Need help with bermudagrass. - Ask Extension
I planted Yukon Bermuda grass about 4 years ago. Now, after each winter I have problems with annual blue grass and Chickweed within the yukon bermuda ...
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Need help with bermudagrass. #864815
Asked April 16, 2024, 9:58 PM EDT
I planted Yukon Bermuda grass about 4 years ago. Now, after each winter I have problems with annual blue grass and Chickweed within the yukon bermuda grass. I cut it religiously at 2-1/2 inches. I do not want to use fertilizer. One good thing about: it Choked out all the wild violets. Please help.
Cecil County Maryland
Expert Response
Unfortunately you may need to plan on regularly fertilizing a bermudagrass lawn; it's one of several reasons why that type of turfgrass is rarely grown in Maryland as a lawn choice. Our turf specialist describes bermudagrass as fairly "hungry," essentially meaning it really benefits (or needs) routine nutrient supplementation to remain dense and vigorous, rather than a low-maintenance approach. A laboratory soil test, if not performed in the past few years, will help determine what type of fertilizer to use, and if any soil acidity (pH) balancing would benefit the turf to improve its ability to access those nutrients.
Healthy bermudagrass turf can out-compete just about every weed, so the presence of Annual Bluegrass and Chickweed suggests the lawn isn't doing well yet for some reason. In addition, bermudagrass grown as turfgrass should ideally be mown around 1 to 1.5 inches.
Perhaps some of the lawn's struggles stem from incomplete winter hardiness, since now all bermudagrass cultivars are cold-tolerant enough to survive Maryland winters. As an example, some of the tested cultivars grown at the test plots just outside D.C. near campus have winter-killed, and that region is a little bit warmer than your county.
Both Annual Bluegrass and Chickweed are winter annual weeds, meaning they germinate from seed in late summer or early autumn, overwinter, and in spring mature, bloom, go to seed, and die. Since bermudagrass is a warm-season grass and dormant in late fall, winter, and half of spring, that gives such weeds ample time to colonize any sparse areas without competing with the turf for resources. Treatment of winter annual weeds with herbicide this time of year is not necessary since they are about to die on their own. If an herbicide application next autumn is warranted, look for a formulation whose label instructions allows for use on bermudagrass lawns, since in most cases, bermudagrass is considered a lawn weed and would be included on weed control lists among herbicides that target grassy weeds.
Miri
Healthy bermudagrass turf can out-compete just about every weed, so the presence of Annual Bluegrass and Chickweed suggests the lawn isn't doing well yet for some reason. In addition, bermudagrass grown as turfgrass should ideally be mown around 1 to 1.5 inches.
Perhaps some of the lawn's struggles stem from incomplete winter hardiness, since now all bermudagrass cultivars are cold-tolerant enough to survive Maryland winters. As an example, some of the tested cultivars grown at the test plots just outside D.C. near campus have winter-killed, and that region is a little bit warmer than your county.
Both Annual Bluegrass and Chickweed are winter annual weeds, meaning they germinate from seed in late summer or early autumn, overwinter, and in spring mature, bloom, go to seed, and die. Since bermudagrass is a warm-season grass and dormant in late fall, winter, and half of spring, that gives such weeds ample time to colonize any sparse areas without competing with the turf for resources. Treatment of winter annual weeds with herbicide this time of year is not necessary since they are about to die on their own. If an herbicide application next autumn is warranted, look for a formulation whose label instructions allows for use on bermudagrass lawns, since in most cases, bermudagrass is considered a lawn weed and would be included on weed control lists among herbicides that target grassy weeds.
Miri
