need to kill my rye grass

txbowhunter00 – posted 23 March 2009 12:05

I have bermuda and want to change to either st. augustine or zoysia. Problem is my rye I planted 2 yrs ago is taking over with a vengence. Will atrazine do it or is there something better. I’m killing my back trying to pull it all. Also, is zoysia or st. augustine better for central Texas? Please help!!!!!

Alex_in_FL – posted 10 May 2009 11:20

To get rid of the rye and bermuda you need to spray the entire area with round up (or similar product). Wait about 10 days then respray the lawn. If you want a really high quality lawn then do this a third time about 20 days after the inital spray.

Failure to completely kill the bermuda will result in it reappearing – and then it will become a constant battle.

Which is best-depends upon what you want. If you want a soft yard go with St Augustine or Empire zoysia (I like Empire myself). There are several other nice zoysia’s also. Both will do fine in central Texas.

Best of luck to you.

[This message has been edited by Alex_in_FL (edited 10 May 2009).]

txbowhunter00 – posted 12 May 2009 20:31

Thank you. I think I’m going with St. Augustine. Like you said, it’s soft under the feet which is what the wife wants. Thanks for the tip about spraying a third time about 20 days later. I was content with twice about a week apart. I don’t want to fight it later. If somehow I don’t completely kill it all, will St. Aug suffocate it out?

Turfguy_UF – posted 19 May 2009 07:45

I have seen to often where Bermuda and St. Augustine battle on the golf course. Bermuda tends to win . The added feature of Bermuda having Rhizomes (under ground stem growth), and having stolons gives it a more aggressive advantage.

There could be one more solution to get rid of everything in your yard, but it might have to be done by a professional in your area, and I would contract it myself…fumigation. It would kill everything in the yard. Depending on which one you use there is a down time when you can come back and replant. But if you wanted to give your grass a 3-6 month head start on anything that would come into your yard, that is the way to go.

Dont know prices or types of fumigation just know it a sure way to knock it all out.

Turfguy

txbowhunter00 – posted 28 May 2009 21:58

Thank you for the heads up. We have started spraying round up in areas we plan on killing to do just that. We noticed the bermuda is starting to overtake the st. aug. we tried last year(a small area). I wasn’t sure why. I had previously thought st. Aug. would choke out bermuda. My concern now is the neighbor’s yard, it is bermuda. Will it take over my yard eventually after I put all this effort in to it? Is there some chemical that will kill bermuda and not harm st. aug?

Turfguy_UF – posted 29 May 2009 13:57

I do not know about the pesticides to remove Bermuda from St. Augustine. But you might try to put a border between you and the neighbor. I would try a border grass that is dense, with deep roots, and is taller than both the St. Augustine, and Bermuda. Then edge the areas between the border grass and St. Augustine/Bermuda deeply (around 3-4″) once or twice a month. Pull any runners you see from the bermuda and repeat. That should give you a nice split between you and your neighbor, and you dont have to speed money on pesticides.

Hope that helps.

TurfGuy

Found this on the web.

Bermudagrass suppression in St Augustinegrass. St. Augustinegrass sod productionrequires several months to complete and thus, exposes vast areas of soil to weed invasion.The most severe weed problem in St. Augustinegrass sod production is the invasion ofcommon bermudagrass.Several herbicides were applied in Florida (McCarty, 1996) to suppress commonbermudagrass in St. Augustinegrass. Herbicides included ethofumesate, ethofumesateplus flurprimidol, ethofumesate plus siduron, and ethofumesate plus atrazine.Ethofumesate applied at 3.0 lb/A in each of three applications varied in acceptable (>80%) common bermudagrass suppression from 4 to 12 weeks. However, ethofumesateplus atrazine applied in three applications in March at 3.0 + 4.0 lb/A and followed by 3.0+ 1.0 lb/A in April and May was the best as the common bermudagrass control was >96% when final ratings were made early August. The ethofumesate plus atrazinetreatments had no affect on quality of St. Augustinegrass.Inconsistent and/or poor suppressio n of common bermudagrass was obtained withethofumesate plus either flurprimidol or siduron. The quality of St. Augustinegrass wasreduced for 4 to 8 weeks when treated with ethofumesate plus siduron and 8 to 12 weekswhen treated with ethofumesate plus flurprimidol.Summary. Ethofumesate plus atrazine applied in three applications in March, April, andMay effectively suppressed common bermudagrass without affecting the quality of St.Augustinegrass.

[This message has been edited by Turfguy_UF (edited 29 May 2009).]

txbowhunter00 – posted 01 June 2009 21:38

thank you for all your help. One more question, if I may. Will bermuda infest zoisia? I’ve also consired this as a possibility, but as it is not a common grass around here, it is considerably more expensive. If this is a better grass to combat bermuda, it may well be worth it. I look forward to your advice.

Turfguy_UF – posted 02 June 2009 19:48

Dont know a whole lot about Zoysia but found some links that might help you out.

This is for Florida but gives a very nice description of Zoysia and the Cultivars. Can help you do a little research at least:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/LH/LH01100.pdf

Testimonial from your area on Empire Zoysia:http://bradstevens.com/articles/emerald-zoysia.htm