Hello all. First time home owner with very limited lawncare experience. I live in the Austing area and have Bermuda grass. I've posted a few times in this group before and got some valuable information.
The lawn i got was full or dallisgrass. A couple of months ago, I sprayed it with glyphosate which killed most of it (some remaining plants are beginning to sprout, but I'll apply glyphosate to these again). Here's some information.
1) My lawn currently has bermuda grass, and over the past month, I've seen a few weeds sprout. Most common is the prickly lettuce and Oxalis stricta.
2) My lawn also has dead dallisgrass. Although it's dead from glyphosate, the dead plants patches still exist.
3) Some part of my lawn has empty patches about a couple feet in diameter
Right now, I'm thinking of doing two things which might be conflicting and need advice which one to do.
1) Putting down pre emergent prodamine or dimensions. I'm putting this down so that all new growth for these weeds go away.
2) Later in March, i was thinking of putting down bermuda seeds. In areas which are lighter and have patches. Ive been recommended to not do that because my bermuda might be hybrid, and bermuda should fill in by itself.
Given that the pre emergent might hinder bermuda growth, I can only either put in bermuda seeds OR the pre emergent. Which one should I do? Am I thinking right? The main issue which I have is the shitty weeds.
The image is that of my lawn and my neighbors lawn (the lush green one)
by Key_Environment_6273
3 Comments
The common lawn pre-emergents (prodiamine, pendimethalin, and dithiopyr) work to help reduce the germination of certain seeds… Mostly grasses and only a handful of broadleaf weeds. The labels will list which weeds are targeted. To prevent more broadleaf weeds, a specialty broadleaf pre emergent like isoboxen is required.
Pre-emergents work by preventing the germination of seeds of the target species. So in order to be effective, a pre emergent needs to be applied BEFORE those seeds germinate. For winter annual weeds (annual weeds that are present in the fall, winter, and spring, like poa annua), a pre emergent needs to be applied in the fall before soil temps fall below 70F. In order to prevent summer annual weeds (like crabgrass), a pre emergent needs to be applied in the spring before soil temps reach 55F. (In very southern areas, timing can be more closely tied with periods of higher moisture AND climbing soil temps. Consult your state extension service for more specific guidance)
Pre emergents will not kill existing weeds. Pre-emergents alone will rarely control a weed problem. Pre-emergents are tools to **reduce** the need for post-emergents. They rarely eliminate the need for post emergents.
The labels of pre emergents have many important instructions and use restrictions. ALWAYS READ THE ENTIRE LABEL. For example, you are limited to 2 applications of each active ingredient per year.
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Pre emergent won’t harm the existing bermuda grass or hinder it’s ability to spread.
Beyond that, the comments on your previous posts (including one of my own comments), as well as the automod comment on this post, answered all your questions well…
So yea, give those another read.
As usual, u/nilesandstuff covered pretty much all of this.
I will only add that pre emergents essentially work by laying down a chemical barrier on the soil (I’m oversimplifying, but that’s the gist). After all, prodiamine’s brand name is Barricade for a reason…. So if you did want to over/reseed in a month, all you need to do is disrupt the chemical barrier by tilling or turning the soil where you want to plant seed. My tool of choice is the ole Garden Wiesel, but use what works for you.
That said, personally, I would not overseed with common Bermuda. If your original/existing turf came from sod, it’s a hybrid cultivar and I would not want to mix the two. Just promote growth of the existing turf and the patches will recover by the end of the season.