Eliminate Runner Grass from Bermuda lawn

Golferman – posted 25 May 2015 16:31

I have three patches of a deep rooted runner grass in a bermuda lawn. It actually takes over the bermuda. How do I eliminate this intruder? I live in Atlanta, GA area, water twice per week and have a lawn company fertilize and control weeds. Any ideas other than kill those three areas in total and sod with bermuda?Thanks for any help.

jimwisdy – posted 27 May 2015 09:37

I’m not sure by “runner” you mean St. Augustine or not. I am not informed on when St. Ag. goes dormant or if it even does. I am in NC. I can tell you how I keep my Bermuda absolutely beautiful, but I don’t have St. Ag. breathing down my neck.

I do have lots of weed intruders. You can treat your yard with pre-emergent, but I am poor and would rather use every cent towards lots of nitrogen and iron. When my Bermuda is dormant in the spring, I kill all weeks apparent with Roundup. I have done this for several years and it works. The weeds die and Bermuda survives. I don’t know if you could do that with your St. Ag. because I dont know if it goes dormant, and if it does, I am not sure when it does. My method is for weeds and crabgrass.

You’d think I’d have a week problem without using pre-emergent, but I don’t. I keep my Bermuda at exactly 0.5 inches by cutting once every two days and making multiple passes. It is quite a chore, but worth it because of how beautiful it stays. I also dump loads of nitrogen and iron on it monthly.

But back to the weeds. I think that by cutting it every two days, and keeping it so low to the ground, the weeds and different varieties of other grasses, don’t like it and die.

I used to hand pull weeds, which is what you may need to do with your ‘runner grass”, but over the years I have purposely watched weeds and crabgrass simply wilt away after being cut over and down so much. Plus, I think even more importantly, keeping the Bermuda healthy and low allows it to choke out the other bad stuff.

My recommendation to you is to handpull the St. Ag, if possible, and then keep your Bermuda very low using a reel mower. I still think that this may not solve your St. Ag. problem though, because I think it too is a turf grass. So it may thrive at low heights too, I am not sure. You may just have to hand pull it.

Golferman – posted 09 June 2015 15:50

Thanks for the rely. I believe it is or like St. Augustine and that is the problem as they both go dormant around the same time. I have pulled all of the runners and their clusters although the roots are deep and I’m sure it will return to some level. By continuing to use nitrogen in those areas and have sanded them as well since it I created some bare areas as this runner type grass was taking over the Bermuda. I will continue this process and see how it goes. If I must I will use round up in spots that continue to return and allow the surrounding Bermuda to take over unless anyone else has some positive experiences with this issue.Thanks again for your attempt.Golferman