Spring is here, it's finally quit snowing, and time to dig in the dirt! I arm myself with bucket, shovel, clippers, and a handy little three prong digger. Off I go in to the great outdoors! Flower beds! Yes! I need flower beds! Hmmm...previous home owner must have moved some things around, I spy some things coming up in odd spots. No problem, I have digging implements! Dig, dig, shift, shift, mulch, mulch. Ahhhh....the daffodils look much better in a flower bed instead of a foot out into the yard. A nice brick border would look great along that bed as well. Dig, dig. Tug, tug. Scratch, scratch with my three prong digger. Dig some more. Grrrr...what IS this stuff???? Back inside to the handy dandy internet. OMG! O..M..G!!! I have BERMUDA GRASS!!! Horrors!!! Two backbreaking days later, I have the brick border down, and have moved on to the rather pathetic little flower bed out by the corner at the street. Oh Dear Lord, what kind of people lived here before I did? Not only is there bermuda grass growing in that one, it's LOVING the black plastic trash bags they saw fit to put down, and then put several inches of dirt on top. The roots of the bermuda grass have formed a nearly impenetrable mat under the plastic. And because it's plastic, it's doing what they say plastic won't do, breaking down. Bits are sticking up above the dirt. There's holes in it that the grass has grown thru. A nearby tree has woven it's roots in the plastic. Another day of digging with that three prong digger. Scratch the dirt loose, dig out the roots, scratch some more. Easily have dug 20 gallons of bermuda grass out of a flower bed that's about 2' x 3' and I'm not done yet. God bless whoever made that little three prong digger. When I'm buried, I want it with me. Just in case I have to dig thru some bermuda grass.

After a fall of 2013 reno my tall fescue lawn has now been infected with bermuda. Due to the location my guess is it washed into my lawn from the neighbors horrible mess of a weedy lawn. It's really a bummer since this year I have had very little in the way of weeds. Anyway, my plan right now is to hit it with a mix of Bayer Advanced Bermuda Grass Control and triclopyr. I picked up several bottles at Wally World on clearance for $7 each. Problem is these are the hose end type sprayer bottles and I only plan on spot spraying with a pump up sprayer. This is Fenoxaprop-p-ethyl 0.41% so I'm trying to figure out how much to mix per gallon of water to spot spray. Anybody have any ideas? I really don't want to blanket spray the entire area plus I feel that spot spraying without all the extra water should give better results. I'll add 1 to 2 ounces of CCO per gallon depending on the forecasted temps but just wondering if anyone (hey Morph!) has any ideas on the Bayer stuff or is there a better plan outside of nuking it?

Ok, I get it. You don't want to name the place where you live. I used to spend a lot of time in El Monte, so I'm going to infer that you live close by there. I would strongly suggest you eliminate the Marathon completely. It is a water hog that far inland in the summer heat. I'm convinced that the mass marketing of Marathon I, II, and III is one of the big contributors to the current water shortage. If you lived west of I-5 then you might have a chance with it. West of the 405, certainly. But out in the area(ish) where you are it is too warm for a cool season grass. You can make it work, but the cost in water is too high for the state. Please consider doing your part to ending the water shortages. Alternative turf grasses for your area are bermuda, which you are familiar with, St Augustine, a coarse bladed grass that tolerates heat very well and is easy to care for, or some of the zoysias. If you have full sun, then an excellent choice would be UC Verde buffalo grass. This is a variant of the prairie grass that needs very little water to thrive. It may be green all year in your area depending on your altitude. Another benefit over other buffalo grasses is the UC Verde is very dense and never gets seed heads. The density fights off weeds and also means it never needs to be reseeded. All the warm season grasses are creepers so you have to keep them out of the flower beds somehow. But you chose where to live. You might be able to see some turf grass alternatives in action at the Huntington Library or Descanso Gardens.

Hi Lindon, and thanks for your reply. I suppose I should have been a little more specific as to the times of the year I'm concerned about. I'm not worried about trying to get the bermuda to spread in the fall of course, so I'm not concerned with inhibited growth from applying the Dimension. I have to kindly disagree about weeds germinating in the winter. Hairy bittercress, Chickweed, wild onion, and Poa Annua just to name a few, actually do germinate over the winter in my area, especially with the occasional warm spell. This past February my bermuda looked pretty terrible in spots due to these weeds. Which is also why I chose Dimension over Prodiamine. I know it doesn't last as long and is a little more expensive, but it also controls broadleaf weeds and Prodiamine doesn't. I'm gonna go ahead and do a winter application at about December 1, and, will probably even spot treat with Roundup on occasion if I have to (obviously I have to be 100% certain the bermuda is dormant for that.) As for the spring application of Dimension, your info is encouraging. Above ground runners don't really seem to rev up until early summer for me anyway, so if I apply it in March, then it should wear off just in time for those to get going, and also for me to plug if I want (which for some reason I find really fun :)). Then as far as summer weeds popping up I'll have to spot treat or use a little post emergent. Thanks again