Not really a weed.... Blasted Bermuda grass

[mtn_penny]

Looking for ideas to get rid of the bermuda. Horrible wretched stuff. The only thing that will kill it is Roundup or a glyphophate since it is a rhizome. I would prefer not to have to use chemicals if possible.

Any ideas?

 

[Greensage45]

All I can offer is a shoulder. I too have bermuda grass and it only grows where you "don't" want it. I have a big bed that is nearly 10 x 5 ft that I have been fighting for years. I began with ornamental grasses (Aveeno, Deer Grass, Muhley), but the darned bermuda showed up.

I only know to dig it out, slowly going through every inch of soil that I displace. Then after I am completely done and begin all over again with a clean fresh bed, I begin the task of keeping up with the take-over once again. I lose every time.

Please do not use chemicals, especially 'Round-up', it suspends in the soil and can effect plants even years later. It also is a direct cause of feminization in the Animal Kingdom.

I can say that Vinegar might help. Boiling water if it is a specific area; although that would kill everything....even seeds.

Wish you Luck,

Ron

 

[mtn_penny]

Ron,
Have you tried the vinegar? I have heard that too but have not yet tried it because I thought it had to be horticulture strength vinegar not just your everyday white distilled in the panty stuff.

Dont worry I wont use roundup due to political issues anyhow.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi there!

I've never heard about using vinegar to get rid of weeds How do you use it, do you mix it with water? Is it special vinegar?

Greensage, please tell all you know please.

The only use for vinegar in gardening I know of is a 50/50 mix of it with water; used to spray on apple trees when you get that white wooly stuff growing all over the bark -- I don't even know what the white stuff is called.

Sorry if I'm not making sense this evening -- I'm in the UK & it's late & I about to go to bed. I've been shifting compost & soil across my garden to fill more raised beds. I'm exhausted !

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[wifezilla]

I've never heard about using vinegar to get rid of weeds How do you use it, do you mix it with water? Is it special vinegar?

You can se plain vinegar.

Weed (and everything else) killer recipe...

1 gallon of vinegar
1 box of salt
2 tbsp dish soap

I use this on my pea gravel walk way.

 

[big brown horse]

Thank you Wifezilla!!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Thank you wifezilla for your quick reply -- it's a real help as I have a large rambling path of mixed sized pebbles which is very weedy & this info looks as if I will be able to clear the 'b.....s' without harming my free-ranging chickens. I don't use any chemicals in the garden for fear of harming them, my cat, or myself. I shall be very interested to see if it works on 'Couch Grass' as that is the bane of our lives where I live
:rose Hattie :rose

 

[mtn_penny]

Do you think you can use that directly in your garden? you say it kills everything else as well so am I going to kill my pretty little seedlings as well?

 

[patandchickens]

If you're trying to get it out of a gravel pathway (with no other plant roots underneath), commercial vinegar-based herbicides are probably the best (stuff from the kitchen isn't as strong and doesn't work as well, tho it's better than nothing). Actually the BEST best is boiling water, but there is considerable risk to life, limb and feeties when dumping that much boiling water over that much area. (I dump all my waterbath-canner boiling water onto parts of the pavers and gravel driveway that are getting weedy -- but have some scars ) And edge the path periodically to intercept new incursions.

If this is a flowerbed you're talking about, hand-weeding is the best plan (really, the only option short of glyphosate, which I do not recommend for a variety of reasons and it won't kill the grass forever ANYhow). And edge regularly (adding plastic etc edging material helps, but you have to actuallly EDGE, like cut back the edge of the lawn, a coupla times a year too). You just have to get to it and keep at it. Eventually very little grass gets into the beds and what's there is very easy to pull up.

If this is a veg garden, I'd suggest coping with it as best you can til fall, and then bite the bullet and sort out ALL the grass roots and runners and edge the bed well (install edging too) and in future years it will be no great problem, just a little hand-weeding here and there on occasion.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Ridgerunner]

I only know to dig it out, slowly going through every inch of soil that I displace. Then after I am completely done and begin all over again with a clean fresh bed, I begin the task of keeping up with the take-over once again. I lose every time.

The only way I have enjoyed even limited success against Bermuda grass in beds is to do as Greensage45 said. Dig it out, getting every piece of root or segment of stem. Mix in a lot of organic material to help keep the ground loose so it is easier to dig it out later. (You will be digging it out later.) I then outline the bed in edging material. My preference is the 4" metal so I have something to weed eat against. The thing I have found most helpful is to take about 18" of landscaping cloth, (the heavier the better) and put it under the edging, then into the bed I am trying to protect. It goes at least 12" horizontal under the mulch.

Note that I said limited success. It still finds its way in the bed under the edging and material and it will sprout from seed or segments of grass a lawn mower or weed eater throws in the bed. I still have to clean it out but the landscaping material seems to slow it down enough so it is more of a chore than a crisis. Newspaper might work but I want it tight against the edging so the Bermuda grass cannot come up immediately next to the inside of the edging. I'd think I might be taking the edging up to replace the newspaper quite often.

I'm grateful for the vinegar suggestion. That seems like a safe relatively inexpensive way to keep the grass and weeds out of a gravel parking area out front.