Managing poa and crabgrass with Bermuda

Bermuda, St. Augustine, Zoysia, Centipede, Bahia, Paspalum, etc
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mewop
Posts: 4
Joined: August 3rd, 2020, 7:32 am
Location: east TN
Grass Type: bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Managing poa and crabgrass with Bermuda

Post by mewop » August 3rd, 2020, 1:12 pm

I'm located in East TN. We moved into our home with 6 acres in the spring and our yard is a bit of a mess. I would like to have about 2.5-3 of those acres looking reasonably well. There were some areas that were overseeded last fall with tall fescue that looked pretty good in the spring but our summer of dry weather and 95+ temps has pretty much taken out all of that (plus a little too much zeal with the boom sprayer). I think irrigation would have saved it if we had it but honestly over the last few years TTF goes dormant so early into summer that I think we really need to be using warm season grasses in our part of the transition zone. Not to mention what a water bill that would produce.

I am in the process of converting to bermuda - there were a few sections of this already mixed in our lawn and it has already taken over a good portion. My plan is to put out more bermuda seed in the spring to help that process along.

However, there was quite a bit of poa present when we first moved in - several large sections are bare currently, probably from the poa that died off. I definitely am going to put down prodiamine in the coming weeks to get that in check.

I have several 2,000 to 4,000 sq ft areas of crabgrass that are spreading rapidly. I reallllly wish I had put down some pre in the summer. There are new patches trying to form in the bermuda (probably from my mower spreading seed). I've sprayed 2-DQ (2,4-D, dicamba, quinclorac) with my tractor/boom sprayer but it only seemed to kill off what fescue and clover was left in the area - it really didnt touch the crabgrass. I'm afraid to spray at any higher rate, though at this point some of these patches are purely crabgrass as it has crowded out everything else.

My few questions -- should I just nuke these crab areas with roundup, put down pre-emergent, live with the dead spots over winter, then try to overseed with bermuda next year? In the future, should I reapply the 2-DQ a week or so later (label suggests its a one hit wonder, and to only apply twice a year max)

I guess there is nothing I can do about the current bare spots if I am going to put down pre-emergent in the fall? I really want to avoid the poa infestation again. With the current bare spots, I think if I don't have a good app of pre-emergent the poa is going to be horrible next year. I saw so many seed heads forming.

Would putting down mid summer pre-emergent inhibit the bermuda spread greatly? I do notice it starts making a TON of seed but I also know it spreads above ground. God forbid I ever try to get rid of bermuda at this point!


Poa and crabgrass are the spawns of satan!

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Dchall_San_Antonio
Posts: 3341
Joined: December 17th, 2008, 1:53 am
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Grass Type: St Augustine
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Advanced

Re: Managing poa and crabgrass with Bermuda

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » August 3rd, 2020, 2:24 pm

You may have heard that the Earth is in a warming part of the temperature cycle. What that means to you is the transition zone is moving northward and you got caught. For your acreage, bermuda would be easy enough. Interestingly, so would St Augustine, except for the no irrigation part. Bermuda will spread to fill much faster than St Augustine, but if you ever get St Aug started, it will search and destroy the bermuda eventually taking over the entire area. Until it dies from drought. I tested that theory every year when I was in San Antonio. In drought years my parking area was bermuda. With normal rain, it became St Augustine.

Since you are going with bermuda, you cannot seed it in the spring. If you do, you will be very disappointed until about mid June when it finally germinates. Or you can wait until mid June and it will germinate in a few days. The soil has to be hot for bermuda seed, but once it is, it takes off. You have plenty of time to worry about that. Your immediate concern is the crabgrass, but you're also worried about poa. Poa, believe it or not, is going to be easy for you now that you're in the warm part of the country. I wiped out my poa seemingly forever with one application of This stuff.

Image

Three weeks after spraying it was "suddenly" gone. That stuff is labeled for use on St Augustine and Centipede grass; however, I noticed that it does not touch the bermuda that I tried to kill with it. This stuff is serious. One app in mid April of 2012 and all the poa disappeared never to return. Probably any atrazine product will do the same for you. I happen to like the hose sprayer for this one, but you'll be spraying a concentrate with your boom. As usual, be sure to stay out of the drift with this stuff. Drive upwind when releasing it, again, as usual.

As for crabgrass, you must have had perfect weather last spring for the crabgrass to germinate. It needs moisture for a couple days and then sunshine. Mother Nature usually provides that for us. Once it germinates, being a summer annual plant, it loves the heat and dry weather with occasional showers. Many people make the mistake of dropping grass seed in the spring and then watering every day for 2-3 weeks. Crabgrass LOVES that schedule. It germinates fast and tends to get a great foothold before the real grass ever germinates. That's a big reason why spring seeding is not recommended for any grass. If you have no salvageable grass now, you might as well spray the crabgrass before it goes to seed.

Here is a way to get rid of the crabgrass before you seed the bermuda. Let Mother Nature take Her shot at germinating the seed. If She does a lousy job, you can help Her along by frequent light watering the area you want to seed. Water a few minutes every day if you can get some hoses out there. Get as much up and growing as you can and after a week, spray it all down with RU. Continue light watering for another week to germinate some more weeds that take longer to show. Then spray those down. Now you are ready to seed the bermuda without worry that you'll get more weeds than grass. I realize the logistics of this on large acreage can be tough, but that's the theory. Start that project in late May so it's ready in June for seed.

mewop
Posts: 4
Joined: August 3rd, 2020, 7:32 am
Location: east TN
Grass Type: bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Managing poa and crabgrass with Bermuda

Post by mewop » August 4th, 2020, 10:10 am

Thank you for the detailed reply. I will get a bottle of that and give it a go. I do think our spring was conducive to crabgrass. I've never seen so much of it and a few friends noted the same

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