Roundup (or better yet, the generic version) should work well. You may have to apply it twice or even three times. Do it in late spring when the grass is growing well. Water in between applications to trigger growth in what's still alive.

The one issue I would question is solarizing the yard. Is there a disease or pest you are trying to get rid of? Solarizing can eliminate certain problems, but also causes many. All the beneficial stuff is killed and until your soil recovers, it will lack many of the organisms needed for proper plant health.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I'm sure you have already thought about this, but as soon as you eliminate this pest, it will try to sneak back in from your neighbor's yard.

I know that the blasted stuff is hard to keep out of flower beds and such. The one positive I've seen with regard to Bermuda is that it seems to be more drought tolerant than fescue. Something to keep in mind if you don't have an irrigation system or care to drag hoses around the yard all summer.

I recently renovated my lawn which was invaded by bermuda, so I really feel your pain. Sounds like you've got a pretty good plan but remember, if the bermuda grass is not green and growing to the point where it needs it's first cutting - roundup won't touch it.

Roundup (glysophate) only works on actively growing green plants by preventing them from converting the simple sugars they create from photosynthesis into complex amino acids needed for survival. If it's not actively growing, round-up can touch it.

Apply it, wait a week, apply it again. Wait two weeks, and rototill it up and out. But keep in mind when you rototill it out you're going to be stirring up every possible dormant seed that's been in your soil for the last ten years.

To combat that problem you'll need a selective pre-emergent like Tupersan. This will kill bermuda grass (seeds and surviving stolans) as well as several other types of undesirables while not harming choice turf grasses such as fescues and kentucky bluegrass.

I was able to spray the stuff directly on my KBG grass seed after I rolled it out on the yard. It's a pretty dangerous chemical though so you'll want to read the warning labels dutifully and apply it when there's no chance of drift that can go near neighbors and pets.

It is, however, how golf courses have perfect transition lines between their bermuda fairways and their putting greens. ;-p

Thanks for the advice, will attack with extreme prejudice!

I found solarizing to be extremely effective on a new rose bed I was building and wouldn't hesitate to do it again and again. Don't use black plastic, use clear and leave it for the hottest months of the summer. It bakes thes seeds of all the stuff you've tilled to the surface, it kills the bugs and it does all that to a depth of about 8 inches. It's GREAT. I set mine up in June and left it covered until September. I still don't have BG. My earthworms left for a while, but when I uncovered, I put out stuff that was supposed to be very attractive to earthworms and they came right back.

Round Up doesn't work. I've actually used a propane torch on it and had it come back! If you can find a product called Grass B Gon, it works great. But find it, read the label and go to the Farmers co+op to get the generic of the active ingredient, it's a lot cheaper that way and it works.

Sandyr, if RoundUp (glyphosate) didn't kill your Bermuda grass it was either because you used it at the wrong time (when the grass was dormant / wintertime) or your glyphosate was bad.

Glyphosate applied to Bermuda grass on a warm summer morning will kill all growing Bermuda grass it comes in contact with. Even when used in the evening or on somewhat cooler days, it does a pretty good job of killing most of it. It won't kill the seed, but that's why 2 or 3 applications are sometimes needed. Many (and probably most) companies that rework yards choose glyphosate to kill Bermuda grass.

One thing that can happen with glyphosate is that it can go bad fairly quickly when mixed with dirty water. Mixed with normal tapwater, it usually stays good plenty long enough to apply it, but if left for hours or mixed with dirty water (from a creek, etc) it will become useless.

Although it's not usually necessary, I read an article written by Dr. Carl Whitcomb that recommended adding muratic acid (available where swimming pool supplies are sold) at a 1:100 ratio with tapwater to maximize the glyphosate's effectiveness by keeping the basic (non-acidic) chemicals dissolved in the tapwater from prematurely breaking down the glyphosate.

Wish in one hand...

huh?

At one of the Middle TN Plant Swaps a couple of years ago Cissy Ziech did a program on Lasagna Gardening. She reported that in her Memphis garden that Roundup was not totally effective in killing Bermuda and she had to resort to a different grass killer. I believe it was Grass Be Gon like arjo_reich said but am not positive. I would wait to till the garden until all the Bermuda was killed because the tiller will chop it to tiny pieces which will each grow to a new plant and multiply your problem.

Have you considered creating raised beds as in Lasagna Gardening? (If you're not familiar with that, do a search on GW and you'll get lots of info.) After killing the Bermuda, you wouldn't have to till where you intend to grow garden plants - only the lawn area.

One of the disadvantages of Grass-B-Gon is that it won't kill broadleaf weeds. The grass may be gone, but then you're left with everything else. If you want to also get rid of the weeds, using Grass-B-Gon would mean extra work and extra spraying.

P.S. ... This is a huge advantage of course if you are spraying in an existing bed. This is what Grass-B-Gon was designed for.

I'm reading this because the guy who plowed my garden afterward told me he had spread Bermuda grass seed in the pasture a couple of years ago, so I'm going to have a lot of hard work keeping the veggie garden free of Bermuda! I don't have time to wait for the Bermuda to come up and to spray it before planting the garden, so any eradication will have to be done post planting. Brandon thanks for reminding us that Grass Be Gon does not kill dicots.

Tupersan is a pre-emergent herbacide that is very effective at killing bermuda and crab grass seeds without harming other turf-grasses such as kentucky bluegrass, fescues, bentgrass, etc. I'm not sure of it's effect on other various dicots but it might be worth looking into because i know it's absolutely ineffective on dandelions which would be a dicot.

Thanks for the info - I looked on the PBI/Gordon Corporation website and finally found on the 4th page of the Tupersan product label PDF not to apply to crops used for food or feed purposes. That looks like a great product for lawns, though.

I have used the grass herbicide "Ornamec" & it kills the grass but doesn't harm other plants. read directions but if grass is a primary problem in established beds it does a good job

I went to the local farm store, told them I wanted "Grass Be Gon" and was sold Trifluralin 4EC, which I've just discovered is a preemergence herbicide selective to grasses. I'm going to still have to follow up with something to kill existing grass. Thanks bunches for the advice.