Hello,
I'm fairly new to gardening, and i took over a house where the lawn was in pretty bad shape. I've been repairing brown spots of my St augustine with sods from the nursery. Now it's beginning to look ok BUT....in several spots there is bermuda grass taking over. I'm pretty sure it came with the sods, but some might have been dormant there. I've been pulling it up as much as i can, but it seems to spread much faster than i can keep it under control.
Anyone has a helpful hint to get rid of the Bermuda without damaging the St. Augustine?
Thanks!!
Bermuda grass taking over St Augustine...help!
If there was an easy answer, I'd patent it and make a fortune. :-)
I've been battling Bermuda in my St Augustine lawn for years and years now. If it's possible to spot spray the Bermuda with RoundUp, that is one option. If not, digging the Bermuda up (and those roots go down to China) and plugging St Augustine is another option. They say that a healthy St Augustine will crowd out Bermuda, but I've not experienced that at all (and I have the healthiest St Aug lawn on my street). At this point all I try to do is keep my St Aug mowed high (which Bermuda doesn't care for) and healthy. I guess I've resigned myself to always having Bermuda to some extent ... at least until my Bur Oak gets big enough to throw down some serious shade. I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you. When the world ends only 2 things will be left -- Bermuda grass and cockroaches.
Carla
Max, I remember writing to tamu's grass experts not long after we moved to our ranch here in Central Texas. I asked for advice on getting rid of Bermuda grass in a yard surrounded by pastures planted in Bermuda. He wished me luck and said it would be a life long fight. Bermuda grass hates shade. So keep the St. Augustine mowed high — about 4" and keep it growing and healthy. Although the Bermuda grass will seem to disappear, given a chance or light, it will return.
Carla, I agree with you about Bermuda grass and cockroaches.
Bermuda spreads by runners and by seeds, and it's perfectly capable of lurking deep under the ground and then reappearing. So possibly not the sod's fault. (If it is, change nurseries!)
I don't know if you meant literally "pulling", but if so, try hoeing. Deep. Just pulling makes it too easy for the top bit of the bermuda to break off and leave the well-established root.
I would say mow high, too. Except if there is a bermuda patch, be sure to cut it before it goes to seed. (By hand if it's too small of a patch to be worth using the mower.) If it turns out there are areas of your yard where the St Augustine really isn't suited (like too sunny or too shady), get something else well-suited in there, so that the bermuda doesn't have an opportunity.
If there's a patch of pure bermuda, or with little St Augustine that you're willing to sacrifice, you could try solarizing it, then put the St A plugs in.
But mostly, yeah, it's impossible.