Siobhan – posted 18 March 2002 20:22
We live in North Alabama and had a beautiful fescue lawn for several years. All our neighbors have bermuda grass which has blown onto our lawn and wrecked havoc. We hired a lawn company (Turf Doctor) who told us it would take several hundred extra dollars a year to keep the bermuda from overtaking our lawn. They suggested we let our lawn go to Bermuda grass, which we hate, as we also have much humidity, heat and little shade on the lawn all summer. Our lawn looks poka-dotted with circles of Bermuda in between what was once beautiful fescue. Is there any way to keep our fescue inthe middle of this bermuda grass neighborhood without lawn care bills equaling the national debt?? We love the fescue and would like to keep it. Thanks for any advise you can give.
TomC – posted 31 March 2002 13:01
Siobhan, the conditions in North Georgia may not be exactly like yours, but I suspect they are close. I’ve fought the Fescue wars for 19 years, and eventually gave up in favor of Zoysia. Fescue isn’t shade tolerant, and I had a lot of trees in some areas. It didn’t take drought well, and we have been on water restrictions here for a couple of years, besides being on a clay hilltop, which doesn’t hold water. And Fescue is vulnerable to mold and fungus, especially when stressed by the high heat, high humidity summer droughts we seem to have in this area. Fescue looks great in the spring, but in August there doesn’t seem to be enough water in the Chattahoochee to keep it green and healthy. Anyway, Meyer Zoysia gets good press; although it wasn’t perfect solution I hoped for, it was an improvement.
I’ve moved to a new house (yes, on a hilltop) and am delighted to see the Bermuda front lawn. I’m hoping that it will be a lot less trouble and expense, and I will be putting out Bermuda seed in my Fescue back yard soon.
I think you might be fighting a losing battle. You might want to consider finding a Bermuda with large leaves and see if you can preempt the attack from your neighbors by seeding with it…you may actually decide it’s the better option. Or you might go with Meyer Zoysia which has Fescue-like leaves, or Emerald Zoysia which has smaller leaves that would blend better with Bermuda. Both grow lower for less mowing and propogate horizontally, so they might better resist penetration by the Bermuda…
quote:Originally posted by Siobhan:We live in North Alabama and had a beautiful fescue lawn for several years. All our neighbors have bermuda grass which has blown onto our lawn and wrecked havoc. We hired a lawn company (Turf Doctor) who told us it would take several hundred extra dollars a year to keep the bermuda from overtaking our lawn. They suggested we let our lawn go to Bermuda grass, which we hate, as we also have much humidity, heat and little shade on the lawn all summer. Our lawn looks poka-dotted with circles of Bermuda in between what was once beautiful fescue. Is there any way to keep our fescue inthe middle of this bermuda grass neighborhood without lawn care bills equaling the national debt?? We love the fescue and would like to keep it. Thanks for any advise you can give.
Fescue – posted 31 May 2004 01:28
I’ve fought bermuda in my fescue lawn. Bermuda is a warm season grass and fescue is a cool season grass. That’s your key for winning.
In late winter, when temperatures are high enough for fescue to start growing, use a cheap, general purpose fertilizer (you don’t want slow-release). Mow at the maximum hight of your mower. And, make sure the lawn gets enough water. The idea is to get the fescue as well established as possible to hinder the bermuda grass.
When the weather warms up for the bermuda to start going, stop watering. Don’t do any lawn care except mowing. You want to deprive the bermuda of water and fertilizer.
When you move into the hottest part of summer, the fescue will pretty much stop growing, but the bermuda will still be going strong. Give any bermuda clumps a light shot of grass killer. Not necessarily enough to kill it, just enough to slow it. The grass killer should do more damage to the bermuda than the fescue, at this stage.
When the weather is getting cold enough for frost, give the lawn a good winterizing fertilzer. Make sure the lawn stays watered until it’s too cold for the fescue to grow.
Do this, and every year there will be less and less bermuda in your yard. It also helps if you have some shade trees.
Keep a bag of fescue seed, so when there is a bare spot, seed it so there won’t be a vacuum for the bermuda grass to move into.
If you still have trouble with bermuda invasion, you could try a physical weed barrier along the property line. A preemergent herbicide will kill bermuda seed and other weed seeds.
PJE – posted 16 August 2004 14:43
Interesting concept. Starve a fescue lawn of 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water every 5 days and the result will be that the Bermuda will completely overtake your Fescue yard.You have 2 Removal Options:1 Roundup the bad news is it will also kill your Fescue.2 Ornamec an over the top post emergent that will retard or control bermuda with no damage to your Fescue.