Understanding how Bermuda grass grows throughout the year

Bermuda grass goes dormant in cold winter temperatures but does not die.  It just turns brown and is asleep after a frost but in some parts of Texas especially around the Gulf Coast where we usually don’t have consistent super cold frost days below 50 degrees during the daytime, it does not get cold enough so your grass may still stay green throughout the winter months but just won’t grow as much.  Night time temperatures can be lower than 50 but if day time temperatures are higher than 50, the soil and the grass are at warm enough temperatures so you have a good chance of being green all year round.  Spring and Summer are the months where you need to work hard to promote good growth with deep roots.  This is why you will do the most work in March and April. 

Bermuda grass is also known as Couch Grass, Wiregrass, Devil’s grass, and a slew of other names. The scientific name is Cynodon dactylon. The type of Bermudagrass most common in Texas residential lawns is called “Common Bermuda” or “Tifway 419 Bermuda” which are very fine blade grasses. Though we consider it part of our lawn in some parts of the world it is considered an invasive weed. It originated from the African Savannah and India. We call it Bermuda grass because it first came to the US via Bermuda.

Bermuda grass spreads across your lawn using stolons above the soil, rhizomes below the soil, and grass seeds if you let your grass grow out of control. If you crouch down in your grass and take a close look it will likely be a network of stolons you will see spreading all over the place and then anything that does not appear connected is from rhizomes.