I need help in choosing the right type of Bermuda Seed to plant this Spring! I am located in Mesa, Arizona and am looking for a Bermuda type that can be maintained with a rotary mower at a medium height. I have a dog I'm planning on trying to train to do his business in the border area outside the grass, but that could be a long shot so maybe a Bermuda type that is pretty durable/recovers well? Any help would be Greatly Appreciated! Thanks.

Tyler

Welcome, Tyler!!

The Grand Guru of Bermuda ("Texasweed") lives in your area. I paged him to this thread.

Well in Mesa the whole world is open to you with respect to Bermuda grass. Rather than one variety, think BLEND of two or more varieties. Since you want to use a reel mower means you can use the finer textures. Well I should say you must use the higher grades with a reel mower. One warning, it is expensive seed.

So here is my recommendation choose Princess (aka P-77) blended with either Riviera and/or-both Yukon. A blend greatly increases your chances of success as one will dominate in your micro-climate.

Tip: Order now for spring delivery. Quantities are limited and if you wait until spring to order are likely SOL.

tyler_sundevils wrote:...looking for a Bermuda type that can be maintained with a rotary mower at a medium height.

I've always interpreted "rotary mower" to mean this:

But I'm often wrong and am willing to be corrected.

I do currently only have a Rotary Mower but am thinking hard at purchasing a reel mower to try a more fine textured Bermuda... What is the earliest possible time to start planting the Princess 77 and Yukon with decent success in Arizona? Temps are usually in the 70's in March and 80's in April. My wife wants to try and have the grass mostly in by June for my sons 1st Birthday party. Is that reasonable or just wishful thinking? Thanks for the input!

Tyler,

I planted Yukon Bermuda seed in Mesa this year. You can see a thread on my progress here. There is a lot of detail there, so you can skip the reading and just look at the pictures to get an idea of how it will progress, but there are some lessons learned in there too if you manage to read through it.

http://bestlawn.info/post53340.html

From glancing back through it, it looks like I planted around late May and had decent coverage by about a month later (when I let the dog start walking on it). By about 8 weeks, it was pretty full.

You might get away with planting in late April, but it might still be a couple weeks early. And you won't have a lush lawn by the date of your planned party, just something green and mostly filled in. Now, if you splurge on a hybrid Bermuda type and lay sod, you can definitely do that in time for your party, I think.

By the way, if you do end up including Yukon in your seed blend, let me know. I have some leftover Yukon seed you can use in your blend. It's from last year, but I've kept it stored inside (although my AC went out this summer, so maybe it got a bit warm inside). Depending on how much you need, I could probably just give you some. I have about 4 lb. left over and when I planted, I laid about 3 lb. per 1000 square feet.

tyler_sundevils wrote:I do currently only have a Rotary Mower but am thinking hard at purchasing a reel mower to try a more fine textured Bermuda... What is the earliest possible time to start planting the Princess 77 and Yukon with decent success in Arizona?

OK my bad for some reason I got off on a REEL mower. Does not change my recommendation one bit. As for time to plant I would suggest mid to late April at this point in time. By that time ground temps should be above 55 degrees which is minimum. You want day time temps 80 or higher and night time temps 60 or higher. The warmer the better. The real challenge is going to be irrigation. Keep in mind I am new to the area and live up in Prescott, so my time line might be off.

texasweed wrote:

tyler_sundevils wrote:I do currently only have a Rotary Mower but am thinking hard at purchasing a reel mower to try a more fine textured Bermuda... What is the earliest possible time to start planting the Princess 77 and Yukon with decent success in Arizona?

OK my bad for some reason I got off on a REEL mower. Does not change my recommendation one bit. As for time to plant I would suggest mid to late April at this point in time. By that time ground temps should be above 55 degrees which is minimum. You want day time temps 80 or higher and night time temps 60 or higher. The warmer the better. The real challenge is going to be irrigation. Keep in mind I am new to the area and live up in Prescott, so my time line might be off.

Days get above 80 for almost all of April (on average), but nights do not stay above 60 consistently until May.

www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KFFZ/2012/4/25/MonthlyHistory.html#calendar

If he did plant in early April, I strongly suspect things might move rather slowly at first, but with some luck (i.e. no protracted cold snaps), he might be able to make it happen, no?

Mechadan wrote:Days get above 80 for almost all of April (on average), but nights do not stay above 60 consistently until May.

If he did plant in early April, I strongly suspect things might move rather slowly at first, but with some luck (i.e. no protracted cold snaps), he might be able to make it happen, no?

Yeah that is a curse out here with bone dry air are the wild temperature swings during day and night. Up here in Prescott 35 degree swings seem to be the norm, and 50 degree swings are not rare.

IMHO wait as long as you can. Ike I said the warmer the better for Bermuda. Late April Early May and you should have a decent stand by the first week or two of June. Your point is taken well on late cold snaps. 4 years ago I came out on Memorial day weekend and was forced off the road in Gallop NM from a bliaard they closed I-40. Next day it snowed off an on all the way to just south of Prescott, and was cold and wet in Sun City. That was the year Vegas and Denver had Memorial Day snow.

Year and a half ago when I bought this play in mid April had a White-Out Blizzard in Flag and GC when we visited. So yeah the weather out here is a bit crazy at times.

Thanks for the tips! Hopefully it will be warm enough by the end of April and I will give it a shot! I'll keep you all updated when I plant and the progress. Thanks.

In other words, Tyler, start adjusting your wife's expectations now. Getting a dense bermuda lawn from seed by early June will be nearly impossible unless you get lucky with early heat. The best time to seed would be about the date of the birthday party. Any attempts to jump the gun on that date will be at the expense of your sanity.

Ok so I've got a few more questions for the board. I'm not sure If I'll be able to pull off buying a Reel mower anytime soon so...

1.) If I planted a mix of Princess and Yukon would it look decent mowing it with my Rotary mower once a week at a higher level?

2.) I've looked at the Triangle Blend and also La Prima and was wondering what opinions you all have on those blends? Also as you can see in the picture in my original post, my porch and house cast a decent size shadow on a portion of my yard for most of the day, so my question is do you know of a Bermuda Type that would have similar color/texture to either Triangle or La Prima that is more shade tolerant that I can use in those areas?

3.) If I only have a Rotary mower to use which option above would you recommend for better overall looking lawn? I also have a dog if that would make a difference on the recovery ability of the different types?