# How to get bermuda to spread



## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

I have a field that is mostly Bahia grass. It has patches of good Bermuda. It was all Bermuda at one time and I want to get the Bermuda to start taking over. Can I just fertilize the Bermuda to get it to grow faster than the Bahia.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

I don't know much about Bahia grass but when I want to get my Bermuda going, I pour the coal, I mean N to it.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

You didn't say what kind of Bermuda but I would spray to get rid if the Baha'i or you'll never get it under control....cimirron plus or Pastora will cure the Baha'i, as for the Bermuda, try throwing 100 units of N at it and see what happens......


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## Osman1 (Nov 30, 2014)

We used herbicide called patriot it knocked the heck out of it. Eliminate Bermuda competition and it will spread. Fertilize spray cut....repeat


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Bahia is one of the few pasture/hay grasses that will take over an established Bermuda field. Need to spray as mentioned above.


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

Can I not just mix round up weak and bite the grass back and plant Bermuda seed with a big dose of N. This is ground that I rent so don't want to kill off all the grass and loose all years hay production.


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## bluefarmer (Oct 10, 2010)

Disc it lightly also, every where it cuts it, it will root and grow.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

yarnammurt said:


> Can I not just mix round up weak and bite the grass back and plant Bermuda seed with a big dose of N. This is ground that I rent so don't want to kill off all the grass and loose all years hay production.


I suppose you could but seed ain't cheap....why would you want to "bite the grass back"? I'd prefer to get rid of the Baha'i, but I understand what you're saying about the production.....it depends on how long this field will be yours....you have a lease? Ain't much production in Baha'i btw


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

yarnammurt said:


> Can I not just mix round up weak and bite the grass back and plant Bermuda seed with a big dose of N. This is ground that I rent so don't want to kill off all the grass and loose all years hay production.


Bahia is a tough grass. I am not sure Round Up mixed thin would do much to Bahia.


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

Bahia is not that bad on production. Its not all Bahia, some blue grass and other grass but where the Bermuda is its all Bermuda. I have the land as long as I want it. It is 25, 30, 15, 20 acres. The 30 is about 70% Bermuda the others are 20% or so.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

yarnammurt said:


> Bahia is not that bad on production. Its not all Bahia, some blue grass and other grass but where the Bermuda is its all Bermuda. I have the land as long as I want it. It is 25, 30, 15, 20 acres. The 30 is about 70% Bermuda the others are 20% or so.


What are you growing the crop for..... Market?
On the 30, do you know what kind of Bermuda? Common, coastal, etc. got any pics?


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

Square hay, horse, goat market. I would guess common.


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## yarnammurt (Jan 1, 2014)

You can see where the Bermuda stops and the Green starts


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I wonder what would happen if you fertilized the bermuda and not the bahia? Where one stops and the other begins is obvious. Would the bermuda runners begin to creep into the bahia?

I have small patches of bahia in my bermuda pasture. I spray it with Pastora. The problem is that if the bahia patch is large then I have a bald spot in the pasture.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I wish we could see into that Baha'i and see of there is any Bermuda....if there is some I say kill it and let the Bermuda take off with some N.....have you soil tested, if so what was the PH? 
Here's the problem with Baha'i, it's yield is low....it looks like crap when dried...the protein is low and the horsey folks don't want it....if making bales for that crowd I would get rid of it....really if making hay for any reason I would get rid of it just because of yield, but definitely if making small square for horsey folk....
Look deep into that Baha'i and see if you see any Bermuda. If there is some, don't be afraid to kill it with Pastora or cimirron plus, follow directions on label. If there is not any, none at all, you could cut tops off of your existing stand and spread them into the area that was eradicated and run over with a harrow with the discs straight (or a coulter if you can get one) the grass must be cut and put immediately onto the bare spots, preferably before a rain and disced in......copious amounts of N to follow.....that 30 acre field will yield a lot of hay given the right fertilization schedule.....


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

somedevildawg said:


> I suppose you could but seed ain't cheap....why would you want to "bite the grass back"? I'd prefer to get rid of the Baha'i, but I understand what you're saying about the production.....it depends on how long this field will be yours....you have a lease? Ain't much production in Baha'i btw


Exactly...

Used to bale a lot of bahia (FYI Bah'ai is a religion, a faith LOL) for a friend of mine... Bahia is a great grazing grass for cows (grows practically anywhere and the nutrient needs are low, but the nutritional value of the grass is also pretty low, from what I recall, as is digestibility) but it's a pretty sorry hay grass... I'd go scout his fields out before a cutting, and think "wow, this field is gonna make a LOT of hay...". It'd be nearly waist high and thick as hair on a dog's back, and then I'd come cut it... it'd leave a nice big knee high and 3 foot wide windrow behind my 7.5 foot Zweegers drum mower (which windrows everything due to the twin-cutter drum design) and I'd think "yep, this field will make a lotta hay!" and then the next day I'd come to rake... (in our 90-100 degree summer temps, the next morning after cutting the hay would be "wilted flat" at 50% moisture and ready to rake). Those mower windrows that were SO impressive the day before, would look about 2 feet wide and *MAYBE* a foot tall that next day... Still, fall in with the rake and get after it, and roll up a nice big windrow off the end of the rolabar rake and you'd still be thinking, "this field is gonna make a lot of hay!" Give it 24 hours of hot sun and dry wind to dry, and you pull in ready to bale, and find those nice big 2-3 foot high windrows 4-5 foot wide that you rolled off the end of the rake had shrunk down overnight to about a foot high AGAIN and looked maybe 3 feet wide... Fall in and start baling, and you'd roll, and roll, and roll, and roll... look back and the bale seemed to take forever to get to size... wrap it in twine and spit it out, and it'd look good, but when you finished the field, seemed like there were only half as many of them as you thought it would be in any other type of grass... The stuff just seems to shrink TERRIBLY as it dries down. Then, to top it all off, one year I was feeding out some leftover soybean hay I'd made in a drought-- got kinda weedy and wasn't very good hay at all, and it was two years old and I was basically feeding it out to get rid of it... and the cows would leave the NEW bahiagrass bales I'd unrolled, which had a bright green color and smelled wonderful, to RUN to go eat 2 year old musty, dusty, weedy, soybean hay...

I don't even want any bahia on the place anymore, though we have some volunteer... I'd NEVER plant that crap. IF I were doing a bermudagrass field, I'd burn the stuff down and kill it out (the roots/rhizomes are particularly strong on bahia and it takes more than one shot of RU to get rid of it for sure... other chemicals are probably better suited (Pastora?) but cost more of course.) Then seed or sprig your bermuda (what variety you planting??) and go from there...

Once your bermudagrass sends out runners a couple feet or so long, run a disk set as straight as possible across the field twice at different angles, like disk the field once straight with the fences/borders and then corner-to-corner (on the bias) so that you leave the field with a "cross-hatched" diamond pattern-- this will cut the runners and encourage the bermudagrass to tiller and put down new roots, and separate these plants from the original plant, thickening up the stand... We run rolling stalk choppers at a couple different angles for this purpose, but a disk works too, just throw as little dirt as possible...

Best of luck! OL JR


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

My spell checker doesn't know exactly what I'm talking about Luke.....good thing, I'm sure in a few years that will be perfected to the point where a monkey can answer your questions


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

I hate Bahia also. I've read where people in eastern USA plant the stuff but I think one brand they plant is Pensacola which I know nothing about . Bahia left unchecked will crowd out Coastal Bermuda. I agree that lightly disking Coastal will help it spread.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I planted some Tifton9 bahia on some new ground. Also planted an endophyte friendly fescue that fall. I was looking for some cool season grass and warm season grass that would compliment each other.

Bahia recovers well from grazing. It just does not produce enough volume for hay.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

somedevildawg said:


> My spell checker doesn't know exactly what I'm talking about Luke.....good thing, I'm sure in a few years that will be perfected to the point where a monkey can answer your questions







I'm waiting for the "tractor monkey" package...

Later! OL JR


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