[Arid_gardener] Invasive grass

[Dick]

My pleasure, Jacky. This forum is a gold mine to home owners who can get a pretty substantial discussion on almost any home-gardening topic. It is a good learning vehicle even though we sometimes obscure the point to disguise our ignorance.

Dick
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jackie and Bill Harrell 
  To: Dick 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 11:27 AM
  Subject: Re: [Arid_gardener] Invasive grass


  Dear dick,

  No, I've never heard of a Bruce Harrell in the family - often the Harrells are African American, though we are not.  My husband's family is from Arkansas and Kentucky.

  Thanks for the additional info - that's important to know.  My landscaper lady really wants me to go to raised beds, but her design looked to me like 6 large coffins on a brick patio.  I really want a more natural design - which I've tried to do over the years and which has continually been overcome by weeds and burmuda.

  I'm beginning to think that most of the burmuda has come by dropped seeds and not over, around or through my borders.  But better borders will help, with the bark and the vigilence.  Thanks!
                                                
                                                                                                                  Jackie



    -----Original Message----- 
    From: Dick 
    Sent: Jul 31, 2007 12:59 AM 
    To: Jackie and Bill Harrell 
    Subject: Re: [Arid_gardener] Invasive grass 


    By the way, Jackie, Bermuda will root only at the internodes, never from the runners that connect them.
    For Roundup to be most effective, the grass must be actively growing. If the plant is dormant, Roundup has little effect. To increase its effectiveness, I used to disolve a tablespoon or two per gallon of 21-0-0 to the mix for a double whammy. I learned that trick from Charlie, the Ag teacher at the Glendale Community College where I took every class he and his daughter, Carla Brubaker taught there. 

    Incidently, I worked many years ago in San Diego with a Bruce Harrell, the only such spelling I have ever seen. 

    You are surely not related, are you?

    Dick Gross
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Dick 
      To:  ; arid gardener 
      Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 4:10 PM
      Subject: Re: [Arid_gardener] Invasive grass


      Get a small spraybottle of Roundup and when you see an encroachment, zap it. Just keep it handy as a second line of defense but use it strictly according to directions. I have been warned about it poisoning the soil but I have had no such results using the weed killer with disgression.

      You can also install a plastic barrier at least 6 inches deep. Where there are nodes shooting up blades in no no land, dig the soil out to about four inches deep, sift it through 1\4th inch hardware screen and you will get at least 99% of the stolens. I did a 20 year old Burmuda lawn about 15' by 75'.  After ten years, there is no trace of the original grass but, for two or three years, I used a trowel to pop out an ocassional blade or two and the internodes from which they originated.

      It involves some work but you can get rid if Bermuda without chemicals.

      Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer
      University of Arizona Maricopa County
      Cooperative Extension
        ----- Original Message ----- 
        From: Jackie and Bill Harrell 
        To: arid gardener 
        Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 8:53 PM
        Subject: [Arid_gardener] Invasive grass


        Dear Arid Gardener,

        I have in-the-ground garden beds which have given me problems with invasive burmuda grass.  And I'm really not SURE it comes from outside the beds...often it seems to sprout from right in the middle.  

        Anyway, how do gardens I see in magazines have grass growing right up to the garden bed in a pretty line!!!  Is that a different kind of grass from ours here in Phoenix?  Or do they have a secret?

        Is there a successful way to keep grass from encroaching into the beds?  What works?

                                                                                             Sincerely, Jackie
                                                                                         









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