Bermuda grass is a common choice for lawns by home builders and homeowners alike. Its popularity is rooted in its easiness to grow and maintain. However, one of the most common complaints by homeowners is that their lawn’s grass is not thick enough. In this article, we will suggest several methods on how to make bermuda grass thicker. Some of these are common sense and others are very unique but all of them will help improve your bermuda grass thickness.
How To Make Bermuda Grass Thicker Guide
Fortunately, there are many ways how to make bermuda grass thicker. Even if you believe all hope is lost, these 5 methods will help increase the thickness and overall health of your bermuda grass. We ordered these in such a way that you should try the first idea, then the second and so forth.
Mow Your Grass Regularly
Similar to facial hair, the more often you cut bermuda grass, the quicker and thicker it will grow back. The first and easiest thing you can do for making bermuda grass thicker is regularly mowing your grass. As a general rule, bermuda grass grows best when it’s mowed at a height of ½ to 1 inch. Depending on the climate you reside in, how often you need to mow to achieve this height will vary. We’ve saved you some time and tested several models to find the best lawn mower for bermuda grass.
Use A Bermuda Grass Fertilizer
If you are already applying this best practice for bermuda grass height, it may be time to help your lawn grow quicker. This can be done by fertilizing your grass. There are many fertilizers specific to bermuda grass. Our personal favorite is the EZ Seed bermuda grass fertilizer. It’s really easy to administer and relatively inexpensive. Bermuda grass grows best with re-fertilization every 1 1/2 to 2 months.
Water Less Often In Higher Amounts
Watering your bermuda grass less often may sound counterintuitive. However, reducing the frequency of watering will actually force the grass to develop stronger roots and this leads to increased thickness. If you’re watering your grass multiple times per week, try cutting back to once.
In our experience, if you have a sprinkler system, it’s best to increase the amount of time you’re watering each zone of bermuda grass by about 20-25% when cutting back watering frequency. For example, if you usually watered each zone for 10 minutes, turn that up to 12 or 13 minutes to ensure your grass gets enough water.
Use A Core Aerator
If you have tried to three methods above and your bermuda grass is still not thick, consider a core aerator. These are simple tools designed to loosen up your soil and allow water, fertilizer and other nutrients to get deeper access to the roots. While this may sound extreme, core aerators are very easy to use. Luckily, they’re not very high tech, so they usually cost under $50. We recommend the Yard Butler Coring Aerator for its reliability and success in our backyards.
Re-Seed And Over-Seed Your Grass
When all else fails, it’s possible you just don’t have enough bermuda grass seeding. It’s not unusual for home builders to skimp on the amount of seed they plant. Even with the best watering, mowing and fertilization methods, if you don’t have enough seeding, your bermuda grass will stay thin. Therefore, adding more bermuda grass seeds, even to the point of over-seeding, might be your best option.
How To Make Bermuda Grass Thicker Bonus Tip
Although this isn’t part of lawn care, there’s one additional idea to consider. Bermuda grass thrives when it comes in contact with direct sunlight. If you have a pergola, tent shed or something else blocking a patch of bermuda grass, even the right amount of water and fertilization will be unable to work a miracle. If you have a shady area of your yard, you cannot expect bermuda grass to grow thick. You should try to remove any unnecessary shade to give your grass more access to nutrients.
How To Make Bermuda Grass Thicker Summary
As you can see, there are many tips and tricks to improve your bermuda grass thickness. You do not need to worry if your bermuda grass is not as thick as you’d like. While bermuda grass can survive harsh conditions, you may just need to tweak one form of treatment to allow it to thrive. After all, there’s nothing better than a thick lawn of bermuda grass.
