The grass is greener on the other side of these tips
Dealing with patchy grass? While it’s not the best for curb appeal (or picnics on the lawn), thinned-out grass can also be a sign of disease, irrigation, or soil quality problems. Turn that grass into a luscious green carpet with these 11 tips for making Bermuda grass thicker.
Just because Bermuda grass can grow tall doesn’t mean you should allow that. Mow your lawn weekly so that it’s no more than 1 inch tall for your Bermuda grass to grow laterally.
This encourages the root system, called grass stolons, to grow outwards and spread to those bare patches in your yard, turning your Bermuda grass into a thick oasis. At the same time, you also don’t want to mow the grass too low, as this can expose the stems to the elements and hinder its growth, so only set your lawn mower to just under 1 inch.
Conducting a soil test tells you what the pH level, soil type, and nutrient quantities are in the soil. You’ll need to do this step before you consider fertilizing your lawn so you know what ratios to add to the soil for the ideal Bermuda grass environment.
Ideally, your soil will have a pH between 5.9 and 7.0. Bermuda grass can handle fairly alkaline conditions, but this grass species is no match for acidic soils. You might need to apply lime to your yard to alkalinize the soil and promote thicker Bermuda grass.
Bermuda grass is a hungry grass species, requiring many nutrients in order to thrive. As a result, you have to maintain your lawn with a slow-release NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) fertilizer that’s high in nitrogen to help your grass grow.
Add the fertilizer in early spring—right at the end of the dormancy season for Bermuda grass. For climates that don’t have a dormancy period, fertilize in March or April for the best results.
If you’re unsure of which fertilizer ratio to use, it might be a good idea to hire a lawn care service for recommendations. Most professionals near you are familiar with the soil quality, amount of rainfall, grass species, and climate in your area—all of which can impact what type of fertilizer you should use for your yard and how often you should use it.
After testing your soil, you may find you have compacted soil. This can stunt roots and prevent them from growing deeper into the ground and accessing water and nutrients. Yearlycore aeration improves your soil quality by increasing water, nutrients, and air circulation in the ground.
Having better-aerated soil makes the ground more drought-resistant by allowing water to travel more deeply into the ground rather than stay on the surface or become water runoff.
If your Bermuda grass lawn already looks brown and dead and has a spongy feel to it, then it might be time to dethatch before you get started on the aeration process. In fact, dethatching and aerating services often go hand-in-hand.
Dethatching your lawn is the process of removing debris and dead grass to help encourage healthy root growth. Thatch prevents water, sunlight, and fertilizer from reaching the roots of your grass, leading to stress and suffocation. The thatch should be at least 1/2 an inch thick, although you can wait until the thatch is 1 or more inches thick.
If you’ve aerated and dethatched your lawn, you now have a blank canvas for overseeding (also called reseeding) your yard.
Overseeding your Bermuda grass lawn in the springtime gives this warm-season grass the best chance to grow thick in time for late spring and summer to arrive. This method also promotes an even distribution of grass so your lawn is uniform.
If Mother Nature hasn’t brought any rain your way in a while, it might be time for you to give your grass a watering to help it thrive. Climates that receive less than 1 inch of rainwater a week in the spring and summer need 1 inch of supplemental watering per week.
Sandy soils should receive 1/2 an inch of water every three to four days, while clay soil should have more frequent yet shorter watering periods throughout the week for the water to reach the root zone.
Though you might consider native plants weeds, most are beneficial and drought-resistant, but other invasive species of plants are water hogs that steal the water from your grass and lead to patchy, brown lawns.
For example, some weeds, like crabgrass, will choke and kill emerging Bermuda grass as it comes out of dormancy in the springtime. Either pull these weeds out by hand or use herbicides to manage weeds in your yard and give your Bermuda grass a fighting chance.
It’s a good idea to start on weed control at the end of winter or early spring to prevent weeds from stealing the nutrients out of the soil come summertime.
From insects to bacteria to fungus, infestations can also thin out your Bermuda grass and prevent you from having that stunning, thick lawn. It’s important to rule out infestations to avoid spending time and money on one of the other solutions only for it to not work.
Inspect your grass for signs of insects, brown and spotty leaves, or discolored roots and stems, and then treat with a fungicide or pesticide accordingly.
No, we don’t mean your sunglasses. A shady lawn can actually hinder growth and ruin your Bermuda’s grass chance at looking thick and vibrant. This grass species loves direct sunlight—at least four hours a day—so you’ll want to hire a tree service to prune your trees if you have too much shade coverage.
If you’ve tried all of these tips and still have a thin yard, it might be time to call in the pros. A lawn specialist near you knows the ins and outs of your region’s climate and can better direct you to the best solutions for turning your Bermuda grass into the yard of your dreams.
There are several possible reasons why your Bermuda grass is not thick, with the biggest reasons being too little water, too much shade, compacted soil, drainage issues, and too few nutrients in the soil. Bermuda grass needs frequent and direct sunlight to stay thick, so thinning grass is likely the result of a lack of sun.
The best fertilizer for thick Bermuda grass is an organic fertilizer with an N-P-K ratio high in nitrogen, low in phosphorus, and low in potassium. Organic fertilizers help Bermuda grass grow stronger and healthier by retaining water well, supporting microbiome life, and promoting long-term soil health. However, this type of fertilizer is more expensive than synthetic fertilizers.
