I've heard of someone using corn gluten to smother weeds in the asparagus. Perhaps if it is applied deeply enough it might work (Bermuda grass doesn't like shade), but somehow knowing the "weed" doubt it. Haven't tried it myself, I'm still hand-pulling a few feet at a time - grrrrr.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

Salt (sodium Chloride) is a very good herbicide. It is not very selective however. I don't know how much if any salt tolerance asparagus has, But I would supect that you would kill the asparagus before the Bermuda grass.

Pam,

I have asparagus and am in a "Bermuda grass zone." It grows rampantly here. What I have done is

1) Hoe a couple of times a summer

2) Mulch heavily

Asparagus seems amazingly capable of competing, even with Bermuda grass. Ours is growing steadily and will be ready for harvest spring of 2008.

When I mulch I usually try to hoe first (if the spot is weedy). Then I lay down cardboard. On top of that I pile weeds or leaves. When the Bermuda grass starts to invade again, I weed what I can and lay down more mulch (cardboard included). It seems to work pretty well; just doesn't always look super neat. I certainly would not recommend digging up the asparagus in order to weed. Seems its strength is that it has such a strong root system.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Thank you fellow BG sufferers. I learned today that typing a direct question into Google will give me a better answer than boolian searches. I found the following information from 2 university extension services........

I like to garden as organically as possible so I have decisions to make. I hesitate to use Roundup in the veggie garden. Thank you so much for your input...this is such a nice forum.

Pam

This from North Dakota....

A.With my master's degree in soils, I just cannot bring myself to recommend salting the soil deliberately to control weeds.

There are herbicides that you can use to control both the grass and broadleaf weeds. Sinbar can control emerged annual broadleaved weeds and Fusilade or Poast will control emerged grasses.

For pre-emergent treatment, use Princep or Devrinol. For really obnoxious perennials, including quackgrass, use Roundup, applying at least one week before the first spear appears.

Salt use will destroy the structure of the soil and would not be a complete herbicide anyway.

A couple of weeks ago I sprayed a small patch of lawn grass with 20% 'horticultural' vinegar just to see what would happen. The grass turned yellow in two days and is still apparently dead. I wonder, if you timed it right - spraying the asparagus patch when the fronds have died back - would this vinegar treatment help. We don't have bermuda grass - and I sympathize with you folks who do - so have no experience with it. But I'd rather abandon than dig up an asparagus patch that's going to weeds. Or buy a couple of geese just to eat the grass - 'weeder geese'.

Here is a link that might be useful: weeder geese

And just came across this testimony re using vinegar against bermuda grass. I'd wait until asparagus is dormant to try it.

Here is a link that might be useful: vinegar vs bermuda - scroll down

Asparagus is one of the most salt tolerant plants known and for hundreds of years growers salted the beds to control weeds. When modern herbicides came in, commercial growers stopped using salt and fusarium crown rot began to plague beds. Recent studies have shown that salting asparagus definitely prevents fusarium crown rot.

BTW, I know about this first hand. My asparagus developed fusarium crown rot, and after reading about the controlled studies, I tried salting to cure the condition. It works, though it took about 4 years to fully kick in. I apply about 1/2 lb food grade rock salt to about 20 feet of asparagus bed at the end of every winter. Now that the plants are so healthy, I will cut back the amount of salt.

Ortho sells a selective herbicide which only kills true grasses == it used to be sold under the name "Ortho Grass-B-Gone," but I believe last year it was relabeled as something like "Ortho Grass Killer for Ornamentals." It can be used safely right over the top of a vast number of ornamentals -- the few things other than grasses which it will kill or damage are listed on the label. It only comes in a 32 ounce RTU spray bottle, and it is somewhat hard to find -- I think Home Depot is the only major chain which carries it from year to year in my area.

It is truly a lifesaver for eliminating grassy incursions into flower beds, vegetable gardens, etc., because it has systemic action and kills the roots of quackgrass and similar grasses as well as the top. I buy about 6 or 8 bottles a year.

Obviously, can't be used to get rid of the quackgrass that infiltrates the planting of miscanthus or around the base of bamboo. And, from experience, it will kill baby's breath and damage juniper and sedum, although they recover. But, for the vast majority of plants, they do not seem to have any reaction to it, and just grow as if nothing happened, while the weed grasses growing around them turn brown and die. Great product.

Someone mentioned corn gluten. I have also read that this can be raked into your soil which keeps weeds from sprouting, it prevents the roots from developing. Since the asparagus already has roots developed I don't think it would hurt anything. This has to be applied after several leaves have developed on some plants. You can do a search on corn gluten weed control

I have a large aspargus bed and use Fusilade for controlling grasses. It's effective against bermuda grass. Tom

thank you TOm!

Active ingredient in both Grass B Gone and Fusilade is Fluazifop-p-Butyl. MSDS indicates it relatively benign. There are other products like Fusion which use this chemical alongside others to achieve results.