Time to Control Invasive Bermudagrass
We’ve seen many landscapes where Bermudagrass has taken over lawns and then invaded flower and shrub beds. The grass creeps along the ground, rooting wherever it touches the soil or mulch, forming a dense mat. It has a strong root system that can grow more than four feet deep. We’ve seen it come up right through asphalt paving.
Needless to say, a weed this aggressive can ruin your landscaping in short order when it moves from the lawn into gardens. Few herbicides are effective against it. Before mechanized farm machinery, Bermudagrass was the weed dreaded most by farmers. Considered an “invasive species” in 48 states, Bermudagrass crowds out most other grasses and smothers gardens. This invasive nature leads some gardeners to give it the name of “devil grass”. Controlling it is a real challenge.
We found many websites online promoting and selling it, both as lawn grass and pasture forage for livestock. It is more popular in the Sunbelt states, where it stays green all year, but many homeowners in Ohio have Bermudagrass lawns. You can spot it easily in the fall because after hard frost it turns an ugly brown in otherwise green lawns. Bermudagrass hates cold weather and survives Ohio winters by extending its roots below the frost line. The deep root system is one reason it’s so hard to control.
If you try to get rid of Bermudagrass by tilling or cultivating, the weed will spread faster because cultivation chops the stems into segments and each segment becomes a new plant. Spraying with non-selective weed killers like Roundup can be effective but will also kill the rest of your lawn. For patches of lawn completely taken over by Bermudagrass, a total “scorched earth” weed spraying, repeated several times, is the best way to start. No chemical will kill Bermudagrass seeds in the soil. You’ll have to re-treat the area for years to kill new Bermudagrass seedlings.
Selective control in lawns and gardens is much harder. The only practical solution we’ve found is a selective Bermudagrass killer for lawns, based on fenoxaprop-p-ethyl. Bayer makes a consumer version, called Bayer Bermudagrass Killer concentrate, which comes in a ready-to-use hose-end spray bottle. You need two applications a month apart starting in July for control, but it’s easy to use. It takes about an hour after spraying to become rainproof. Bermudagrass killer also kills crabgrass, foxtail, sandbur and some other grassy weeds, but not lawn grasses. With a few exceptions it won’t harm other types of plants in your landscape.
Bermudagrass control is most effective if done in July with a follow-up in August. If you want to stop a Bermudagrass invasion, get started with a spray program right away. Once the weather starts to cool, the grass will go dormant and spraying won’t be effective. Because there will still be seed in your soil and beds, you’ll have to be vigilant next year as well or it will get re-established.
After the second application of Bermudagrass killer you should re-seed your lawn with good grass seed; right around Labor Day is the ideal time to do this. You can re-seed a day or two after spraying Bermudagrass killer. We recommend premium turf-type tall fescue blends for most lawns.
Steve Boehme is a landscape designer/installer specializing in landscape “makeovers”. “Let’s Grow” is published weekly; column archives are on the “Garden Advice” page at www.goodseedfarm.com. For more information is available at www.goodseedfarm.com or call GoodSeed Farm Landscapes at (937) 587-7021.