Solarizering to kill bermuda?

16 years ago

I am fighting bermuda grass in one of my mulched garden paths and in the garden bed next to it. My son is having the same problem in an area he tried to mulch for his daughter's playground area. If we spread black plastic, weighted down, for a few of these hot dry days, would it really kill the bermuda...like really dead? I could rebuild the garden bed with compost if it permanently harmed that area...it isn't really that large, but large enough that pulling bermuda is an issue for me.

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Comments (10)

cowgirl2
16 years ago
A few days of solarization is not sufficient. A few months might work. But it will just move from the path and bed to other places.

Several applications of Roundup during the growing season might work better. Apply with a Q-tip to the grass in the beds should prevent damage to other plants.
ceresone
16 years ago
nope. wont work, been there done that. might try a product called "over the top", if it still takes multiple sprayings-and still dont work very well.
This has to be a grass from Hell.
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I know this is an old thread, but I'd like to add the knowledge I've gained from battling bermuda grass over the years using only organic methods. I live on heavy clay soil and the bermuda grass is heaviest over the leach fields of our septic system. Because I can't plant anything but grass on the fields, I added lots of planting beds near and around the fields where the bermuda is the thickest, but didn't know how much of a pain that was going to be. So, to say the least, I've been whacking at the bermuda for years and learned the following: Digging it up is an almost useless undertaking mainly because of our thick clay soil. There's always enough missed that the stuff comes back fairly quickly. This is especially true if digging it up near a sidewalk or driveway. There is plenty of rhizomes under the pavement. Burning the stuff with a propane torch is fun at first but grows old quickly when you start seeing new green growth the following day. I also can't do extended burning sessions because I'm usually doing a remedial removal with good plants near the bermuda. I'm lucky enough to not burn the plants I want. Boiling water held promise when I tried it despite risking killing roots of my wanted plants. Though my first attempt at this was incredibly dangerous (super propane burner under a giant stainless pot filled with boiling water and a smaller pot to scoop and pour the water out). I saw definite slowing of the regrowth but I couldn't risk doing it the way I was. So I devised a plan to turn my propane torch into a continuous hot water flame thrower by getting thin copper tubing, turning it into a coil, and attaching it to the end of the torch. With the hose attached to the other end and a valve to adjust the water volume, I was able to torch and pour boiling water on the bermuda at the same time. Unfortunately, the bermuda just kinda laughed at the rig and kept growing. Industrial strength vinegar (ie, 20% acetic acid, and yes I know that stuff is quite dangerous) works wonders to kill the top growth, but sadly it just grows back. Now if you're putting in a new bed, thick paper or cardboard under the added soil or mulch will work, but only if timed correctly, more about that to follow. So what's left that an organic gardener has to kill this grass? The final thing in my arsenal is black plastic and not clear plastic. I've tried the clear in another area, albeit it didn't have bermuda in it, but it did have johnson grass and it loved the clear. The johnson grass just kept on growing. The black plastic I've used is the stuff meant to go in crawl spaces as the moisture barrier. It's thick, heavy, and comes in really large sizes. And it withstands the elements very well. I've used one piece now for a year and it doesn't show any UV damage that most plastics would show. Now there's a trick with using the black plastic. You have to time it right. If you want to kill the bermuda, do not put it down in the early spring to take it up in early summer or late summer for late fall removal. Because bermuda goes dormant where I live, the spring time use of the plastic will not really kill it as it is probably still dormant under the plastic. But, the interesting part is the fall timing. As cooler temps approach in late summer, the bermuda starts going dormant even though it is still green. It starts storing more in its roots. So, even if you smother it then, it will come back in the spring. I learned this dearly when using the thick paper method of killing the stuff for a new bed. The paper did its job to kill the bermuda for that year, but in the following spring when the paper degraded in the soil, the bermuda came back with a vengeance. So time laying the plastic out in the early summer to at least late summer. That should ensure total removal. Of course, if you're paranoid, like me at times, leave it longer. Now, there's another problem with thick, black plastic. You really can't use it in already established beds because it will choke out your good plants and probably wreak havoc with your soil. It works wonders for killing this stuff before establishing new beds and for areas without plantings like walk paths. But what do you do with established plantings? This year I got a new weapon. Woven black plastic: http://www.groworganic.com/sunbelt-weed-fabric-3-x-50-roll.html The stuff lets air and moisture to pass through while keeping a total blackout for the soil surface. I haven't yet tried it on my bermuda as it is still dormant-ish, but I have some ready at first signs. It looks extremely promising as the material is thick and just as light blocking as the black plastic for a crawl space moisture barrier. And it should work just fine around my already established plantings.
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Existing rhizomes that grew in under the concrete (and were there from the start) but whose parent plants are outside the concrete range are likely to survive, unless the area beneath is so large that it chokes out oxygen from the soil. So you can get a resprouting daughter plant from one of those because it never really was in the dark, per se, any more than a rhizome always is. And while rhizomes do tend to be fairly short, there are certainly ones that go rather hefty distances just by random chance! They've gone under the barrier of my retaining wall with no problems to pop up on the other side, which is also three feet higher.
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arjo_reich
16 years ago
It's a little off topic in regards to bermuda grass but when I solarize to clear a spot for gardening I typically use an old, clear shower curtain liner...although I suppose any clear, heavy plastic would be fine.

Water down the area thoroughly and place the clear plastic over the area and weight it down with bricks. The sun hitting the clear plastic seams to almost steam-pasteurize the soil underneath it. ;-p
habitat_gardener
16 years ago
ha ha ha ha ha...."kill bermuda?" no. I've seen solarizing and various weed fabrics make it stronger.

But you can control it by putting down 1-2 layers of cardboard or 3-6 layers of newspaper, then adding 6-10 inches of mulch. The mulch will make it easier to pull up the bermuda that comes through, so you have to be diligent. Eventually the roots will give up, if you don't let any green parts survive to make more food for the roots.

I essentially got rid of bermuda and bindweed in the paths at my community garden by doing this, within a season or so. I really like pulling up bermuda grass, so I miss it, sort of.
buford
16 years ago
Here's how to kill bermuda grass. Have it as your lawn. Have a drought Conditions with 100 degree hot dry sunny days and water restrictions. It will die.
buford
16 years ago
Of course 2 feet away in your flower beds, it will be growing like crazy.....
dchall_san_antonio
16 years ago
What you are calling solarization is not what I call solarization. What we called solarization back in the 1970s used clear plastic to steam the grass and soil underneath. Of course you have to have bright sun. The technique with black plastic is called shading. It might work against bermuda because bermuda really needs a lot of sunlight.

I put 2-3 inches of sand and 2 inches of mulch down on top of bermuda and very little of it regrew. The sand and mulch technique is called smothering and works with most grasses by blocking the sunlight.
jdwhitaker
16 years ago
I use herbicide to kill bermuda--wish I could avoid it but is really is the only quick way without doing a ton of work (completely removing the soil at least 6 inches down...probably more).

Complete shade will kill it, but it will take pretty much an entire growing season. Solarizing implies using heat--that won't kill the roots deep in the soil. The complete lack of light under the plastic is what will eventually eradicate the grass.

Once you've killed it, you need to put in some edging that goes several inches above and below ground. Then keep close watch in your garden--pull or spray any bermuda you see invading immediately, as it can get out of hand in a hurry.

Mulch helps a little...mainly makes it easier to pull up the grass. Tall plants that completely shade the ground help a lot as well--you won't see bermuda in a garden filled with four o'clocks.
andreajoy
16 years ago
solarizing is removing plant growth, tilling the soil (VERY BAD when it comes to bermuda grass!), wetting the soil thoroughly, and using clear plastic...no thicker than 4 mil, for at least four weeks in the HEAT of summer. you need to have the plastic as close to the soil as possible and you hold it down my digging a trench and burying the plastic into the trench.

i'm solarizing one of my raised beds right now for nematodes and on just the edges of this raised bed there are a few sprigs of bermuda grass that have somehow found thier way into this bed....i thought "cool, they'll die with this solarization!" because i've been pulling them for a few years now. no such luck. they're growing under the plastic like there's no tomorrow. this plastic has been down for four weeks now and i've had nothing but 90+ degree days...and i'm in the middle of a heatwave of over 100 degree days! this raised bed is in FULL SUN all day!

so...if solarization can't even kill a few sprigs, i doubt it will kill a whole patch!
dchall_san_antonio
16 years ago
We are cooling off at least temporarily. We have had a very cool and wet summer. Considering the drought we were in last year, this is good.

We covered our bermuda in May, about 3 months into the growing season here. In retrospect, where we used both sand an mulch, 99.99% of it never came through the sand and mulch. I'm calling it officially killed out. The effect is especially dramatic when you look at it because we also covered an adjacent area with sand and no mulch at the same time. That area is 100% bermuda now. We park our car on it, so it's nice to have something green there. Next season I'll put some St Augustine in there and see how that does. I should have done it this year with all the rains. Hindsight = 20:20

Solarizering to kill bermuda?

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cowgirl2

ceresone

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