Question
Hi Mr. Gibbs,

I live on the Gulf Coast area down south and I need your advice. In the front of my house I have Bermuda that looks terrible. It is yellow and has weeds growing like crazy. I am really tired of the way it looks and I want to do something to help bring it alive. In the back of my house I have St. Augustine that is the same way. Can you give me some suggestions on what to do and use to help bring it back to life. I know that it probably looks yellow due to the winter, is this true?
I greatly appreciate all your help

Thanks in advance
Rachel

Answer
Hi Rachel,

>>"...looks terrible...It is yellow and has weeds growing like crazy.?"

A yellow appearance could mean several conditions.
"Blanched" and tan or "tanish yellow" is probably weather-related.  A true "yellowish" appearance could indicate a condition called 'CHLOROSIS'. This conditions affects only plants that are non-dormant, alive and are just non-green due to physiological reasons.  This is due to a deficiency of IRON in the soil.  Sandy soils are often in need of mineral supplements.  Your lawn and garden center should sell mineral supplements you can add to the soil for these types of problems.

In the mid-latitude states of the USA, Bermuda grass is the most common lawn grass and homeowners are used to it going into a dormant phase with the hard freezes of winter.  It will look blanched, sort of brownish-tan in color, and  appear dead for half the year and then once spring comes it will re-vive for another round of lawn-care. I would not describe these lawns as being yellow or yellowish in color.

Some enjoy the break this dormancy cycle gives in all the lawn-work.  Others may 'over-seed' their entire lawn with one of the winter grasses like Tall Fescue, and this manner they can have a green lawn all year. In Hort-zones 8-9/10 and not-so far South USA, these cool climate grasses could also be used during a cooler than normal winter.  In these southern zones, the Bermuda and the St. Augustine usually and normally stay relatively active through winter IF there has been typical temperature ranges.


Both St. Aug and Bermuda grass are best grass-types for the warm climate and the gulf areas of the USA.  If there has been freezes and temperature drops with prolonged cold-spells, then this is most very likely the single cause of your lawn's appearance problem.  Horticultural Plant Hardiness Zone designations (which place the gulf regions in zones 9-12) are based on TEN-YEAR averages.  Climates are always in fluctuation, ...so there may or may not be more cold winters causing your warm-climate grasses to go into dormancy or to become cold-stressed and blah looking.  

Bermuda grass is much hardier of the two types for the cold snaps.  St. Aug may not recover from too much cold weather in the northern areas of the south U.S.

The lawns should perk-up once night temperatures settle into the mid-fifties F.
Once they do start to green-up, you can give your lawns a good feeding with something like ammonium nitrate (plus LOTS of WATER!).  And in a few days the lawn should become deep green and healthy again.

To fight the weeds, get into a regimen of using a PRE-EMERGENT HERBICIDE every three-months or as directed with the product (which may contain a granular fertilizer as a 'Weed-and-Feed' formula, so you will skip an ammonium nitrate feeding to do the weeding when you use this type of chemical mix).  This type of herbicide chemical is the most efficient way to remain weed free.  It keeps the zillions of weed seeds in the top-soil from ever getting a start. Otherwise, you can spray-kill existing weeds with any of the popular POST-EMERGENT CHEMICALS.

And, with more than fifty years of safe-use ... "2-4-D"...  is still about the best herbicide there is for BROAD-LEAF WEEDS and formulas with this chemical included can be very good for many of other types of weeds. Again, your local lawn and garden centers will have all the tools and chemicals you should need.  Most people will have an arsenal of herbicides to use as needed.

Re-seed or Sod Damaged Areas.
If you have extensive losses of lawn areas do to cold and freezes with the St.Aug (The Bermuda should recover OK),..you may want to re-establish your St. Aug with one of the new high-tech super hardy drought and disease resistant hybrids which have been genetically engineered in recent years by the Universities of Florida and Texas.  Check their web-sites for more information about these new high-tech genetically engineered cultivars for southern lawns.
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With a good fertile-loamy well draining top-soil, best quality hybrid grass type(s), 1-3 inches of water per week, plenty of sun-light, ...almost anyone can have an excellent lawn with a minimum maintenance effort.
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I Hope this has answered your question(s)!

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