Kill Bermuda Grass!

July 27, 2015 6:27 PM

The house I rent has a yard full of succulents, cacti, and drought-tolerant natives. Unfortunately, the tenants let go a bit of Bermuda Grass which has now run rampant over half the yard in between the other plants. I've previously gotten rid of the stuff by digging a foot down and pulling out all the shoots. But I don't want to kill all my other plants! This stuff is tough as nails and if you leave bits of the shoots it comes back. How do I kill it? I'm not adverse to chemical solutions. Does Roundup kill succulents? Is there something that discriminately kills Bermuda Grass?
posted by cman to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

My mother's RoundUp method for her extremely fiddly flowerbeds:

1. Put on a latex glove
2. Put on a cheap fabric glove over the rubber glove
3. From the smallest available bottle of RoundUp, spray or dab from the open neck to dampen the glove palm and fingers
4. Caress the offending plants with the damp glove, careful not to touch anything you want to live

If she had a little more room to move, she'd use a cheap paint brush like this and a little jar of RoundUp for dipping. (Not a big container, in case you trip or knock it over.)
posted by Lyn Never at 6:48 PM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Chemical solution called Grass B Gone. I buy it at Lowe's, but sometimes it's a little hard to find.
posted by raisingsand at 7:04 PM on July 27, 2015

Roundup absolutely kills succulents.
posted by quince at 8:11 PM on July 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Roundup works to kill plants by being absorbed through leaves or when applied directly to freshly cut stem ends. Applied to the ground around plants, whether target or not, Roundup has no effect. I use Roundup to control noxious weed in and around my CA native plants - including Dudlyea. You can achieve a measure of control over Bermuda grass through an IPM attack using carefully applied Roundup and manual removal. The trick with the Roundup is to make sure that it only gets on the stuff you want to get rid of. I use a cardboard sheet folded to form two sides of a box and spray carefully and directly, limiting spray to the target weeds. I use the standard dilution of Roundup sprayed from a 1 liter hand pump bottle. I also use a half gallon or one gallon plastic bottle with the bottom cut out to limit the Roundup spray. I set the bottomless jug directly on the weeds and spray down through the top opening. It's time consuming and requires frequent maintenance work. Maybe you can hire some manual labor from Thacher School students to help with manual weeding.

Las Pilitas nursery folks recommend micro spray rather than drip irrigation for CA native plants. It uses the same amount of water but distributes the water in a more natural rainfall pattern.
posted by X4ster at 8:53 PM on July 27, 2015

Unfortunately, herbicides are not particularly discriminating. Round up in particular is a pretty broad spectrum poison. So yeah, it will definitely kill the rest of your garden. And since we're talking Bermuda, few things short of an H-bomb are going to remove it (I'm frankly shocked you had such good success in the past). If it were me, I would dig to the extent possible, then get some horticultural vinegar to spray on any green growth. You'll need to protect your desired plants while spraying, in full sun, and you'll likely need to do this several times to get the desired effect. But it's safer, and I've had limited success with it.
posted by Gilbert at 7:41 AM on July 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

You need a herbicide that is monocot specific. It will kill the Bermuda grass and any other grasses. For habitat restoration projects; I've used a product called Fusilade II. I'm not sure if it's sold in small containers that would be appropriate for your situation.


I don't recommend pulling or digging it out. One tiny bit of root left behind is enough to let it survive and return. I also haven't had much luck with putting black plastic down over it -- it always finds a way out!
posted by Orrorin at 12:35 PM on July 31, 2015