Wow that's great looking TifGrand. I am right down the road from you in N Raleigh, so I am very excited to see that. Any Iron or other special techniques to keep it green this late?

gtnike wrote:

Avonlea22 wrote:My TiffGrand is still a nice shade of green with little sign of dormancy and I've had 2 hard frosts. I'm very surprised. I've had several nights in the upper 20's to low 30's since the beginning of November.

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Wow, that is surprising! All of the bermuda around here is now completely dormant. I'm about 80% dormant on the zoysia (from a distance it looks completely dormant, but when you stand next to it and look down, i've still got some green down in there).

Yep, all the Wake Forest (town, not school) bermuda lawns in my neighborhood went brown on Nov 1. They look like layed out hay right now.

Last week we had a freeze to about 28 degrees in both San Antonio and George West. It wiped out all the banana and subtropicals in San Antonio, but the lawns are still growing. Bermuda is not showing any signs of browning. I'll check out George West tomorrow for freeze damage.

Michael Wise wrote:

ncsuteg wrote:Wow that's great looking TifGrand. I am right down the road from you in N Raleigh, so I am very excited to see that. Any Iron or other special techniques to keep it green this late?

Dormancy delay is really going to depend on the grasses tolerance to frost. Not much you can do to prevent dormancy once your specific type of bermuda's tolerance has been passed. All you can do is find the most cold and frost tolerant type of bermuda if you want to try and delay dormancy.

I've read of PGR's possibly delaying dormancy, but that doesn't necessarily mean its a good thing.

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So what are the negatives to choosing the "most cold tolerant" bermuda? Late green-up? Not as tough? Seems like there must be some negative, otherwise wouldn't everyone use TifGrand? I'm especially thinking of athletic fields in the south between, say, I-20 and I-40 where the frost causes the football fields to be brown for the last few games and playoffs?

gtnike wrote:So what are the negatives to choosing the "most cold tolerant" bermuda? Late green-up? Not as tough? Seems like there must be some negative, otherwise wouldn't everyone use TifGrand? I'm especially thinking of athletic fields in the south between, say, I-20 and I-40 where the frost causes the football fields to be brown for the last few games and playoffs?

I think you might have a few things mixed up. TifGrand main advantage is shade tolerant, not cold tolerance.

Cold Tolerant Bermuda means it is suited for the transition zones where cold freezing weather is experienced. Cold tolerant varieties have higher resistance to winter kill, green up earlier in the spring, and stay green longer in the fall as a general rule.

My TifGrand is now starting to show signs of dormancy, but it's nowhere near a brown hayfield. It still has plenty of green. I'm quite surprised and pleased. I'll post another picture when I can. We've had several nights in the upper 20's. Still hasn't gone below 25.

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Here is my lawn from today:

Avonlea,

What kind of border do you use to keep that out of your beds? Does it work? I have some common in my front yard that is very insistent on climbing over the rocks that we use to separate it.

This was just installed this summer, so I haven't had to deal with any creeping yet. I use metal edging. It's pricey, but I love the clean, professional botanical garden look. You can buy it at Lowes or Home Depot for about $10 for an 8' section

Getting back to this on the eve of Christmas Eve: My bermuda and St Aug in San Antonio are all green. The lawn maintenance crews are still running all day and into the dark to get a little ahead before Christmas.

My lawn in George West is not so nice. The bermuda is all dormant and the St Augustine where I have mowed it is dormant. The St Aug where I have not mowed looks very green and healthy. Of course it is knee high, but still it is important to have this information. My George West lawn has not been fertilized in years. The conclusion I'm drawing is that when St Aug is left unmowed, it will not go dormant as soon as when mowed even to 4 inches. Fertilizer seems to make a difference. I fertilized the San Antonio home heavily this past season. After the holidays we'll see what my fertilizer budget looks like for next season.