A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 Kill bermuda without Roundup

I moved into a new house in June. The sweet older gentleman who sold us the house left me with a good sized back yard, lushly planted with a bermuda lawn. Any one who has ever tried to kill bermuda, will realize that whoever planted it was off their rocker. The man at my local nursery, who knows about these things, says that I have to use herbicide to really get rid of the roots. Is this true? I really want to permanantly eradicate it, but I also really dont want to put chemicals all over my yard.

hi you might try this it came from duckie.i intend on trying it next spring.thanks DUCKIE.your friend in gardening.mike57

Poison Ivy Vegetation Killer
1 cup salt
8 drops liquid detergent
1 gallon vinegar

Combine the salt and vinegar in a pan and heat to dissolve the salt. Cool the vinegar, add the detergent, and pour some of the liquid into a large spray bottle. Spray the vegetation. (You can also just pour the mixture onto the weeds.) Refill the spray bottle as necessary. Note that this formula will kill all the vegetation, so make sure that you are only spraying the plants you want to kill. If you need to use a lot of this spray, avoid spraying it near wells, as the salt can leach into your water supply.

duckie

Roundup is not organic it is a chemical poison. Ask if you want your kids to walk on this barefooted or pull up a grass blade and put it in their mouth after you use this. From what I have expereinced the only way to get rid of bermuda is to take of about 2 inch of the grass that way you will get the roots and you can always use it in your compost pile after compost gets hot will kill the roots. Mike57 had a recipe I would use it before I would even think of useing Roundup.

What's Bermuda? I'm thinking it's a runner type lawn grass??? If it's that big a problem i'm amazed some idiot hasn't introduced it into Australia. We seem to get all the other weeds and pests from across the planet.

longy, you hit the nail on the head. bermuda grass is a runner type lawn grass that is inexpensive and tough. which means that lots of folks plant it because it will hold up to kids/animals and choke out weeds. but - there are other, better (although slightly more expensive in the short run) alternatives...

I guess it depends on what you want to do instead of have a lawn there. If you want another type of lawn then you have options of poisoning and removal with machinery. If you want to build gardens then other options are open to you. What's it gonna be?

Sorry It took so long to get back, with all the rain we have been having here in southern California, I've had my hands rather full with all the weeds. I want flower beds and vegetable patches. Big stretches of lawn aren't really my thing, too much thankless labor, and water, way too much water.

If it's veges and gardens you want Cedar, then your options are far better. Here's how i kill lawn type grasses at home with great success and a minimum of fuss: I basically prevent all light from getting to the grass while conditions for growing are good. How do i do this?
Or you can just spray the grass with glyphosate and spend the next eon trying to improve your soil

I'm gonna save this post 'cause it's too long winded to ever have to write out again. Hope it helps you out, or someone just like you.
BTW a chook is a chicken

excellent post longy... thank you very much!

Wow Longy, I am definitly going to try that. I have a few questions though. What s a lucerne bale? "Pelletized chook poo" is chicken manure,right? Where do you find it? If I can't find any, are there any substitutoins to use. Maybe bone meal?

Hi Cedar, pelletised chook poo can be substituted by using a high nitrogen organic fertiliser. Dynamic lifter, or even just chook poo thats been heaped up for a while. Go to the local produce store and see what they have available. I'm not sure what the trade names are over your way. Bone meal is a bit light on the nitrogen but it would be OK if you have nothing else. Where ever you buy your bone meal you'll get the chook poo i reckon.
Lucerne is a fodder crop that farmers bale for winter cattle food. It's high in nitrogen too. If you have access to things like mushroom compost for example then it's all good. See what you have available and maybe mix and match a bit. If you're not sure, put a post here of what you can get and i'm sure we'll work something out. For example stable straw full of horse manure and urine may suffice but it might have a few seeds in it. Not a big problem as you can just pull the young wheat or barley weeds out as they come up and they'll add to the goodies. Get inventive:) If you're planning on doing a big area, maybe try a smaller one first to get the knack and then go for the bigger ones once you've got the method sorted. Buying in bulk is definitly much cheaper too.

Sorry, I wrote the wrong word . What I meant was blood meal. Also, I will ask at my local feed store about lucerne, but if they don't know what I'm talking about, will alfalfa, or maybe tomothy hay work? Im pretty sure that alfalfa is high in nitrogen, but I don't know about timothy, just that it's usud as a more nutrative feed. I was also wondering,what will happen if I were to do this near a tree that is already established? Would the ground get hot enough to damage the tree? If so, What do you think a safe distance would be? And hey, thanks a lot for answering all my goofy questions.

I'm sure your local feed store will know what lucerne hay is, but if it's not available i reckon the alfalpha will do it. Maybe Weezie or someone can help there. I'll look into it further.
The tree will be right,as long as you don't bury the trunk at all. it'll get collar rot if you do. If you wanna incoorporate an existing tree into a garden then leave a ring of space around it to avoid this. The earth won't get that hot, it'll just warm up a bit. Bear in mind that a tree will use the new food source too so best not put the vege patch too near it if possible. Not a big problem though as the tree roots if already under the soil layer will not tend to grow up into the bed but rather stay below and use leached nutrient. Of course it may depend on what type of tree.
There's no such thing as goofy questions. Only goofy mistakes.
I won't be on for a few days so i haven't abandoned you. Travelling home from Africa and when i get there my computer is in the shop.. Oh yes.