Former grass invading new sod

A.J – posted 02 June 2001 15:37

I live in Atlanta and planted bermuda sod in May. The sod is growing beautifully (due to the rain everyday) but my problem is the old lawn (I think it was rye or fescue) seems to be creeping up through the bermuda. Is this possible? Before I laid the sod I used RoundUp twice and tilled twice. The bermuda, which has been down for 4 weeks now, is short and dark green. The invaders are long and bright green. What should I do? What more could I have done to prevent this? Or maybe this is not an invader at all, maybe it is more mature bermuda? Help, please.

seed – posted 04 June 2001 10:22

A.J, if the invader is rye or fescue, you should be able to deal with that later. If, as I think is probable, the invader is a perennial warm-season grass, this could be serious. Worst would be common bermudagrass. The reason that I think this is a possibility is because you sprayed twice with RoundUp and tilled twice, the chances are good that what every is invading comes from deep rhizomes. I doubt that the long bright green invader is the bermuda that you laid down, because it would not stand out prominently.

If you discover that the invader is a wild bermuda, then hopefully it will be found in just a few areas and you can begin to quickly and selectively treat just those by painting them or spraying with RoundUp.

If you discover that the invader is some other perennial grass or sedge, then you might later be able to deal with it. For example, if it’s purple nutsedge http://www.floridaturf.com/weeds/weidprot.htm (I’ll have to find a better photo) then you can kill it selectively with Manage.

If you discover that the invader is rye or fescue, you can deal with that best in the winter when the bermuda goes dormant.

Phil

A.J – posted 05 June 2001 09:06

Thanks seed. I’ll keep you posted.

quote:Originally posted by seed:A.J, if the invader is rye or fescue, you should be able to deal with that later. If, as I think is probable, the invader is a perennial warm-season grass, this could be serious. Worst would be common bermudagrass. The reason that I think this is a possibility is because you sprayed twice with RoundUp and tilled twice, the chances are good that what every is invading comes from deep rhizomes. I doubt that the long bright green invader is the bermuda that you laid down, because it would not stand out prominently.

If you discover that the invader is a wild bermuda, then hopefully it will be found in just a few areas and you can begin to quickly and selectively treat just those by painting them or spraying with RoundUp.

If you discover that the invader is some other perennial grass or sedge, then you might later be able to deal with it. For example, if it’s purple nutsedge http://www.floridaturf.com/weeds/weidprot.htm (I’ll have to find a better photo) then you can kill it selectively with Manage.

If you discover that the invader is rye or fescue, you can deal with that best in the winter when the bermuda goes dormant.

Phil