BERMUDA GRASS SPROUTS TURNING PURPLE! PLEASE HELP.
spazemouze
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
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spazemouze
3 years agomorpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Will this super-cold winter help stop Bermuda grass
Comments (30)So I guess you got the message somehow that cold weather will not defeat bermuda. Hope so because I'm sure that's what everyone meant to say. I almost hate to say this but bermuda is easily killed...without chemicals. If you live in the south and have St Augustine, all you have to do is make sure you water the St Aug and mow at the mower's highest setting. The bermuda should die out in a season or two. One of my neighbors (I can hear the groans) planted a yard full of bermuda sod next to his neighbor's St Aug. Within two years the St Aug had taken over about 20 feet into the bermuda. If you have fescue, all I can suggest is to plant as many fescue seeds as you can to try to make it more dense with your preferred grass. I'm experimenting with a type of shade tolerant zoysia that may choke out bermuda. The zoysia is very aggressive - in fact every bit as aggressive as bermuda. Last year the zoysia was just getting established in the area where I killed some bermuda (see below). This year I'll let them run wild and see what happens. I also killed an area of bermuda about 20x20 last year. I covered it with several inches of sand and several inches of mulch. There were less than a handful of bermuda sprigs that made it to the top. Except for moving the sand and mulch, that was as easy as it gets. The water advantage bermuda has over St Aug is that when the drought hits, bermuda goes dormant while St Aug goes dead. Once the rains or irrigation comes back, the bermuda will survive while the St Aug does not. So they say that St Aug takes more water. Otherwise both take the same amount. If you water incorrectly (too frequently) neither grass will do well. Bermuda is both aggressive and persistent. St Aug is less aggressive and much less persistent. My wife can clear an area of St Aug and it will remain clear until it reinvades. Bermuda can be cleared and in a week the entire area is fully growing with the persistent pieces left behind. Someone already said something to the effect of live and let live. A weed is an unwanted plant. If YOU want it, it is not a weed. If the OP doesn't want it, then it is a weed for purposes of THIS discussion, no matter how much one person or another likes it. rdaystrom, if you have 3 acres of bermuda, you need to consider converting 2 acres of that into a park for other recreation. Have you ever seen a 3-acre lawn in Better Homes and Gardens? Oops! I just remembered, you can't get rid of bermuda. Just thought I'd fan the flames, heh, heh!...See MoreBermuda Grass Seed Heads?
Comments (8)Boy this subject is getting a lot of traction this year. Yep by looking at the picture of your hand is Bermuda seed heads. So all I can say what is the problem? Seed heads are normal and caused by two things, stress and maturity. Stress is caused by many things most notably hot dry weather, drought, low soil fertility, PH levels, etc. The seed heads is a defense mechanism to preserve itself Maturity is letting the grass grow and it produces seed heads like any plant does to preserve itself and reproduce. It is possible you may be over watering or under watering. Being in Phoenix depending exactly where you are your soil type. or lack of soil I should say could be mountain granite rubble and sand, to out west toward Gilbert where soils tend to be sandy loam where all the commercial farming is. Also in Phoenix water tends to be salty. You need to learn how to let your grass tell you when to water by looking at it, then when needed soak it. With that said I just moved to the north of you up in Prescott. Right now we have to water every morning because like Phoenix we do not have soil, we have rubble and sand and thes 80/90 degree temps with bone dry air just sucks the water right out of everything. There is nothing in the soil to hold moisture. In Phoenix the problem is compounded with 100/110 temps, bone dry air, and being in the low valley you do not even cool off much at night like we do up here. So the answer to your water question does depend completely on your soil type. If it is the sandy gravel crap you will have to water everyday, and approach fertilizing differently. With th everyday watering and soiless conditions purges all nutrients out quickly as there is nothing to hold nutrients....See MoreLasagne Garden over Bermuda grass?
Comments (18)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....See MoreDrought helping me kill weeds and Bermuda grass
Comments (18)It seems that there are many recommendations for eradication. The one that worked for me, and allows me to plant immediately - dig it up, filter the stolens out, and plant. Bermuda can grow deep, survive drought and neglect. I overhauled a very large front yard with a simple tool - a square shovel (called an Irish shovel, don't know why)after enough rain to soften the soil. My lot is impenetrable ancient marine terrace of silt, clay and sand. It's fairly easy to sift the stolens from the dirt via a wire mesh on a frame that fits a wheel barrow, or you can simply throw out the grass layer. Yes, you can do solarization, you can do round-up, you can do rototilling for however long it takes... but imho the prep is everything. Fighting resprouting grass is miserable, neverending work. Spend the time up front sifting the bermuda grass out and spend zero weeding time fighting it later. My neighbor did not bother to remove the bermuda, and it comes back every year, even with mulch. Many of the previous posts are spot on - rototilling will not eliminate bermuda. The comment of 'tilling destroys the soil structure' is highly subjective to the type of soil. If I had not completely turned and amended my garden then nothing would grow. It would be helpful if you posted your soil type or did a 'jar test' so that others can make recommendations. Hope this helps ... diana...See Morespazemouze
3 years agospazemouze
3 years agomorpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)
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3 years agolast modified: 3 years agomorpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)
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3 years ago
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morpheuspa (6B/7A, E. PA)