Posts Tagged: Bermudagrass
Managing Weedy Grasses
[From the Spring issue of the UC IPM Retail Nursery & Garden Center News] “I hate...
Are Bermudagrass Lawns Forever?
1) rototill what's left of the current lawn and remove as many grass clods and rhizomes as I can gather up in this process
3) cover with newspaper
4) cover that with more soil (excavated from a large bed elsewhere in the yard; clean and much better structure) and compost
5) poke holes into the paper to plant some F. rubra plugs I bought (prematurely) and overseed with F. rubra seed.
6) cover with mulch.
Client's Reasoning
- the soil is so compacted that it NEEDS some cultivation, despite the risk of chopping up rhizomes (besides existing grass is not very healthy); I'm loathe to put off cultivation till spring because if we get El Nino type rain that could just exacerbate the clay soil structure (ie, further compaction)
- I can plant the grass plugs now through the newspaper
- F. rubra seed can take advantage of early rains now and newspaper will hopefully rot by spring so new grass seedlings can tap the underlying soil then when days lengthen, temps rise and growth rate increases
- If El Niño rains come, this approach will prevent excessive pooling and muddy bog conditions.
The other option is rototilling and sheet mulching now and composting and seeding in March or so.
I'd appreciate your thoughts and comments. Thanks very much for your time.
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the Master Gardener Help Desk concerning your lawn conversion from Bermudagrass to red fescue.
Bermudagrass can be pretty tough to eliminate. The best methods include the following (summarized from very detailed University of California information located at http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7453.html):
1. Herbicide such as Roundup™, during spring and summer. Herbicide will only be effective if applied when the Bermudagrass is growing vigorously, meaning it should be applied during spring and summer. Stolons may not be completely killed by herbicide, so cultivation may also be required, as further described below.
2. Withholding water during summer. This tactic is usually combined with cultivation, also further described below.
3. Shading. Sheet mulch with overlapping cardboard sheets, covering the cardboard with at least 3 inches of mulch. Mulch alone will not be effective. More information on sheet mulching, including a "how to" slide show, can be found here http://www.bayfriendlycoalition.org/LYL.shtml
Based on the above, you can see that summer is the best time to effectively eradicate Bermudagrass by using a combination of methods. Herbicides will not be effective during late fall and winter because the Bermudagrass will not be growing vigorously. If you decide to cultivate and hand remove rhizomes and stolons, followed by sheet mulching, that is probably your best bet this time of year. However, we would recommend that you wait to plant the fescue plugs until you are confident the bermudagrass has been killed. If you do not, there is the potential that the bermudagrass will grow through the planting holes.
It is true that fall is the best time to seed Festuca rubra to take advantage of the rains. Festuca rubra is a low water use plant according to WUCOLS http://ucanr.edu/sites/WUCOLS/Plant_Search/. However, even plants that are classified as "low water use" require supplemental water for the first year or two to get their root systems established and are drought tolerant only thereafter. You may want to keep this in mind when deciding when, and how much, to plant, in case landscape watering restrictions continue next year.
General advice from the University of California about establishing and maintaining lawns can be found here, including information on pre-plant fertilizer http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/TOOLS/TURF/ We do also recommend that you have your soil tested to determine if certain nutrients are lacking so that you can fertilize and amend appropriately. A list of soil testing laboratories can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/files/51308.pdf. The soil testing labs' websites have instructions on how to collect samples and submit them for analysis, but you should contact the lab first to get their specific requirements for you situation. A basic soil test should include the major nutrients of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (N, P, K) as well as pH and organic matter. pH will tell you whether your soil is neutral, acidic or alkaline - this is important because pH can impact nutrient availability. Ideally you will want the soil pH to be between 5.5 to 7.5. 5% organic matter is considered ideal; our clay soils usually have much lower than ideal levels, but can usually be improved with the addition of compost.
Good luck with your ambitious project. I hope that this information is helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact us again if you have any further questions.
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Editor's Addendum: A relatively new development on the California turf scene is that at least one sod grower, and probably others as well, are now providing ready-to-install sod that consists primarily of native grasses and also touting significant reduction in water use. Your circumstances might warrant consideration of such sod. Details on feasibility and costs should be available at most retail nurseries or online.
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Help Desk of the UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa County (JL)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (//ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/blogroll.cfm).
/span>/span>/div>/span>Another Day, Another Ton of Weeds
Here I am, writing when I could be outside either flying the dog or ripping out more weeds from the “dry” creek. That darn “dry” creek has more water in it just now since the rain yesterday than the dog’s water bowl. I wasn’t really kidding about flying the dog as LuLu weighs just over 9 pounds and has very large ears and there is a very stiff wind blowing. Bruce and I joke around that at a time like this, hitch LuLu to her leash and let her soar instead of walk to the nearby park.
Earlier this week, we got down and dirty with the chemicals in the war against Bermudagrass, various other grass varieties, and my old “buddy” – oyster salsify! Using the IPM system, we have managed to NOT hold our own against these “arch fiends” of the home and garden.
Nope, not a napalm strike exactly, but the judicious use of herbicides and pre-emergents to keep from mowing in the house itself.
Pre-emergents are very useful tools in order to contain weed seeds when used at the proper time. Use in October for the spring weed seeds and again in February for the fall and winter weed seeds. It’s very simple and quite easy. I missed out in October because there was no rain; with the product I use, I need at least ½ inch of water. With Bruce, no rain = no spray; it’s not that he’s not a believer, but water = $$$ which he is loathe to spend. With rain, he’s raring to go, so it got done!
The grass spraying is a more delicate proposition. Using an all-purpose herbicide means death to any plant getting hit. So the game plan is: select the target, find an herbicide for that particular target group and read, READ the label. Select the appropriate product and use according to the directions to the letter!
So far, the spraying of the grassy weeds in the rose beds, the backyard potion of the dry creek, and the other areas of the back and side yards has been completed. I’m holding my breath that the guaranteed shades of red and/or brown will appear showing the weed plants are on the way out and make the other grassy weeds quake on their roots.
The last few years have been the years of grassy weeds. When we first started out here, there was nothing but tumbleweeds growing in the back forty. It only took 2 years to get rid of them but now, in a way, I wish those tumbleweeds, Russian thistle (Salsola iberica) were still here. I don’t know if you’ve read in the little magazines from the newspapers that some towns have festivals with prizes for the best use of the things and the having the biggest! Wow, my crops would have taken 1st prizes and built mansions! Alas, this information has come years too late!
Next were the years of the bristly oxtongue (Picris echioides). That stuff grows everywhere, and if you get dermatitis from it as I do – it got left alone as Bruce doesn’t do “prickle bushes” and I worked well out of town. Then came dandelions and finally the oyster salsify and the Bermudagrass. Unfortunately, for this group of weeds, I’m retired now and have all the time in world – my back allowing – for pulling up and hoeing the little darlings! The beautiful thing these days is now I’m the supervisor now at home and I’ve given myself a long lunch, starting now. See ya!!
Bristly oxtongue. (photo by Jack Kelly Clark)
My Foe-Bermudagrass!
I’m fighting – and losing at this point – with Bermudagrass (Cynodan dactylon). Have you ever had a gardening problem, be it a weed or much-loved plant which fails to thrive, which has you thinking that TNT might be a good herbicide? I have but I’ve decided that explosives might be frowned upon during an IPM discussion.
My foe came into my yard courtesy of my neighbor. Evidently, at one time, they had a lawn in the backyard which extended from the house to the back fence and almost as wide as the entire yard. I never had any stolons come creeping into my yard UNTIL they had a concrete contractor come to install a patio. Well, very soon after that, came little fingers of green from under the fence and into my side yard. Eek, a mouse, er I mean Bermudagrass!
Realizing that since I left to work at 4:30 a.m. and returned around 5pm, I had no time for this “little” green invasion, I put the other adult at home to work (or so I thought). My plan was for Bruce to use the spray bottle of herbicide on the grass slowly creeping toward my roses, but he thought the plan was to merely report the progress the grass was making! Pretty soon, it seemed like only mere minutes, my yard had disappeared under a sea of thick stems and fine leaves. What to do?
Since the day I discovered that “his” plan was not “my plan”, we have been preparing to do battle! Since merely pulling the long, knotty and rather strong strands of grass is not working and our backs are tired; we have gone directly to the last step of IPM and selected our chemical allies.
This process was rather easy since reading the labels on the containers (the 1st step) eliminated a number of products right off the bat. Using gyphosate will not do as it is a non- selective weed-killer and kills grasses as well as broadleaf plants. That left only the selective dicot (grasses) herbicides. By looking around, reading labels, and asking professionals for suggestions, we are using a product whose main ingredient is fluazifop which can be sprayed over the top of roses, daylilies, and other plants which are in my yard. Hopefully next year my acreage of Bermudagrass will be smaller and what I planted will be visible. That will be extremely satisfying to Bruce and me!
All in all, I guess I should be happy that my neighbors didn’t plant either “running” bamboo or horsetail reeds!
Mat of bermudagrass.