Bermuda grass
Apr. 21st, 2012 23:18![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillSome years ago, bermuda grass invaded our property from the neighbors to the east. It crept across the gravel driveway, established in the front lawn, and went right across to the west side where the roses are. Horrible, horrible stuff. I was told repeatedly that there is no good way to take it out; some people say "till, rake, water, repeat" while others break out in hives if you mention "rototiller" and "bermuda" in the same sentence. Supposedly really HOT manure will kill it, but if you don't quite get it, you've just handed it a nutrient bonanza. And Roundup is useless on something with a root system that big.
I've discovered one foolproof way to exclude it, and even kill it, slowly: shade.
It really needs sun. It can withstand dry conditions and scorching exposure, but once the light levels drop down to "part sun", it loses its enthusiasm. Dense bushes, even deciduous ones, discourage it, and evergreen hedges such as boxwood act like a wall. It may try to climb up into the hedge if the pressure is great enough, but it won't just grow under. Since it wants warmth and sun, it's slow to start up in the spring, and if you can grow even an annual that is so dense it blocks all light by the time the bermuda wakes up, it will slowly give up ground.
This is where the fascinating part comes in. We've always had a bunch of red fescue in the lawn, which is usually cut short. Its preference is to grow long, though, forming silky mats of hair-fine blades up to two feet long, spreading slowly by stolons. It looks like a green ocean when fully grown, and feels wonderful to the feet. It mulches itself, reducing the need for water; that mulching effect also throws anything under the mat into dense shade. Like the short-clipped dormant stems of bermuda. By this week, the fescue was already long enough to flop over properly, but much of the bermuda was still waking up -- and I notice that there has been less and less bermuda over the two years we've been (ahem) erratic about mowing the lawn. It's retreating.
Red fescue needs more water than bermuda, but still not much if it isn't mowed. It also has a reputation as a shade grass, but it seems to be doing quite well out in the middle of the lawn with full exposure all day... if we can keep the soil under the mat damp, I think it'll grow across the whole lawn easily. If we do one mowing in the late fall, when the grass is all but dormant, that will keep the bermuda short in the spring so we can repeat the cycle.
The bermuda has suffered elsewhere as well; the eastern neighbor replaced it with a driveway, the western neighbor put in a very dense hedge, and the trees have shaded out a bunch of it on the sidestrip. We're due to get new gravel for the driveway this year, which will bury it on the margins, and I'll try to mulch it out of the two side areas (thick cardboard can do wonders). If the fescue can keep up its end of the bargain, we might actually be rid of the bermuda in a few more years. Benign neglect provides the keys to the impossible. :)
I've discovered one foolproof way to exclude it, and even kill it, slowly: shade.
It really needs sun. It can withstand dry conditions and scorching exposure, but once the light levels drop down to "part sun", it loses its enthusiasm. Dense bushes, even deciduous ones, discourage it, and evergreen hedges such as boxwood act like a wall. It may try to climb up into the hedge if the pressure is great enough, but it won't just grow under. Since it wants warmth and sun, it's slow to start up in the spring, and if you can grow even an annual that is so dense it blocks all light by the time the bermuda wakes up, it will slowly give up ground.
This is where the fascinating part comes in. We've always had a bunch of red fescue in the lawn, which is usually cut short. Its preference is to grow long, though, forming silky mats of hair-fine blades up to two feet long, spreading slowly by stolons. It looks like a green ocean when fully grown, and feels wonderful to the feet. It mulches itself, reducing the need for water; that mulching effect also throws anything under the mat into dense shade. Like the short-clipped dormant stems of bermuda. By this week, the fescue was already long enough to flop over properly, but much of the bermuda was still waking up -- and I notice that there has been less and less bermuda over the two years we've been (ahem) erratic about mowing the lawn. It's retreating.
Red fescue needs more water than bermuda, but still not much if it isn't mowed. It also has a reputation as a shade grass, but it seems to be doing quite well out in the middle of the lawn with full exposure all day... if we can keep the soil under the mat damp, I think it'll grow across the whole lawn easily. If we do one mowing in the late fall, when the grass is all but dormant, that will keep the bermuda short in the spring so we can repeat the cycle.
The bermuda has suffered elsewhere as well; the eastern neighbor replaced it with a driveway, the western neighbor put in a very dense hedge, and the trees have shaded out a bunch of it on the sidestrip. We're due to get new gravel for the driveway this year, which will bury it on the margins, and I'll try to mulch it out of the two side areas (thick cardboard can do wonders). If the fescue can keep up its end of the bargain, we might actually be rid of the bermuda in a few more years. Benign neglect provides the keys to the impossible. :)
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no subject
Date: 2012-04-22 22:05 (UTC)i've entertained ideas of roto-tilling...covering with amazon boxes, etc. we've surely got to do *something* consistent with it before we move out, and if it's going to last, it'll have to be low-maintenance.
ideas?
no subject
Date: 2012-04-25 06:17 (UTC)Bermuda grass (http://www.better-lawn-care.com/bermuda-grass-weed.html#axzz1t1mcfWgr) itself will take about two layers of cardboard if it's been tilled, but just about any other grass would need only one, or four inches of chips. Don't try just chips with bermuda.
Mulch is a 3-5 year solution depending on depth. Beyond that, consider putting in ground cover that likes the (presumably sunny, possibly dry) conditions you have. My list of hellstrip ground covers so far includes:
Dymondia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymondia)
Wooly or creeping thyme
Creeping oregano
Creeping or wooly yarrow (http://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/lawns-grass/creeping-yarrow-achillea-millefolium-for-lawn/)
Roman chamomile (http://www.outsidepride.com/seed/herb-seed/chamomile/chamomile-roman-herb-seed.html)
Moss phlox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlox_subulata)
Dwarf cinquefoil (http://www.missouriplants.com/Yellowalt/Potentilla_canadensis_page.html)
Antennaria spp. (http://wildgingerfarm.com/Antennaria.htm)
Gazania (http://clubcareflorida.com/plants-by-season/fall/gazania-daisies/)
Creeping strawflower (http://www.plantzafrica.com/planthij/helichryargry.htm)
There are many others out there that aren't as tolerant of hot, dry conditions, so if your area is kinder you have even more options.
Depending on how much you want to walk on it, you could also go for sedum or other succulents (intolerant of foot traffic) or lilygrass (lumpy). Neither requires care. Also consider how much ability it has to spread out of your yard and into someone else's; some ground covers are more invasive than others.