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Cool season invasive grass in dormant bermuda

9 years ago

I have some grass growing in my dormant bermuda. There is also some other weed but it is the grass that concerns me because this same area is usually dead or dormant in summer. I have some drainage issues here because there is only about 8 inches of soil above an underground rain harvest tank. Previously it was covered with sand and the tank surface was porous and appeared to drain too quickly as it was always dead. I placed EPDM sheet on top of tank geotextile and replaced sand with soil and now I might not have good enough drainage. Nonetheless, for a good part of that area the bermuda has adapted and this may have nothing to do with what is growing now. This same grass growing in January in Austin is along a normally shady area, which I can understand, but not why it is in the middle. I also get nutsedge growing in parts during the summer, for what its worth. What is this grass?

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Comments (5)

apundt-tx
9 years ago
Looks like poa annua. Just spot spray that area with round up or vinegar and it will disappear
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mightyquinnaty
9 years ago
Can you make the pictures any smaller? :) All jokes aside, a larger picture would help but it does look like Poa to me too. I am not a fan of spraying Round Up on Bermuda when it is dormant. Even though it "can" be done you still risk killing it and having bare spots come Spring time. Some of the bermuda wakes up occasionally during the winter when temperatures rise into the 60's, if you look down deep into the grass canopy you can sometimes find little green shoots of grass.

Go to the big box store and get some Image Kills Grass weed killer and spray that on the weeds. You may also want to look into getting a Pre emergent down to help prevent other weeds from growing in your lawn.

Here is a link that might be useful: This will help also
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Taken last night, just for you. http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1174/bermudafescuecomparison.jpg That brown grass on the top is bermuda as of yesterday. Not a green blade in sight. The grass adjoining that space is fescue and look how beautiful and dark green that is. Bermuda does not hold a candle to that color which is why fescue is used so much in professionally designed landscapes. Bermuda doesn't just "show the winter season" as you put it. It's brown in fall, winter and spring. And if it's dry summer, it's brown in summer. Heck, you're in Athens, you know it snowed here this week. Bermuda will not be green for some time to come. The only green bermuda you see is the lawns that have been taken over by weeds, which is most of them that haven't used pre-ermegent in the fall. Believe me, you don't want to be stuck with a brown, weed infested, ugly lawn while everyone else has a gorgeous lush fescue or thermal bluegrass lawn. You're in Athens,GA I'm sure you've heard of the term "Gnat line" being used. Well warm season grass is for areas "below the gnat line".
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Alright so the first pics are where I tore up bentgrass. The seed I planted in some spots isn't taking so well, not sure if it will come up soon or what. It's been 8 days since planting. I used Jonathan green black beauty ultra and a mix of pennington rye grass. I used this to cover the seed https://foxfarmfertilizer.com/item/happy-frog-soil-conditioner.html In the yellow spots in between the bare spot you see, I didn't tear out because there was some bluegrass I wanted to see if it would spread. The dead bent probably won't break down fast as I would like. The bermuda for the most part is just a single stalk in the lawn. It's worse in the driveway where it's going to seed and there is some runners that are creeping on the road
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dchall_san_antonio
9 years ago
What is your normal watering schedule? How often and for how long? You should not be getting nutsedge in Texas - it's a swamp grass. Or you might have green kyllinga, a look-alike sedge for nutsedge. Green kyllinga absolutely loves neglect.
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bwanap
Original Author
9 years ago
Lol, did not realize the pics were so small!

Yes it could be kyllinga, definitely a sedge.
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mightyquinnaty
9 years ago
Kill that stuff now and look into getting a good Pre Emergent down to keep anymore from coming up.
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