I have owned a new home for almost 2 years now and have always wanted my own yard. I am a very meticulous person and a yard nut. My neighbors make fun of me (in a good way) about how much time that I spend on my lawn.

That said, I just really really really hate Bermuda Grass. I am also a big fan of St. Augustine grass, but, it was not an option for me when I built my house.

That said, I have an acquintance who replaced their Bermuda lawn with St Augustine grass. All they did was mow their existing Bermuda grass almost all the way down to the ground (lowest blade setting on a mower), and then plopped St. Augustine sod over the freshly scalped Bermuda.

A year later, it looks great and is the nicest lawn in his neighborhood.

My questions are this: Was the fact that his lawn turned out great an aberration, or is this a good way to replace a lawn? Second, if there is anything else I can do to help in the success of replacing a bermuda lawn with St Augustine, please let me know. Just in case it's an issue, I live in North Texas, McKinney actually.

I plan on doing this next Spring, most likely in March.

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

Saint Augustine isn't hard to establish when you've got sod to start with - so I am not surprised your acquaintance was successful with that approach. That being said - there are better ways to do it. If I were you I would make sure the soil under the bermuda was moist before applying the st augustine sod. If you can break up and expose the soil under the bermuda before laying the augustine - that also should give it a better chance to establish itself quicker. Otherwise when applying any new sod, the biggest thing is to not let it dry out for at least the first couple of weeks. The ideal way would be to till the bermuda and add compost before laying the augustine.

Thanks for the reply!

I totally agree with you regarding the moisture and keeping the newly laid sod moist the first couple of weeks. That said, I am lucky to have a sprinkler system, so I don't think that will be much of a problem.

In reference to the rototilling you suggested, I am just worried about making a mess of the grading of my property. Although I have no large slopes or hills in my yard, it does have undulations and does slope away from the house slightly. I am just worried that I would do more harm than good.

Would you recommend rototilling it, but just to the point where I loosen up the top 2-3 inches or so of soil?

Thanks for your reply. I can't wait to start this project.

By the way, does March sound about right to you in reference to completing this sort of project?

Please don't rototill. Unless you are a rototilling professional, you will end up with a rolling (if not downright lumpy) surface after everything settles. If you want to talk about what the ideal situation is, that would be scraping off the surface grass with a back blade on a small tractor. That would cost you a morning's rent for the operator and tractor.

Assuming you don't want to do that, you could rent a mower and drop the deck down to scalping height and cut it low, low, low. If you use your own mower, plan to spend the rest of the season trying to get the nicks out of the blade to sharpen it. You might consider renting a power reel mower since they can go down below 1/2 inch in height. Then it would be good if you could put a layer of anything in there to help fill in any voids. Roots will not grow into air. Organic material holds moisture best and is the most expensive. Sand holds it worst water holder and least expensive but still would help as a fill. After the sod goes down, roll it with a water type roller to ensure contact between the bottom of the sod and whatever surface you prepare.

Or another idea is just to put in a few pieces of St Aug sod and let that take over the bermuda in a couple years. St Augustine is the dominant species between the two.

However you get there, set your mower to the highest setting. That will favor the St Aug and discourage any bermuda volunteers you might have.

If you can get living sod right now, you can start the project now. There is still some time left this year for the roots to get going.

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David Hall
Moderator
Dirt Doctor Lawns Forum

Thanks so much for your reply!

I would almost rather wait until next year just so I can assure the sod has enough time to get it's root system going before the winter.

I am definitely going to go the scalping route, and then laying new St. Augustine sod. Just to verify, you would suggest that I:

A) Scalp the grass as low as possible.

B) Then put down some type of organic material to smooth the surface so there is good contact between the new sod and the ground. You mentioned sand as a cheap way to go, but what other materials would be good for the job? Also, how exactly would I lay the sand, or whatever material you would suggest in an even manner throughout my yard?

C) Lay the sod and then roll it so there is good contact between the sod and ground.

D) Water the heck out of it!

E) Make sure that I mow the yard towards the highest setting so the St. Augustine can choke out any potential remaining Bermuda grass.

Another question, would you suggest that I have my lawn scalped this year before winter, and then one more time the next coming spring before I start my project, or would you suggest just simply waiting until next spring for scalping the yard?

Thanks for your response in advance!

A) Yes
B) You can use anything or nothing. Organic matter will not fill any low spots. Organic matter will disappear completely in a year. If you want to fill voids, you will need dirt or sand.
C) Yes
D) Water when the sod looks wilty. The grass is already growing. You just want to be sure the grass and the underlying soil are moist enough to grow the roots.
E) Yes

The only reason to scalp a lawn is to encourage seeds to grow. Now I've made another exception if you want to lay sod, but you're thinking about doing that next spring, so don't scalp now unless you want spring wildflowers in your lawn.

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David Hall
Moderator
Dirt Doctor Lawns Forum

David, you are the man, and thanks so much for answering my many questions!!!

Eric

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David Hall
Moderator
Dirt Doctor Lawns Forum