bermuda in my zoysia, and a lesson learned
green in atlanta – posted 15 May 2007 10:56
After doing quite a bit of internet research about how to control bermuda grass in my Empire Zoysia, I did something really stupid. I discovered that Fusillade, Acclaim, and Ornamec, which all claim to be tailor-made for my problem, are all expensive and difficult to find in the consumer marketplace. Then I stumbled across a “big box off-the-shelf” product, Ortho Grass-B-Gone. After noticing that it contained the same active ingredient as Ornamec (Fluazifop-p-Butyl), I got some and spot treated a few areas of my lawn. The result has been that I now have a beatiful Empire Zoysia lawn with 6 rather large dead areas. Obviously, I did a stupid thing. But now I’m gunshy. Does anyone have a success story that might convince me to step up to the plate, buy one of those products, FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS, and try again? Otherwise, I guess I’ll just have to learn to love my Bermuda-infested Empire Zoysia lawn.
TexanOne – posted 15 May 2007 16:12
This will be a real battle Green, and I dont envy you. I had the same Bermudagrass infestation problem in a 4000 sq ft Zenith Zoysia lawn several years ago and never found a sure-fire way to eradicate the Bermudagrass.
Of all the products I tried, I had the best results with Fusilade II (Fluazifop-p-Butyl) from Syngenta. There is just one hitch about using Fusilade II it will give adequate control of the Bermudagrass, but it will also slightly discolor the Zoysia. This in itself was acceptable, but I noticed the Bermudagrass recovered faster from the treatments than the Zoysia did even though the Bermudagrass will be about 90% controlled with Fusilade II. As a result, by the time the Zoysia had fully recovered, the Bermudagrass was already back to its pre-treatment growth levels.
After several years of trying to do exactly what you are doing, I came up with a somewhat successful chemical and cultural solution:
1: mow the Zoysia / Bermudagrass mix high (about 3). Any Zoysia Japonica species turfgrass thrives with a high cutting height no matter what you read or are told and Bermudagrass hates it. The goal is to favor the Zoysia so it will eventually shade out the Bermudagrass below.
2: Use low applications of nitrogen fertilizers. Zoysia will thrive on 1lb 2lbs of nitrogen / year just fine. Higher applications of nitrogen (>2lbs / year) will greatly accelerate the growth of Bermudagrass while doing little to help the Zoysia.
3: Use the Fusilade II sparingly and in the lowest doses. I recommend starting out at about 80% – 90% of the label recommended tank mix, and working up to 100% – finding out which works best for you. In no case would I ever exceed the full strength mix because Fusilade II will do some minor, temporary damage to the Zoysia at 100%.
4: Keep the Zoysia well watered to prevent drought stress. Bermudagrass is more drought tolerant and will continue to grow and spread at reduced irrigation levels that slow or stop Zoysia growth.
In all likelihood, you may never totally eradicate the Bermudagrass and have a 100% pure Empire Zoysia turf, but managing the Bermudagrass infestation is a reasonable and attainable goal. As for the dead areas you now have, I would re-sod those as soon as possible with new Empire Zoysia. Bermudagrass will be more than happy to re-sod those dead areas for you if you let it.
http://www.syngentaprofessionalproducts.com/to/prod/fusiladeTO/
green in atlanta – posted 15 May 2007 16:36
thank, texas one. I think i have posted about my dilemma on this forum before, and you may have been one of the ones to reply back then. I just thought I’d post again once it became obvious that my grass was not going to recover from the Grass-B-Gone incident. I’d hate for others to make the same mistake. BTW, I definitely agree that my strain of zoysia looks its best and appears to thrive with a higher cutting height.
Alex_in_FL – posted 20 October 2007 13:12
Since you are in Atlanta your zoysia may go dormant before the berumda. If that happens, spot spray the bermuda with roundup. Round up will not hurt the zoysia if it is dormant.
Agree on low nitrogen (add iron if you want to green up the yard).
green in atlanta – posted 22 October 2007 09:13
quote:Originally posted by Alex_in_FL:Since you are in Atlanta your zoysia may go dormant before the berumda. If that happens, spot spray the bermuda with roundup. Round up will not hurt the zoysia if it is dormant.
Agree on low nitrogen (add iron if you want to green up the yard).
Thanks, Alex. At the moment we have bigger problems here in Atlanta — with the epic drought and all. I’m just hoping my grass survives it. I chose the Empire partly for its purported drought tolerance. We’ll see.
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