Should I kill my yard?

AC – posted 19 April 2004 16:36

I am planning on re-sodding my entire yard with Palmetto St. Augustine. I don’t know if I should go ahead and kill off my yard first, just till it up, or just lay right over the top of the Bermuda that I currently have. What do you guys recommend?

svcrawf72 – posted 19 April 2004 20:05

dig it up, kill it. The old grass if not dug up will have a better chance of growing through the sod/cracks in the sod. If it is dug up and removed the best it could be, the better chance of the old grass not making a come back

redbird – posted 20 April 2004 09:19

Bermuda is difficult to erdicate once it mixes in with your other lawn. St. Augustine will out-compete it if it is cut high (to shade the bermuda out), but some people like to cut their seville & palmetto pretty low. But – I would rather take care to get rid of the headache before I lay the sod.

1) Use professional strength Round-up concentrate (not the pre-mix, the good stuff is expensive, I know). Spray. Wait 10 days, spray everything green. Wait 10 days, lay sod.

If you rototill first, every little piece of bermuda rhizome that you chop up & bury will come back. If you have sprayed and created a dead, matted lawn, you probably will need to rototill AFTER, but it will stir up all the weed seeds & they will germinate (no way around it). It your current lawn is very sparse, you may be able to just water/rake it out before laying sod.

Mike

certified-in-florida – posted 01 May 2004 19:48

Sodding over bermuda is not a good idea. YOu need to kill it first. I would, like the previous post, use round-up. You may need to spray it as many as three times. Make sure you are not seeing ANY green in the bermuda. (By the way, round-up will not affect the new sod)

Once the bermuda has “gone south”, I would not till the soil. I would suggest scalping the dead bermuda and sodding over the top of that.

Good luck.

ted – posted 02 May 2004 18:25

the last post is correct.

jazzman – posted 04 May 2004 15:06

I’ve tried this before… my experience has been that no matter what you do, the Bermuda comes back eventually. The best I’ve ever done is to hold it off for a couple of years.

Once book recommends “solarizing” and you might consider it. Basically, you fertilize the Bermuda and wait a couple of weeks for it to kick it up a notch. Then you apply Roundup to kill it dead. Wait a week and Roundup again. Then mow short and clean up the debris. Spot with Roundup as required. Finally, (this is the kicker), water thoroughly and cover the whole lawn with 20-mil plastic sheeting. Make sure it’s sealed at the edges with dirt. Let it sit this way for a week or so of hot, sunny weather and the water will steam the rhizomes into submission, giving you a nice, dead base on which to replant.

Note that this will also kill anything living in the soil (worms, beetle larvae, etc.) for better or worse.

Good luck. My feeling is that this may buy you a couple more years, but I believe that Bermuda and cockroaches are destined to rule the world.

josepht – posted 09 May 2004 22:14

WOW ALL THE WORK WE DO FOR JUST A COUPLE OF MONTHS OF GREEN GRASS

ARE WE ALL INSANE

NOT THOSE OF US MAKING MONEY OR ARE WE???

ted – posted 10 May 2004 10:35

Huh?

josepht – posted 11 May 2004 15:39

quote:Originally posted by ted:Huh?

that comment was about solarizing it sounds like a lot of work

ckoppe – posted 19 May 2004 07:58

nuke it

SENC turfguy – posted 22 May 2004 13:36

quote:Originally posted by jazzman:I’ve tried this before… my experience has been that no matter what you do, the Bermuda comes back eventually. The best I’ve ever done is to hold it off for a couple of years.

Once book recommends “solarizing” and you might consider it. Basically, you fertilize the Bermuda and wait a couple of weeks for it to kick it up a notch. Then you apply Roundup to kill it dead. Wait a week and Roundup again. Then mow short and clean up the debris. Spot with Roundup as required. Finally, (this is the kicker), water thoroughly and cover the whole lawn with 20-mil plastic sheeting. Make sure it’s sealed at the edges with dirt. Let it sit this way for a week or so of hot, sunny weather and the water will steam the rhizomes into submission, giving you a nice, dead base on which to replant.

Note that this will also kill anything living in the soil (worms, beetle larvae, etc.) for better or worse.

Good luck. My feeling is that this may buy you a couple more years, but I believe that Bermuda and cockroaches are destined to rule the world.

The “best” way to kill bermuda for sod change out: Fertilize with Ammonium Nitrate (34-0-0) getting it really healthy. After 2 weeks, apply RoundupPro at 3 to 5 oz concentrate per gallon. Wait a week, touch up as needed, wait a few more days scarify soil surface as needed. Lay sod. Good Luck! Don’t hestitate to contact a Professional Service company to do this for you if the confidence isn’t there to do it yourself.