it’s not tall. If you want your grass to spread better, cut it down often so it doesn’t have to work too hard to grow. At least once a week, cut the grass down to an inch high.
