Surrender!

I noticed in my own unscientific observations that those who have afternoon shade on the cool season lawns are having an easier time with the lawn right now. There's stuff out there to deal with bermuda encroachment. They sell it at lesco and it's real expensive. Since common bermuda initially spreads by seed you'd want to use a pre-emergent. Easier said than done when you have to overseed, I know.

They have a chemical to control bermuda in fescue. It is called turflon ester. You won't find it at a box store, but many garden centers carry it.

On the plus side, it will knock back bermuda without hurting the fescue. On the down side, the bermuda comes back. The stuff is pretty expensive, so repeated applications will get costly for something that isn't actually killing all the bermuda.

Bill and Texas-Weed give good advise. You can pretty much win the war on bermuda in TTF if you REALLY want to go all out to do it. If not, Texas-Weed has the cheapest and easiest solution.

If you do a search on this board you'll see how I did it. And, even at that, I had to re-do a small area in my TTF yard where it came back after 5 years.

A half hearted war will be won by bermuda so long as it has sun.

Some of the threads

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/lawns/msg0714435626037.html

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/lawns/msg091314566667.html

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/lawns/msg071405573996.html

I'm in the same boat is the rest of you. I've lived in this house for about 18 months and had a decent TTTF yard. Now, I've got bermuda invading from the back, left and right. As I was mowing this weekend, I feel I am doomed! DOOMED!!!

Yeah, I've read some of those threads some time ago...actually forgot about them. I do remember the pain and hassle it was for most of you guys to try to rid this devil grass from your lawns. I must hav brought it in with a load of top soil, because I never had it before and it's not around my area.

Not sure at my age if I have the energy to fight this crap anymore.

I talked to Pennington Seed sales rep about killing bermuda. I don't have any proof, but here's what she recommended:

Green Light, Bermuda Killer
Turflon Ester
Vantage

I'd be curious if anyone has had any experience with any of these.

I am familiar with Green Light Bermuda Killer, it is their product name for Turflon Ester. Bermuda Killer is misleading, it only suppresses. Eventually the Bermuda will come back in force. Bermuda roots can reach as much as 20-feet deep, and unless you can remove all the root structure, it will come back it is just a matter of time.

So far, the best method I have come up with is mechanical. Basically, I soak the invaded area. I mean really soak it so that is soggy - not moist - soggy. Then I use one of those fork style weeders and jam it down into the base of the bermuda. I wiggle the weed while working the fork to lift it up. The roots are cable-like, so with a little patience, you can get the whole thing out. It is slow and a pain in the rear, but you can get the stray bermuda out of fescue that way as long as you get it early.

Plant more shade trees. Bermuda and shade trees do not mix.

Plant more shade trees. Bermuda and shade trees do not mix.

Bingo. I dealt with a small 8'x10' or so patch of bermuda in my TTTF lawn this past year. I have pretty good shade coverage from my 7 mature pecan trees. I nuked the bermuda last fall, then overseeded. So far, I haven't seen any of the stuff back...I'm pretty sure that's because the area wasn't ideal for bermuda to begin with (then again, I'm not sure how it got there in the first place, as there's no bermuda within 100' of that particular area).

ORNAMEC

http://www.pbigordon.com/professional/page.php?id=310

You don't have to surrender! I have succesfully killed bermuda from now Kentucky Bluegrass lawn. It's possible, it just requires the proper tools and diligence.

I'm telling you, I didn't have some bermuda grass mixed in the Fescue, it was a bermuda lawn!!!

Don't give up, just fight back. Shock and awe the socker with Turflon and you will see the difference.

Another thing you can do is apply a handful of fertilizer to the areas infested with bermudagrass and water, in a few days the treated area will be ready for planting.

I hope this helps.

Seems that everyone has their own method of removal, but the golden question is does trhe bermuda stay gone? :) Those roots are pretty deep and spread out. The only place I have it is in full sun all day long and hard-baked.

I don't understand why you can't paint RU on the runners and kill it. It kills everything else.

anti_lawnman - how effective is Ornemec? I've seen it at the store.

Jimtnc,

Located in Western NC and I am in the same sinking boat with the Common Bermuda Patches. I have not used any of these products minus Round UP when I was killing off big patches. I am like you with no tress and huge areas of SUN! Looking at the specs of Ornemec, it usues the words "controls" bermuda grass.

I'm located in Cary, Central NC.

Painting the the runners and some of the bermuda grass leaves with roundup will do the job WITHOUT harming the Fescue.

Golf courses up here grow Bentgrass on the greens, and Bermudagrass (hybrid) grows right next to it without barriers/borders. Yet, the Bermuda is incaple of invading the Bent. However, the Bermuda is dormant for approx. 6 months and during that time the Bent easely invates the Bermuda. So you call Bermuda the "evil grass" think again.

Bentgrass is nearly impossible to get rid of.

Bermudagrass can be killed and controled up here in our neck of the woods.

Use roundup and let the sucker die, then dig out the roots and plant new Fescue seed.

Perennial Ryegrass is also known for its agressiveness against Bermuda or any other grass that matter. It mixes nicely with Fescue. So go right ahead and overseed your Fescue lawn with some Turf-Type Perennial Ryegrass.

Jim,

I am quite certain that if it not for my shade, I'd be infested with the stuff. All my neighbors have been overtaken.

I wouldn't fight it, JMHO. Just do the usual overseeding, etc. every year. I am of the opinion that Lucifer himself planted that crap. It always comes back.

theaerator - LOL...good observations!

Thanks guys. There's probably not much I can do to completely eradicate this stuff since I don't have the time nor the energy to stay with it, but I think I might try to paint the stuff with RU a few times and see what happens. Again, I don't understand how RU can kill everything else in sight by the plants sucking the RU into the root system, and doesns't much faze bermuda. Just pisses me off.

After 7 apps of roundup last summer I have just discovered some bermuda in my back yard. Makes me want to scream.

I like things that are easy to grow but I don't like growing plants that I don't have the power to kill either.

And TeeDub mentioned the roots can be 20 feet deep. Well on the bermuda sod I tried to take out last summer it was only 2 years old and the roots only went down about a foot which I learned from digging holes for the fence and even still it is immortal. We really shouldn't be planting this stuff if we have no sure fire way to get rid of it.

There are two types of bermuda problems.

There's encroachment from neighboring lawns which can be a real problem if you don't continually maintain a border of dead grass with roundup and possibly the turflon ester or one of those.
Then there's common bermuda spreading by seed similar to how other lawn weeds would come about. The seeds are incredibly small and wouldn't take much to be carried a considerable distance by wind or water. In this case you're dealing with individial little grass plants that may be difficult to spot until it's too late. Or it may just come up everywhere.

I feel your pain... I know all about it...

Look at this picture:

{{gwi:97673}}

That was Fall 2006 after installing a 6" border to prevent the common Bermuda to spread onto my Bluegrass. So far is working, but some seeds still manage cross over and germinate - even with Crabgrass pre-emergent.

Next week in the middle of the night, I'm going to get the hose out, attach the mixer to it, add Turflon, and spray the entire area without my neighbor knowing...:-)

^^^I hope that border runs deep. Bermuda roots/rhizomes will grow right under things.

That's a misconception. Most of the rizome activity happens in the first 4 to 5 inches of soil. The roots that go deeper are not rizomes, just the main root systems that helps the bermuda survive droughts.

I haven't seen a single root pop out of the grown.

Like I said, I'm going to spray the Bermuda Control liquid in the middle of the night sometime this week...

The ornamec does work and should be used as directed. More is not better when mixing the solution. My Tall Fescue that was sprayed by the ornamec changed colors for about a week but it did get rid of the Bermuda. If you have a yard full of bermuda I would go with RU. Minimum of 5 applications during the heat of summer when it is thriving and even water or possibly fertilize in between to help the bermuda soak up the RU. I would then use Ornamec to sustain the gain the next season. My problem is the neighbors who don't care to have their plague like grass invade your yard.I am fighting a continuous battle with the neighbors grass.

anti_lawnman - thanks. I might be trying that Ornemec stuff if the RU painting doesn't work. I happen to already have a 2.5 gal container of 41% Glyphosate concentrated RU generic that I'm raring to get started using.

Oh and by the way, that RU generic mixes 1.6ounce per gallon of water and already has a surfactant mixed in for $45 a container. Not bad. Should last me 3-4 years.