# New Bermudagrass Fertilize & Spray



## MtnCreek (Apr 10, 2014)

Seeded a hybrid bermuda yesterday and chomping at the bit to see some grass action.  I'm wanting a little advice with fertilize and herbicide please.

What I've done so far:

This is pasture that was mostly bahia and crabgrass with a little clover and sericea. It was sprayed w/ roundup last fall and subsoiled, AP plowed, harrowed and planted for winter graze (mostly wheat; made a heck of a dove field ;-) ). I put a ton of lime on it and a few hundred #'s fertilizer at planting (probably 13(3) or 17(3); no notes and no soil test).

This Spring when it was getting warm enough for the bahia and crabgrass to come in I grazed it down hard, let it come back a bit and hit it again with roundup. The only thing the roundup left living was a Lot of Rocks, ants, spiders and one snake... AP plowed, harrowed, smoothed and limed / fertilized per soil test with the before mentioned mixed into the soil. After that I slicked it off one more time to get it back firm and ready to plant.

Broadcast seeded cheyenne II bermuda mixed 25# to 600# sand and rolled it in nicely (holy cow I should have taken that to town to get mixed! I used buckets...). Temps are a little cooler than I'd like, but moisture seems to be more of an issue for me than temps, so I went ahead because we're looking at the better part of the week of rains.

I split the N and K per the test recommendation. I put 125# of the 250 N and 55# of the 110 K recommended.

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What kind of growth do I want to see before finishing up the N-K for the season?

If the bahia comes back what would you think about upping the N a little to give the bermuda more advantage?

The behia and crabgrass are both prolific seed producers and I'm concerned they'll be a problem even though I zapped them hard with roundup. Thoughts on this? Is there a selective herbicide to deal with them? If so, what and when?

Thanks for making it this far through my ramblings.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

MtnCreek said:


> The behia and crabgrass are both prolific seed producers and I'm concerned they'll be a problem even though I zapped them hard with roundup. Thoughts on this? Is there a selective herbicide to deal with them? If so, what and when?


Yes there is selective herbicides for crab and bahia.....but you cannot use it on seedling or young stands of bermuda.

Pastora will do a great job on cleaning up a stand of Bermuda....but it will be next year before you can use it.....and it will stunt your bermudas growth temporarily.

Regards, Mike


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

What kind of growth do I want to see before finishing up the N-K for the season?

If the bahia comes back what would you think about upping the N a little to give the bermuda more advantage?

The behia and crabgrass are both prolific seed producers and I'm concerned they'll be a problem even though I zapped them hard with roundup. Thoughts on this? Is there a selective herbicide to deal with them? If so, what and when?

A) not sure on seeded varieties, I would only assume 3 cuttings? After second cutting if so......
B No, 250# is enuf
C) like was mentioned in previous post, Pastora is very effective with Baha'i, needs 2 apps tho....crab grass is a bit more difficult. Best if controlled pre emergent (solicamDF) .......a real pita in Bermuda, can spot spray with RU.....


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

It will be next year before you can control the Crabgrass and Bahia.

I'm afraid all you've done is replanted the crabgrass and anything else your trying to control with your seedbed prep work.

I'm not throwing rocks at your effort but what I would've done is utilized a no till drill.

That roundup application this spring was, well, almost a waste of time and money. You burned everything down then turned around and broke the land up for seed bed prep. That, imo, just planted the next growth of weeds from the lands seed bank. I know zero about Bahia grass. With Crabgrass, I can tell you that CG will out germinate, out grow and fill in much faster than the BG. Your BG will be choked out in those areas.

What I would do next time with a no till drill (beg, borrow or rent one if needed):

Do your land prep work late winter/early spring. Get the land flat and smooth. I don't care whats growing on it. Grazing it down before hand is a good idea.

Once your land work is done, let the next flush of weeds germinate and start growing.

When your ready to plant, go in and burn it down with Glyphosate.

Very soon after, no till drill your grass seed with a legume box equipped drill.

The following year, prior to the weather warming up and the CG and Bahia germinating, apply a pre emergent herbicide like Prowl or generic Pendimethalin. Might add some Glyphosate to it as well as long as the BG is still dormant (i'd be hesitant that first year).

45 days later, make another Pendimethalin application mixed with a broad leaf herbicide.

That pre emergent will kill the CG as it germinates.

That BG will take two weeks of moist conditions to germinate. In your case, every weed out there will be two inches tall before the BG even thinks about a sprout.

I wouldn't apply any more fertilizer to it this year. Imo, every bit of N you put out will be taken up by the weeds and CG.

I hope it works out for you. Sounds like your fired up and want to see some good results with this. I may be wrong in my thoughts, but from my experience, CG makes a heck of seed bank in the land over time.


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## MtnCreek (Apr 10, 2014)

Never realized the ground prep was replanted the other seeds. Bahia and crabgrass have been the dominant grasses on this since it was cleared over 10 years ago. I planted the bahia and it did well until an abnormally hard winter, the crabgrass was free... 

Thanks everyone for all the info!


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I have been working ground getting ready to plant 30 acres of Cheyenne 2.

The regional extension agent has been out to advise the process. I will share our plan.

I chisel plowed the 30 acres. Took forever. Plowing opened the seed bank and allowed all the dormant seeds to germinate. After the plowing I used a main tillage disk to cut the ground. Had to disk twice in most places. Got a little rain and weeds began to sprout up.

I am now disking with a 10 foot leveling disk to smooth the seed bed. This round of disking is getting rid of the morning glories and coffee weeds. This is by design because we did not want to use and herbicide prior to plowing or planting. (Dow said to wait 60 days before planting if we used Grazon).

Once the seed bed is prepared I will cultipack, spread the phosporus and potassium, drop the seed with a seed drill and cultipack again. We applied Basic Slag at 2 tons per acre last spring.

We are going to wait until the bermuda has 4 true leaves before adding nitrogen or spraying with Grazon. Our feeling is that adding nitrogen soon after emergence will benefit the undeseriable weeds more than the bermuda.

I have not addressed your question in specific but hopefully sharing our thought process can help a little. Our situations are probably different in many ways. I am not fighting bahia and crab grass (yet). My field is a lease field that has been abused for decades.

Good luck with your Cheyenne. I am excited about the potential. Once it emerges you will have a better idea on how to proceed.


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## davang (Apr 7, 2010)

I seeded Cheyenne 2 about 3 years ago and we had drought conditions so it has finally come around this spring. It's looking pretty good but bahia is taking over the field due to the incredible amount of rain we've had. Can't get out there to spray or cut.


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## MtnCreek (Apr 10, 2014)

Believe it or not, the bermuda was starting to come up 7 days after planting. Low areas it's 6-8" tall, but much smaller on the high ground.

As predicted, it's eat up with crab grass. Way more bermuda than crab, but it's still a problem that will have to be dealt with. I have some broadleaf in one area that's pretty thick. It's fairly dry and days are 90*+, so I'm thinking of just spot spraying with grazon. What about spraying everything in the areas where the broadleaf is a problem? Too risky?

Thanks.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I wouldn't spray Grazon, too many nightmare stories......what will you be doing with the hay?


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## MtnCreek (Apr 10, 2014)

The grass will be lightly grazed off and on this year and animals will not be on any ground sensitive to residuals.


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