Weeds in my bermuda lawn, How do I get rid of them?

tilepro1 – posted 04 November 2003 22:50

I have a new seeded bermuda lawn. I am in SW Florida. The lawn is thickening up but I also have weeds in the bermuda. I will be starting to do my own lawn care and I know mowing frequently helps, but is there something out there that will kill everything but bermuda. Somewhere I thougth I read about a product called MSMA??Any Thoughts out there?.Your help is greately appreciated.

ErikCape Coral, Florida

ted – posted 05 November 2003 12:20

msma is for grassy weeds only. you would want to be careful about any weed control- how old is the bermuda seed? bermuda is not usually seeded, is why i’m asking. 24d products are the broadleaf weed control agents, dandelions, etc. i would look at having a professional treat the lawn. you can’t buy quality products as a homeowner, and it sounds like you need someone to look at your lawn.

tilepro1 – posted 05 November 2003 14:47

Thanks Ted for your reply. My lawn was seeded about 6 months ago. As a matter of fact grassy weeds is what my problem is right now. I have a lawn care company treat my lawn but I am about to fire them because whatever they are using is not killing the grassy weeds in my bermuda. They have been treating it every once a month for the last 5 months and I haven’t seen much improvement.So what you are saying is that msma will also kill my bermuda? Is msma something a homeowner can buy?

Thanks again,Erik

ted – posted 05 November 2003 15:05

that makes more sense. but i wonder about the use of bermuda in south florida. maybe some of the florida guys can respond. usually when you’re having this much trouble, it has to do with some problems in the original installation or maintenance of the lawn, something’s just off with the program. i would need to know exactly what kind of weeds we’re talking about. if it’s turfgrass, then you would have to use a product like roundup, but use only on the grasses you want to kill, since it kills everything it’s sprayed on. i don’t think homeowners can buy msma, or if they can, it’ll be so watered down it won’t work. there are speciality products for grassy weeds like Acclaim, etc. but again we need to know what weeds you have. try calling another lawn care company, or checking with local ag extension offices. you can find online weed databases as well.

redbird – posted 07 November 2003 10:36

Q – does bermuda go dormant during the winter in your area? If so, couldn’t you just round-up the grassy weeds when your bermuda is dormant. If you mow close at frequent intervals the bermuda should thicken up and do a good job of preventing annual grassy weeds in the spring if you zap the perennial ones in the winter (none of which is helpful if it doesn’t go dormant in your area :> )

Mike

Todd In Texas – posted 07 November 2003 13:33

MSMAI have bermuda and purchased some MSMA at the local Home Depot. It’s a liquid that you mix in a sprayer with water. It’s effective and killing broadleaf weeks and established bermuda is supposed to be resistant to it. I’ve had a lot of luck with it.

ted – posted 08 November 2003 12:08

you’re not really going to go totally dormant in southwest florida on the bermuda. it has to be really cold to do the roundup thing. msma is labeled for grassy weeds only, not broadleaf weeds.

Alex_in_FL (Lex) – posted 24 December 2003 09:17

There are several top quality products now available to the home owner (go to Lesco or HomeDepot or Walmart or Ace).

Suggest trying 2,4-D or you can use MSMA/DSMA for grassy weeds and Image (TM) for broadleafs. It is pretty late in the year for this now however, even in NW Florida.

Fertilize heavy this spring, put down a pre-emerge and do spot sprays for weeds and your bermuda lawn should look great.