Anyone know how to keep Bermuda out of St Augustine?

After 10 years of a great St Augustine lawn, the last two years I have Bermuda creeping into my back yard.

I know St Augustine won't grow in Memphis, but perhaps someone else lives in areas where St Augustine does well.

I'm enjoying the battle of bermuda vs. Zoysia. So far, the zoysia is doing a good job of holding off the invaders (bermuda).

(04-10-2014 09:59 AM)I_LUV_MEMPHISTIGERS Wrote:  Bermuda is a creeping grass that spreads via both underground rhizomes and above ground stolons. It really can't be stopped without spraying and killing it and everything around it. It can only be contained and redirected. St. Augustine, on the other hand, only spreads via above ground stolons, but doesn't spread under ground.



The only way to prevent it from creeping into an unwanted area is to install a barrier to block the rhizomes and stolons from invading the soil:

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/landscaping...85111.html

After you have installed the barrier to prevent further spreading into your yard, pull up as much of the existing Bermuda as you can. What is there already will continue to run underground sprouting up new shoots...kind of like a malignant cancer in the yard. If it's still early in it's invasion and contained only around the perimeter, you can probably just spray it with glyphosate and kill it all off. Eventually the St. Augustine will spread into the dead area and fill it back in.

That's the odd thing, there is a 9 foot concrete drain between our lawn and our neighbor's lawn, who has Bermuda. The other neighbor has St Augustine. I have wondered if the contamination is airborne from mowing.

And I always heard that St Augustine would overtake Bermuda but it seems to be the opposite.

(04-10-2014 10:10 AM)salukiblue Wrote:  I'm enjoying the battle of bermuda vs. Zoysia. So far, the zoysia is doing a good job of holding off the invaders (bermuda).

Zoysia is tough....Not to mention it feels like carpet.

(04-10-2014 03:07 PM)supertiger Wrote:  

(04-10-2014 10:10 AM)salukiblue Wrote:  I'm enjoying the battle of bermuda vs. Zoysia. So far, the zoysia is doing a good job of holding off the invaders (bermuda).

Zoysia is tough....Not to mention it feels like carpet.

I love it. The only knock is that it goes to crap in the winter, but IDGAF about that.

(04-10-2014 11:54 AM)I_LUV_MEMPHISTIGERS Wrote:  

(04-10-2014 11:22 AM)Tiger46 Wrote:  

(04-10-2014 09:59 AM)I_LUV_MEMPHISTIGERS Wrote:  Bermuda is a creeping grass that spreads via both underground rhizomes and above ground stolons. It really can't be stopped without spraying and killing it and everything around it. It can only be contained and redirected. St. Augustine, on the other hand, only spreads via above ground stolons, but doesn't spread under ground.



The only way to prevent it from creeping into an unwanted area is to install a barrier to block the rhizomes and stolons from invading the soil:

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/landscaping...85111.html

After you have installed the barrier to prevent further spreading into your yard, pull up as much of the existing Bermuda as you can. What is there already will continue to run underground sprouting up new shoots...kind of like a malignant cancer in the yard. If it's still early in it's invasion and contained only around the perimeter, you can probably just spray it with glyphosate and kill it all off. Eventually the St. Augustine will spread into the dead area and fill it back in.

That's the odd thing, there is a 9 foot concrete drain between our lawn and our neighbor's lawn, who has Bermuda. The other neighbor has St Augustine. I have wondered if the contamination is airborne from mowing.

And I always heard that St Augustine would overtake Bermuda but it seems to be the opposite.

That's a tough one. Bermuda seeds do spread airborne from their flowers, so if you have a barrier already that's the only way it's getting to your yard and it will be a constant battle, unless you can convince your neighbor to always keep their Bermuda cut short enough so that they don't flower and produce seeds. Ask your other neighbor with St. Augustine if they are getting Bermuda encroachment as well. I would think a thick and thriving St. Augustine grass would hold it's own against Bermuda, but I guess not. That's the best means of fighting off encroachment, like saluki blue's yard. It's odd that it wasn't a problem for 10 years but now it is. Any idea if the neighbor with Bermuda used to have a different type of grass but planted Bermuda in recent years, or maybe they used to keep it cut shorter so that it wasn't flowering as much?

Do some research and maybe experiment with some products that target Bermuda without damaging other grasses like Fusilade II. I've never tried any of them. Ask your lawn service about them for their thoughts.

Here's a Bayer product:
http://www.bayeradvanced.com/lawn-care/p...-for-lawns


Here's an interesting article:
https://utextension.tennessee.edu/public...s/W237.pdf

Thanks. My other neighbor with the St Augustine is not having any problems, in fact I think five or six houses in a row are St Augustine and then my other neighbor has the Bermuda. He is meticulous in his yard so I'm not getting any overgrowth seeds from him.

One problem might be the drought in Texas and the water restrictions. We are only able to water twice a week, and even though it is just now spring, it will be 95-100 before we know it and it will be that way until mid to late September.

I will look up those products, thanks again.