Controlling Bermudagrass with Chemical Sprays

Q. We are doing a lawn conversion to desert landscaping in the front. Our lawn has a lot of Bermudagrass along with the fescue. Our contractor told us to wait until May before spraying the lawn and killing the grass otherwise the Bermudagrass will grow back. Is that accurate? 

Common Bermudagrass and how it spreads from place to place with horizontal grow called stolons. In common Bermudagrass this kind of growth is extremely aggressive and invasive. When selecting Bermudagrass as a lawn grass, common Bermuda grass is not used unless you are nuts or cheapskate. It's going to cause nothing but problems. Common Bermuda grass is a pasture grass for feeding cows and horses during the summer months.

A. I need to do a podcast on controlling Bermudagrass, particularly which chemicals to use and why Roundup sometimes works and sometimes doesn't seem to work and alternatives to Roundup.

Your contractor timing is right. Bermudagrass “wakes up” around the end of March or early April. Spraying a weed killer for Bermudagrass before that has limited success, if it kills it at all. Bermudagrass should be growing happily to get the best control. The worst control comes by spraying it when it is first waking up or when it is under stress. So, don’t stress it with a lack of water or fertilizer for spraying.

            The second part is wishful thinking and maybe a little bit of sales. Don’t expect 100% control of Bermudagrass after it is sprayed. It will never happen. You might get 75% or more but not 100%. The only way of getting it under control is with repeat killing, pulling or hoeing of anything green as it pops out of the ground.

            If you stay on top of controlling it the first year, you will probably get about 95% control by the end of the season. If you let its new growth get out of control, you will probably be fighting it for years and never get rid of it. It is important to get rid of new growth as soon as you see it.

            The safest weed killer to spray around landscape plants is a product called Fusilade. Yes, I have actually used it around fruit trees and it works. Have some around after the landscape has been installed. Roundup is usually used for the first kill by a contractor. But Fusilade, unlike Roundup, only kills grasses. 

Another similar product to Fusilade is Poast. It just works slower. So, both can be sprayed near flowers, trees or shrubs that have Bermudagrass invading their spaces. If you accidentally spray landscape plants, it won’t harm them. If you are really careful and know how to apply a spray evenly and the proper amount, it can kill bermudagrass growing in a fescue lawn. But if you are not careful and damage your lawn, don't blame me!