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Sage, Arkansas

Me and my 4 kids are starting a new patch which has been pasture land for many years....it grows bermuda grass very well. What is the best way to kill the grasses this time of year. The grass is dormant now. Is there a chemical I can spray that will keep it from coming back...but will allow us to grow pumpkins? We live in Arkansas and it is currently about 50 degrees. Thanks Brian and kids.

2/16/2005 1:48:40 PM

[email protected]

You can light dormant Bermuda on fire & it will be back stronger than ever as soon as warm weather returns. Golf courses are spraying Roundup on their Bermuda fairways right now to kill weeds & the Bermuda will be beautiful in 8 weeks.

The best bet is to rent a sod cutter & get under the Bermuda. If you miss any, then spor spray Roundup until it stops coming back.

2/16/2005 3:21:58 PM

[email protected]

...then *spot* spray Roundup....

2/16/2005 3:22:26 PM

Ohio

Tremor, I know I asked you before but I forget again, How long after you spray round up can you plant, and why doesnt it stay in the soil long?

Brooks

2/16/2005 11:06:48 PM

Elk Grove,Ca USA

Forget Round up, been using a product called Puma, works well though in spendy and have to keep up with it. More like control it.

2/16/2005 11:23:07 PM

Esneux / Li�ge / BELGIUM

DON'T DO THAT ! You will kill all life and specially the worms who are precious slaves for the grower !
Just till your patch, the grass will decompose in the soil like "green fertiliser "(can't remember the word in english, cover crop?!).
After, if it's really necessary, you could use some chemicals to kill the weeds (but it works with the grower's arms).

I'm not heavy hitter, sure, but I think my advice is the best.

Sophie
Sophie

2/17/2005 3:13:48 AM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

but Bermuda grass is a *little more* (lol) resistant than our cover crops... I'd do it as Steve suggested, remove the whole sod and spray Roundup on everything that comes up again.
I am using Roundup a lot, it works well and I never had any problems...

Martin

2/17/2005 5:05:00 AM

Kenyon, Mn.

Dynamite works too!

2/17/2005 10:42:57 AM

[email protected]

I don't think a consumer can buy fenoxyprop (Puma).

Thea, have you been reading Rod Harbinson? I haven't seen a published & peer reviewed study yet that confirms these claims. But anything is possible. Heavy rains are toxic to Earthworms so why not Roundup?

You can plant the day after spraying Roundup since it has no soil activity at all.

2/17/2005 11:16:37 AM

Woodburn, Indiana

kerosene

2/17/2005 11:31:35 AM

Knopp, Germany

i removed 2000 sq ft of grass, about one inch down, shook out the dirt, and then carried it away with a wheel barrel. that was 2003, i am still feeling the pain. but it was worth it, i hope!!!

2/17/2005 11:50:00 AM

Utah

Owen-
went I started in my new patch ... I found a co-worker who was moving into a new house and looking for sod... So I only had to lift 1/2 of it out ! lol ! but we didn't shake the dirt out... and the depth of the sod cutter was at least 3 inches... so ... i guess what i am saying is ... been there done that ! lol !
it is worth when you finally have something to take to a weigh off.

2/17/2005 12:06:36 PM

Key West, FL

w3rd carlos, I was thinking similar, I was thinking gasoline though.

2/18/2005 1:48:14 AM

Knopp, Germany

Gorden, the key is in your last sentence, and after 4 splits last year I am still waiting...lol.

2/18/2005 2:31:05 AM

Utah

I had to wait a year. I pulled up the sod in the fall of 2002. 2003 I didn't get anything. then 2004 I did well. So I'm sure you'll do well this year !

2/18/2005 9:00:01 AM

Esneux / Li�ge / BELGIUM

You want to grow a plant with killing all the others...
The publicity told, a couple of year ago, that the farmer could drink Roundup without any problem...
Just look at the statistics. How many farmers (and others) got a cancer now...
Grow them big ! Hmmm...

2/18/2005 12:03:21 PM

Oakland, CA, USA

4 Kids, I have small plots to grow on at my house (under 300 sq. feet per plot) and they were completely overrun with bermuda grass when I started. What you do depends on whether or not you want to use chemical methods or mechanical (elbow grease). If you go with mechanical means, figure out what variety of bermuda grass you have. Is it a commercially grown variety (looks like a lawn grass) or the wild/weedy variety (looks nasty, with thin-bladed leaves and lots of runners)? Also, solarization is supposed to work (got it from one of the Ag Univerisity's weed-control sites), but that'll take all summer.
I'm sure Steve and others can give you all the specifics on round-up use, but I've been told it's best to water the hell out of the bermuda (so it puts out a lot of foliage) then zap it. Maybe that'll handle the commercial varieties; if you have the weedy/wild then wait a few months and water it a lot again (because it WILL come back a second time) and hit it again, and chances are good you'll need to do it a third and final time. That's from the experiences of family and friends (seen it online, too).
(cont.) -Erin.

2/18/2005 2:29:54 PM

Oakland, CA, USA

If you go mechanical, it sounds like (from the responses in this thread) the commercial varieties don't root and run rhizomes very deeply, but I can assure you the weedy varieties do! I had to dig through every square foot of my garden beds and break the clods up and separate out the rhizomes, roots, and vegetative bits. Some of the rhizomatic runners were down to 6" or so! However, that seemed to do the trick and I've had no re-infestations. Also, if you clear an area, but there is still bermuda around it's edges, put in some border-boards (about 4-6" deep and 4" above the surface) and that'll do a lot to prevent a re-infestation from the edges in. Keep an eye out for re-emergence (and don't think that picking the tops off is enough, you have to dig up the whole rhizome/root complex) and watch for aggressive surface runners coming over the tops of your border-boards (easy to spot). The mechanical method is hard work, but it really gets you into your soil so you know what's going on in there, and it definitely won't hurt your worms or biologicals. Also, if your kids are of an age and keeness, you can have them help you pick out the bits after you turn over the soil (dig it to the full depth of the shovel), as that is the most time-consuming and labor-intensive part of the job. Throw away or burn ALL of the bits, even stuff that looks long dead and dried up; don't compost it; any piece of this stuff can and will resprout. Two years on, my beds that got this treatment are bermuda-free, while continues to rage in the untreated areas and those where I only did a half-assed job.
-Erin.

2/18/2005 2:30:12 PM

Montoursville, PA

Has anyone mentioned wire grass? Bermuda can't hold a candle, to wire grass. If you have not dealt with it say, "Thank you Jesus". If you have I am reasonably sure you may have mentioned His name, in another context. :)

2/21/2005 11:11:09 AM

Abbotsford, B.C

Hmmm, I have a sort of similiar problem to you, 4-kids, my new "patch" right now is currently a field of dark green thick-leafed grass that is already over half an inch tall. Since I am not willing to wait a whole year to grow pumpkins (I'd die of boredom, can't think how I ever survived without growing them!), I need to eliminate the grass while still keeping the soil viable for growing giant pumpkins. We've finally moved down to our new house and will be taking possession on March 2nd, so that gives me... approximately two months to eliminate the grass. I haven't had a chance to investigate what type of grass it is, but I know that it has been cut in previous years as a hay crop, and that it is super-fast growing. Our new acreage is situated south-east of Abbotsford, for all you growers living in the Fraser Valley, B.C, and I'm not exactly sure which sort of grasses grow there. I do know, however, that the soil is super-fertile, so I am very lucky there. Any suggestions? Also I haven't checked how deep the topsoil is, I don't want to eliminate skim so far down that I take all the good soil with the grass. Any suggestions? Hope someone can help me here.

Cameron

2/21/2005 7:13:31 PM

Abbotsford, B.C

Sorry, in previous post, I meant to say half a foot!

2/21/2005 7:14:00 PM