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Organic Lawn Care

Organic Solutions to Oxalis, Bindweed and Bermuda Grass?

8 years ago

For years, my organic lawn care regimen has resulted in a gorgeous, lush, emerald carpet. But here in California, the drought grinds on. I've cut back on my watering as much as possible while still keeping my turf alive. What's frustrating is while my fescue is suffering, weeds like Oxalis, Bindweed and even Bermuda Grass seem to be thriving. Any suggestions for reliable organic solutions to these invaders?

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Comments (8)

kimmq
8 years ago
Very few of todays hybrid Fescues, or other turf grasses, are able to stand much drought and there is no reliable organic solution to controlling "weed" growth in lawns other than to grow a good thick turf. The mono culture that is todays lawn is not a good example of an organic lawn anyway.

kimmq is kimmsr
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User
8 years ago
AFTER the drought, change your fescue for a less water-hungry grass. And consider decreasing lawn area as much as possible, in favor of drought tolerant landscaping.

If your HOA requires lawn, get the rules changed NOW.

Buffalo and blue grama are western natives that make a decent turf and need way less water than fescue or bermuda.
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>How big of an area are you talking about?Rather small, actually. It's a small strip alongside the driveway, measuring something like 5' x 10'. >I'm going to go back to TW's first post and suggest that your friend should learn to love Bermuda.I suppose he could learn to love dandelions, oxalis and crabgrass as well, but that's really not an ideal suggestion for my fescue lawn or garden beds growing alongside it. I can't understand anyone who *chooses* to grow Bermuda grass. It's invasive to every other part of your landscape, ugly (compared to fescue anyway) and turns a lovely shade of brownish gray in the winter. :( Solarization sounds like the most effective choice, but lord, having a dead lawn next door for the next year hardly has me dancing for joy. But I appreciate the suggestions.
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I got rid of bermuda grass (and bindweed) in the paths around my garden plots at the community garden by pulling any stolons and rhizomes I could see, then putting down cardboard or newspaper and 6-8 inches of mulch. It went from being a constant lush nuisance to a once-in-awhile easy-to-pull straggler within one season. Also, since surrounding gardeners still allow it in their garden beds, the roots are fed and watered regularly. It has not reappeared in my garden beds. Other people who have mulched without the cardboard and prepulling have had it reappear, but (if they bothered to pull it) it's easier to pull when it comes up through thick mulch. Even in the paths near my garden where the gardeners do not mulch, I've found it satisfying to dig up the long stolons and rhizomes occasionally, and over time their number has decreased. I think the bg was such a huge problem because you started out by tilling. That's how bg is planted!! The stolons and rhizomes are cut up into little pieces, then scattered. Each one develops into a new plant. One of the people at the community garden digs and sifts the soil (half-inch mesh) down to about a foot when starting a new garden. He removes rocks as well as bg rhizomes that way. I would not use poison on food-growing soil.
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I use bonide as well. Actually just did my first application with it this weekend. I too applied to little, but in spots around my driveway and walkway (where I was trying to be careful not to get on the concrete), I actually saw the grass turn almost to a black color. I went back and re-read the directions and I did not apply enough to the whole yard. 1 gallon covers only 1k sq ft. My front yard is around 8600 sq ft and I only applied 4 gallons. I am going to start a new thread that show results of the applications, but here is a few pics of what I saw after a day or 2. Note for reason the grass isn't as green as it should be: 1) it is common Bermuda-seeded 2 years ago. 2) Haven't fertilized in over a month due to the rain 3) cut it very short last week to get back to the height I wanted the grass at. Cut 2 days apart and 2nd cut too over a little more than 1/3 of the blade. 4) I also am dealing with bumpy yard and uneven cut from my mower, which currently working on to improve.
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The common yellow oxalis we have here has tiny "bulbules" (sp?), which lurk 12 -18 inches under the ground. You can easily pull up the plants, of course, but those tiny bulb things stay under the soil, and up it comes again. I once had a gardener who decided to eradicate it from a flower bed which is about 12 feet long and 6 feet wide. He actually dug up the top 2 feet of soil, and sifted it by hand to get all of the tiny bulbs out. That worked for the first year, but by 2-3 years after he did that, back the oxalis came. So, being lazy, what I do is just admire it in the Spring, except where it is trying to smother other plants. Then just pull it out around those plants. By late Spring here it has died down, and I pretend it is gone. Of course, it comes up again the next Spring. It is one of our first blooming plants to bloom (starts Jan/Feb), so I just regard it as such and let it be mostly. One of my cats likes to eat it (we used to eat it as children - we called it "sour grass"). Jackie
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raymondo17
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks for the input, lazy_gardens. After your suggestion, I went on to YouTube and examined some videos showing Buffalo and Blue Grama grasses as lawns. Apparently they require much less water, and that's a definite plus, but I can't say I care for how it looks. I wonder how good it would look well-manicured? I am pretty partial to an emerald-green fescue lawn. If worse comes to worst, I'd probably replace the grass with a different kind of garden altogether as opposed to replacing it with a grass that goes brown in the winter. But I appreciate the suggestion.
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User
8 years ago
If you are wanting 12 months of green "lawn" you won't get that with drought tolerant.

Mowed UC Verde grass looks good - depending on climate you have 9 months or so of green.

http://ucverdebuffalograss.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/slider_41-946x360.jpg
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akarinz
8 years ago
Here's my UC Verde, after being mowed. It was planted a couple of months ago. So far I love it!
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raymondo17
Original Author
8 years ago
Akarinz, that lawn does look nice. What zone are you in? I'd be very curious to hear your progress reports as the seasons change.
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akarinz
8 years ago
I'm in Los Angeles County, based on my zip code I am in zone 10. I am also anxious to see the changes that will occur. Of course it depends on how cold the winter is, whether it browns out.
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HighColdDesert
8 years ago
You could research reusing greywater to water your landscape
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