Xtremehorticulture

How to Get Rid of Bermudagrass Weeds in a Tall Fescue Lawn

Q. How can I get rid of bermudagrass now, growing in a tall fescue lawn. Bermudagrass invasion of tall fescue due to irrigation and mowing height. Keep mowing height at least 2 inches for tall fescue and keep it full and lush. A. The best way to get rid of it in fescue is to cut it out if possible and then seed the bare spots after the Bermudagrass has had time to die. The best time to do this would be about April or May when Bermudagrass is starting to green up. You’ve got to kill the Bermudagrass when its alive, which starts growing in late spring, and seed the bare areas after all the grass in that area dies. That’s tricky because Bermudagrass is a warm season grass and doesn’t start growing until about mid-March or early April. It’s easier to control fescue growing in a Bermudagrass lawn while the bermudagrass is dormant (sleeping and dead looking). The fescue in the lawn is cool season so you can begin seeding when it’s cooler. But bermudagrass is warm season so it doesn’t “wake up and start growing” until late spring. If you want to try that then I would recommend spraying Roundup (its the only systemic grass killer available) in spots where the Bermudagrass is growing in the late spring and wait about a week. Don’t use Roundup combined with any other weed killer. Just plain old Roundup. The systemic Roundup translocates and kills some of the roots of bermudagrass.  First, cut the grass in the Roundup-applied area shorter and seed directly into those spots. Because Roundup is systemic and slow acting it will continue to kill the bermudagrass. The label on Roundup prevents you from seeding any sooner than this. You should start seeing the fescue pop up from seed in about 7 to 10 days as the grass in those spots continues dying. What to Do? 1. Mow the area shorter. 2. Spray Roundup over the area without any other weed killers in it. Just plain old Round-up. The grass wont die for 2 to 3 weeks.  3. After one week, seed a high value tall fescue seed in the same area. The grass you sprayed will look like it is alive but it is dying. I would mow the area shorter, somewhere between a half to an inch tall, and apply ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) in early March. The Bermudagrass likes warm weather, as well as nitrogen fertilizer, and it will start turning green a couple of weeks earlier than when it is taller. Use a high-quality tall fescue variety to seed in those spots. The grass will not be dead yet but it’s dying, and you have to trust that it’s dying. As the new fescue seed is coming up you will see sprayed areas start to die or turn brown. You can safely seed into Roundup-applied areas 7 to 10 days after the spraying has been done. The tall fescue and Bermuda does not look dead yet, but they are dying. You can’t start killing Bermudagrass until after it starts getting green in the spring. Preventing Bermudagrass Invasion In the future keep your mowing height between two and three inches. Keep the lawn thick to choke out any invading Bermuda grass. To do this apply fertilizer to fescue lawns at least 4 times per year; Valentine’s Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Halloween. The fertilizer to use is a 21-7-14, between half to 3/4 of the bag rate if you are returning the clippings to the grass (not bagging). The rate on the bag may be too much fertilizer. Don’t give the edges of your lawn of bevel cut because it encourages in Bermudagrass invasion. Instead use a steel edger perpendicular to the edge of the lawn.

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Eight Year Weed Problem Identified

Q. For 8 years I have tried killing these weeds, they won’t die with commercial strength weed killers. In.the last 5 years, I have hired 3 different la escape companies. Each has claimed they can kill them. No success. I finally had a landscape company remove all of my beautiful plants. Any ideas? We problem that won’t die. A. Judging from the seed heads I saw in the picture this is common Bermudagrass. Some people call it devils grass. A single application of a weed killer will not be enough. It will laugh you.If you try to dig it up or rototill it… hahahahahaha… You have just propagated it in multiple other locations. You can guess why to get this under control takes a lot of perseverance and repeat spraying about two weeks apart. Spray it, kill it to the soil. Let it regrow 45 inches then kill it again. You have to do this for a five times in a row to get any kind of control. Roundup concentrate at a 2% solution (2 ounces per gallon) will kill it back. When it regrow is a few inches, kill it again to the ground. Do this over and over and you’ll begin to exhaust the roots. This is the only way to get any control of this weed.  If it’s growing close to plants that you are afraid be damaged, use a produt called Fusilade In the same way. Yes, it does want to take over the earth where there is water.

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How to Water Your Lawn During Summer Heat

I know that your municipality may have you on water restrictions in the desert. And that is good. We need to manage our water resources.You need to be aware of how to water turfgrass (your lawn) to minimize water waste and optimize lawn health. These are key principles: Sprinklers are designed to apply water when there is no wind.  Wet grass encourages disease. Winds increase after sunup. Heat resistant lawns have deep roots. Sprinklers apply water faster than soils can absorb it. Water lawns when half the applied water is gone. Most home lawns are tall fescue or bermudagrass. Water in the early morning hours before sunrise. Don’t leave grass wet during the night time. This fosters diseases. When the sun rises, winds increase. Winds blow water “off course” and water is wasted. Apply enough water to penetrate 8 to 12 inches. After the irrigation is finished the water should wet the grass roots to a depth of several inches. This waters the entire root zone of the plant. Grass on slopes should receive an irrigation divided into several smaller applications. Most irrigation sprinklers apply water too fast. This water runs off the surface to low spots or into the street. Water delivered several times in smaller amounts has less chance or running off the surface. Irrigate bermudagrass less often but with more water than tall fescue. Bermudagrass can use 25 to 40% less water than tall fescue. It has deeper roots. It should be watered differently than tall fescue.

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Since We Cannot Burn Bermudagrass in Early Spring Anymore We Are Forced to Use Equipment to Keep it Looking Good

Q. (Response to an eariler posting I made regarding a bumpy bermudagrass lawn). I have a TruCut reel mower. I think the lawn is flatter than the impression I gave you in my earlier question. The bumpiness might be more from uneven thatch, thus thin spots. I aerated it several times last year. Maybe I need to feed and mow more often. It can also be due to weight imbalance with speed of the mover, thus with a front throw, I notice that when the basket is fuller, the bouncing is less. The lawn has never been as nice as I want. I feel the peak season is short in this climate.   A. Las Vegas sits in what educated turfgrass professionals might call the “Transition zone”. The US has three major turfgrass growing regions; climate suitable for cool season grasses like bluegrass, a climate suitable for warm season grasses like bermudagrass and this odd area in between these two climates we call the “transition zone”. The transition zone is capapable growing both warm and cool season grasses equally POORLY. Kind of reminds me of those tools that are 8 in 1; they can do eight different jobs but none of them very well. Kind of like a Swiss Army knife or a Leatherman.   I was just looking again at your response to my eariler email and question on bumpy lawns.  One benefit of overseeding is that the process of overseeding helps to eliminate some of the thatch because you must dethatch the lawn sufficiently so that the seed used in overseeding can make good contact with the soil for good germination.   Burning a berumudagrass hayfield primarily for weed control at the Batesville Station of the University of Arksansas. Photo courtesy of the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension (http://batesvillestation.uark.edu/3_.jpg) Many years ago common bermudagrass would be burned in the winter to get rid of the dead surface grass and in the process any thatch accumulation. It is still recommended that bermudagrass hayfields be burned for numerous reasons including thatch removal and reduction of insects and diseases. Years ago bermudagrass lawns were also burned in the rural areas of Nevada and probably still are in some places. This is smart for several reasons that I will not get into here. We didn’t have thatch when bermudagrass was burned in the winter. Because we cannot burn dead grass any  more due to local ordinances and safety issues, this dead grass remains and adds to the thatch layer. Dethatcher, vertical mower or verticutter. It can be used for several things but commonly used to remove thatch from thatchy lawns or turfgrass areas. Bermudagrass can be a heavy thatch producer. We now substitute a gasoline-driven machine (called a dethatcher, vertical mower or verticutter depending on who you are talking to) instead of burning the dead grass. This of course uses petroleum, adds pollutants to the air and leaves this bermudagrass thatch that we have harvested for dumping somewhere. Or burning. Aren’t we smart?

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Controlling Bermudagrass Growing in…..

Common bermudagrass stolons creeping from the lawn over a sidewalk. Hybrid bermudagrass is much more restrained in its growth. This is a queston frequently asked, “How do I control bermudagrass in……” so let’s talk about it. The big problem is common bermudagrass. It is spread by seed, underground stems called rhizomes that can grow under the surface of the soil for many feet and re-emerge in a new location. Sort of like “Whack-A-Mole”. You pull it or spray it here only for it to popup over there. Below ground the bermudagrass cannot get the energy it needs from sunlight. It must rely on food supplies sent by the mother plant growing in sunligh OR live off of stored food in its stems. It can also spread by planting, or accidentally planting, any of its stems above or below ground. For instance you can take the above ground growth, cut it up into small pieces, throw it on the ground, water it and it will start a new plant any place these cut up pieces fall. When we WANT it to spread like this, we call are planting by stolons or “stolonizing” the area. The hybrid bermudagrasses, the kind that are nice to grow like on golf courses, is planted exactly this way. The underground stems that spread the mother plant to a new location all by growing underground are called rhizomes. The only difference between the above ground stems (stolons) and the below ground stems (rhizomes) is there location AND their propensity to either grow above or below ground. What you can do to stolons, you can do with rhizomes essentially. So if you cut up a bunch of rhizomes the same way as stolons and spread them on the soil surface, guess what will happen. You got it. You have a new lawn whether you wanted it or not. Hybrid bermudagrass stolon (left) stem and leaves (right) and rhizome (bottom) Question for YOU. What will happen if you rototill a bermudagrass weed area in the hopes of getting rid of it? Answer: You spread it. So how do you get rid of bermudagrass weeds? You exhaust it. You kill it, let it grow a bit, kill it again, let it grow, kill it again, let it grow, kill it again…… In this way you begin to exhaust its stored food supply AND by constantly killing or cutting off its access to sunlight you deny it the ability to put more stored food into its food supply. In the end you exhaust it, weaken it and it dies. You can deny it sunlight by constantly killing top growth back as soon as it gets exposed to that life-giving light a week or so. You can kill the top growth by mechanically whacking it off to soil level or below or killing it to the ground with a poison such as Roundup or even vinegar. Anything that will cause it to die to the ground and not hurt the surrounding environment. The advantage of Roundup is that it is systemic and will travel into the ground a distance and kill somewhere below ground level. To grow back requires more energy and so it will be more effective than just whacking it off or killing the tops. The disadvantage is that it is a weed killer and it may have some adverse side effects. Other chemicals to look at include Poast and Fusilade which are also systemic weed killers and are potentially less damaging to surrounding plants. Nothing wrong with a hoe, shovel and other tools that will help take it to the ground. Regardless, the secret to success will be to stay on top of it and never let it grow back more than a few inches before you knock it down again.

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Controlling Bermudagrass in a Fescue Lawn

Q. I spoke to you about my patch of Bermudagrass at one of your classes. You said that Bermudagrass could be controlled just by letting a fescue lawn shade the soil. Can I really get my Bermudagrass under control simply by mowing higher? Winter fescue lawn with dormant bermudagrass now obvious. Invasion of bermudagrass is because sprinklers cannot irrigate a triangular patch of grass efficiently. Under irrigation = bermudagrass in the hot desert. A. No, you cannot control existing Bermudagrass in a lawn just by letting the fescue grow taller. I think I was misunderstood. Once you have a fescue lawn established, by keeping the soil shaded you will reduce and possibly eliminate Bermudagrass from getting started. This is what I intended to be heard.             Bermudagrass cannot survive in shade. By keeping the soil surface shaded by a healthy lawn, Bermudagrass will be discouraged. Bermudagrass invades a home lawn where lawns are mowed too short or damaged, thus eliminating shade on the soil surface. Typical places where it invades include around sprinkler heads and the edges of the lawn near concrete. Both of these places are where line trimmers are frequently used to keep grass shorter.             It also invades damaged areas due to under irrigation, disease or insects. Once established in the lawn, Bermudagrass is nearly impossible to eliminate without renovating the entire lawn. This would mean fertilizing, watering and mowing the lawn to get it as healthy as possible and then killing it with Roundup.             This is best done in the fall around mid-September to mid-October. About 10 days after the Roundup application or applications, the lawn can be mowed extremely short, power raked until you see bare soil and reseeded directly into the dying or dead lawn.             The key to eliminating the Bermudagrass will be getting a thorough kill with the Roundup before replanting. Spray once, mow in two days and spray again going 90 degrees to the first spray to get good coverage and a better kill.

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