Bermuda Seed pressing with no roller

[RedRock]

I'm really torn on buying a new 60" lawn roller (to fully cover my tractor tracks) or

Since it will be several years before I build a home and want the lawn to be flat and perfect... Couldn't I just make several passes over the broadcasted bermuda seed with my Tractor and let the tires press it in? Also, my 13 year old daughter would be perfectly happy using my light pickup to just drive criss cross across it all (slowly) until it's covered. I know this is taking the cheap, yet laborious way out, but wouldn't it press the seed ok for just establishing pasture?

[Birdhunter1]

I have repaired areas of hayfields and pastures and tracked the seed in with a 4 wheeler before. It worked but a roller would have made it a smoother job.

[jinman]

I started with loose soil, but last year when I planted bermuda, I rolled it in with my lawnmower's rear tires, just driving back and forth. It was easy to see my tracks and overlap perfectly. The bermuda seed germinated well. Remember, you need to keep seed wet for 72 hours straight with temperatures above 65 degrees for germination. Repeated watering to keep the seedbed wet is the key. You just can't water it once and walk away.

[RedRock]

I started with loose soil, but last year when I planted bermuda, I rolled it in with my lawnmower's rear tires, just driving back and forth. It was easy to see my tracks and overlap perfectly. The bermuda seed germinated well. Remember, you need to keep seed wet for 72 hours straight with temperatures above 65 degrees for germination. Repeated watering to keep the seedbed wet is the key. You just can't water it once and walk away.

Thanks for the tips, watering will be one of my bigger challenges. Since I'd need around 500feet of hose to pump water from my pond, I may just pump into and out of a 330 gal poly tank on my trailer. Assuming a 5.5 hp pump with the right spray nozzle would do the job.

[RedRock]

Somewhere else on this forum (can't seem to find it again) someone said they used a large piece of weighted down plywood... I'm guessing it was 1/4 inch so that it would bend well.

I guess they somehow attached and suspended the plywood, added weight to it and drug it over the seed that was spread. This sounds like it might work if the ground facing side wasn't too rough. I'd probably sand it really well and possibly put a few coats of varnish or high gloss paint to make it glide well over the dirt.

Not sure how well it would turn behind my tractor (might need a boom to do it right) but has anyone ever tried this approach?

[EddieWalker]

In my experience with Berumuda see, it's almost idiot proof if you have way decent soil. It does have certain needs and a soil test is only ten bucks.

I get the soil read and pack it down real good. Then drag over it with my drak to break up the groudn just a bit and give the seed something to stick to. Then broadcast the seed and let it be. Ideally, it should be just below the surface, but once it rains, this happens on it's own.

NEVER buy seed from the box store. Find a feed store or supplyer who sells it by the pound. There is hulled and unhulled. If you are planting early or in less then favorable conditions, but the hulled and let mother nature do her thing to get it going when its right. If you wait until spring and the temps are getting close to 80 degrees, then buy the hulled seed. Its extremly small and a little goes a very long way. It will germinate just about as fast as the first rain hits and start growing within days.

Good luck,
Eddie

[Craig Clayton]

I have watched for years baseball diamonds being groomed with a 2" pipe x 8' long with a section of commericial grade chain link fence pulled by a small jeep. The ground has to be somewhat level and dry.

Craig Clayton

[mojoinco]

To think you guys have to worry about that stuff being planted! The hours of pulling, truck loads of sod removed, and even the 'island' of it that grew around a power pole (when I lived in Las Vegas) over the years in Kalifornia. I swear, one seed and in 3 years everybody's lawn was Bermuda.

but good luck with it! I finally live in a place where it will not thrive. We have bind weed instead....

[gabeancounter]

Just picked up a 60" roller off craigslist this weekend. $200. A little rusty but nothing a little paint won't fix.
I am preparing around 4 acres for bermuda as well.

[RedRock]

Just picked up a 60" roller off craigslist this weekend. $200. A little rusty but nothing a little paint won't fix.
I am preparing around 4 acres for bermuda as well.

yep, I would have snatched that up too