nah... roundup actually breaks down fast... as a matter of fact, i liken it to something really basic.. (acid vs basic) something that is so strong chemically that it burns the leaves... so if there are no leaves... then it wont do anything...

like if you put round up on a tree trunk, it wont do anything,,,, but on the leaves it will..
d

garden vinegar works too..

The Roundup label states three days. I've never had a problem after a couple of days. Make sure that you use regular Roundup. There is an "Extended Control" Roundup that lasts up to three months.

You've actually been able to kill Bermuda with garden vinegar? Heaven knows I've killed tomatoes with regular vinegar, but bermuda, and nut grass, and honeysuckle have been such pains in the posterior without roundup or digging and digging and digging and digging...

dittos, jtyrie
Be sure it is PLAIN RoundUp (or other straight glyphosate). If you want to be real sure, drag out your treatments over 2 weeks - re-spraying every 5-6 days. You want to be sure there are NO live roots. Saves LOTS of weeding later.

I've heard/read that you can plant a few days after applying Roundup, too, and haven't had any problems at all. It's a systemic that goes down the leaves and kills the root. You can read the directions on the bottle or look it up on Google and find out just how to use it. I've had great luck in making flower beds by using Roundup repeatedly like every week or so for a few weeks, then putting cardboard down and covering with landscape soil, then mulch. Sorta like the lazy man's way... Like Justintx mentioned, make sure it is all dead because you don't want to be pulling up later. Good luck!

Here's one more reason not to use Roundup....

Here is a link that might be useful: Are you sure you want to use Roundup?

I knew it would come to this.

OK, just be sure not to spill any on your embryoes!!!

In my experience, what works best is to spray the Bermuda with RoundUp, wait a few days and spray it again. That helps to ensure that it's all dead. Bermuda is the cockroach of grasses -- it is very hard to kill. If you cut corners, it will make you pay. But you can plant in the area within days without any problems. Good luck.

Carla in Rowlett

I've been trying to kill an infestation of Asian jasmine. So far, Roundup has hardly fazed it. I also hit it with Wipeout. I spoke with a gentleman at the Extension Service, who informed me that the leaves have a waxy coat, which seals them against herbicides. He went on to say that I should have better luck when new growth begins to appear. From what I've since read, it appears that Roundup is most effective on plants that are actively growing. Don't know if this would apply to Bermuda.

It will kill the grass now I have been working on some for a while now .

what i want dead is nutgrass... roundup just burns it a bit..

d

You had said originally that you wanted to create a raised bed, and that you were just planning to kill the grass beneath it, right? How about, instead of killing the grass with pesticides, etc, you think about lasagna gardening? You can put the base of your raised garden bed down, see where you need to start the layering, and then put the first layer of newspaper down. I was reading all about it on several sites, and it seems fun, and pretty inexpensive, compared to some of the alternatives.

Glyphosate (RoundUp) is really a better grass killer than broadleaf/sedge killer. Nutsedge is tough and takes a different approach (look into Image or Manage - can't remember which or both are used on nutsedge). I wouldn't want glyphosate on ANY valued broadleaf or tree, but there is a reason farmers can use it amongst growing crops.

I build my veg beds via the lasagne method or layered compost method instead of digging up bermuda and st. augustine. So far it has worked well. I suppose it has been 6 weeks. I built them, let them settle (break down), added soil then blood meal (to encourage composting). I started planting last weekend. I used cardboard boxes for the first layer instead of newspapers. Second layer was partially composted horse manure with sawdust, second was coffee grounds, then dried leaves. Put blood meal on that after about 2 weeks to encourage more composting, then added the soil (and more blood meal). The coffee made the earthworms very happy!

I'm having the same trouble trying to get rid of bermuda grass. I have try to dig up the ones I can. Then spraying round up. You could also try putting newspaper or cardboard box and then lay mulch over it. That is what some people recommended me. I'm going to try it once I take the top layer of the dirt off.

I put a large piece of black plastic down to cover a 20 x 4 ft. area. Yes it supposedly kills everything, including worms and grubs, but I had had it with the burmuda grass. Then when my sod arrived, I posted on Craigslist for someone to come lay the sod and this fantastic movie star looking male college student showed up in a tank top, muscles bulging, and tilled the ground with a sledge hammer thingy and laid the grass, perfectly. What a lovely afternoon that was!

Thanks everyone for the replies. It's been a week since I started the first spray on the area. Since the grass was dormant, I could not tell if it's working. When I do see any green coming up, I again spray, then wait a couples of days, then spray again. I'm going to wait another week to see if any more growth will peep through.

What seems to kill the Bermuda is where my dog has done her thing. There are plenty of area that are clearly dead. I'm working on training her to go directly in the garden area :-)

For those who suggested on doing the lasagna garden over the bermuda, I think I read also that if you don't kill the roots, it will just grow into the card board, etc over time.

I don't recall where I read that, but could you all clarify if the lasagna method will work over bermuda?

Thanks!

I tried lasagne over bermuda. what I have now, 4 years later is a very beautiful Bermuda garden. I have opted to use roundup on the plot to kill the bermuda then begin the lasagna process again sans cardboard.

PLEASE, PLEASE use Round-up as many applications as you can bear. THEN cover with cardboard and proceed. Kill the grass first !!!! or the roots will eventually work their way up through the decomposed cardboard and, in my case, 2 feet of new bedding material. The grass roots go so far down, it is impossible to dig or pull it up. I read somewhere that just a small separated nubbin of Bermuda grass root will sprout a clump of grass.. What a mess! I am now thinking of just clipping the grass in my raised rose garden which is entering it's third year!

red_geranium refects my experiance.
Except for 2 spots I had. One an ally bed that got blazing west sun. I put up that cute little wire bed edging fence. Laid down a thick layer of wet newspapers, then proceeded to dump grass clippings and shredded leaves. Layers and layers of them up to the top of that wire edging...over a period of about 9 months and then let it just sit. I pulled any weeds or grass that did poke through. Not much did and it was easy to pull due to the composting going on underneath. . Then I planted the whole thing with huge red cannas and artemisia at the front.
Very little grass and weeds grow there now.
It worked for that area, because it was in the alley and I could just leave it that way for a long time before planting. Once planted no light gets to the grass so it doesn't try to grow anymore, by the time it warms up enough to trigger the grass the cannas have blocked the light from getting through.

The other area was along the side of the house. I did pretty much the same thing. It took several years of constant composting to kill off the grass. But I also had to do a lot of pulling as well. It wasn't planted with cannas, but daisies, roses and moonflower bush and 4 o'clocks. I still had to weed and pull grass in that bed but it was much easier to pull stuff out since the clay had turned to nice garden soil.

Most people don't want a huge pile of composting going on in their beds for over a year, and don't want to plant as thickly as I did, so yes, you have to kill the grass first.

The lasagne method is a wonderful way to get fabulous soil without much work or effort, but it is definitely not a way to kill Bermuda grass. I've been fighting Bermuda for years and the only method that works (for me) is RoundUp. Bermuda is definitely the cockroach of grasses -- it will survive.

Carla in Rowlett

we have a Bermuda lawn--with weeds like crabgrass--and we don't do organic--my husband is just not that patient--

now that you can use MSMA what works to kill crabgrass

*Sigh* Round Up for the blasted Bermuda and Amdro for the blasted fire ants. I'd rather go all organic but my natives can't handle this darn grass and I cannot kill it organically. I've also tried solarization, high acid vinegar,boiling water and even SALT on a sidewalk crack!
The good that planting a Bermuda-free native garden does outweighs the negatives of using Round Up. I'm allergic to ant stings the Fire ants have to go. I tried the orange oil, molasses and dish soap but I couldn't keep up.

Lol at bluelake and her yard help. =)

Yeah, I got a kick outa that too... :)

If only....