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seanberry74

Bermuda Grass??

10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago

In Kentucky with tall fescue lawn. Many years, I have the same problem with a weed that starts out in early summer and spreads to large sections of the lawn completely taking over the fescue. Looking through images, it mostly resembles bermuda grass, but would like to verify before attempting to treat.

In the same area, there are longer slender strands that has multiple roots. I think it's the same weed because it's usually in the same area at the same time, but looks different.

I use a pre-emergent in the spring and fall and regularly weed and feed the lawn. Typical weed killers do not seem to touch this stuff.

Comments (4)

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Typical weed killers won't touch it because they're for broadleaf weeds in grass. This weed is a grass growing in grass.

    Weed-&-feed is a waste of time and money because one or both of the 2 active ingredients in the combo will be applied at the wrong time.

    Further, the weed portion is against broadleaf stuff, not grasses.


    Where do you live?

    Sean Berry thanked Jean
  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Bermuda is a warm season grass that needs pretty warm soil temperatures to grow, but to be sure of what you have contact your University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service for positive id and for information about what steps to take to eliminate this grass. That may mean killing all of the turf grass you have now and starting over.

    Weed and Feed products are meant to kill broad leaf "weeds", not grasses and the "weed" killing products are also not meant to control grasses.

    Pre emergent products will not keep already rooted plants from growing, they do keep seeds form getting established if applied properly.

    kimmq is kimmsr

    Sean Berry thanked kimmq
  • 10 years ago

    Looks like Bermuda grass to me and what is desirable in Oklahoma because it withstands high heat and drought. The easiest photo to identify is the bottom one.

    Bermuda is a running grass and if you do nothing it will take over almost all grasses. In fact one of the best ways to keep weeds out of Bermuda is to water and fertilize it a lot as it chokes out most weeds.

    I'll give you an idea. I leveled my yard and there was about a 10 foot by 30 foot section that was bare soil so I planted fescue in it to hold the soil since it grows much quicker than Bermuda. I planted a lot and the fescue was full and thick. I did nothing else, and within 3 years Bermuda had overtaken it. No evidence of Fescue at all.

    The best way is to get down close and pull it out by hand. It's hard, and you have to follow it along to it's origin, however since it sends out runners there is no way you'll be able to pull the roots completely out and it will come back later or the next year.

    One alternative is to roundup or some other Glyphosate on a sponge and slide a strand leader through the sponge. This will kill it down to the root, and there probably will be some collateral damage because just a wet leaf touching a fescue leaf will kill it too. It probably wouldn't take as long as one would expect since each strand of Bermuda could be one to two feet long.

    Keep in mind that almost all weed killers will warn you about using it on many grasses, except for Bermuda. You can mix weed killer at twice the rate for Bermuda than you can for other grasses. IOW, if you mix weed killer strong enough, it will kill your fescue and you Bermuda will just cough.

    Now here is the nasty (and great if you have a Bermuda lawn) thing about Bermuda is that it goes dormant. And here is the shocker, it doesn't only go dormant when freezing cold but during drought. Like your bottom picture where you have that dead strand, some yards will look like that when there is a lot of drought and come back to life with a lot of rain. So in the winter when you see it look like that, it doesn't mean a thing... those little roots are waiting to say hello again next season. Here in Oklahoma, all you see is white yards during the winter and they always bounce back. I've been around for a long time and through some nasty winters, and I've yet to see a Bermuda yard killed by the cold unless it is a newly established lawn.

    One final thing is that Bermuda likes to be cut low, so you're not going to scalp your yard and do any damage to Bermuda. Obviously I don't have a good answer for you and only bad news.

    Sean Berry thanked neverenoughhours
  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That might be nimblewill. If so, you have more options to selectively control it in tall fescue....like Tenacity.