St. Augustine has Dallisgrass

scosio · Joined: 03 Oct 2004 Posts: 2 Location: Mansfield, TX

Hi all,

First time post here...

I have a front lawn here in North Texas of St. Augustine and lightly scattered with patches of Dallisgrass.

What's the best way to get rid of the Dallisgrass without harming the lawn?

Also, the same applies for the backyard but, instead of St. Augustine, it's Bermuda grass.

Thanks in advance.

Steve Cosio
Mansfield, TX

Scott-in-Texas · Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2004 3:11 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the Dirt Doctor's Organic Forum, I hope you find it to be informative and enjoyable! :mrgreen:

I have found what works best for me in practice is pulling with my "Weed Hound". Once it is centered on the Dallis grass, kick it down hard and then turn it gently and begin to pull up after a few turns. This method works quite well for me and leaves only minor scars (about a thumb sized hole), put some Corn Gluten Meal in the opening so seeds can not germinate that may have fallen in.

Dchall_San_Antonio · Joined: 18 Mar 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: San Antonio,TEXAS

I pull it by hand. It is embarrassingly easy to pull. The soil has to be a little moist but even my compacted driveway gives up the dalis grass easily.

scosio · Joined: 03 Oct 2004 Posts: 2 Location: Mansfield, TX

Thanks for the help. With all the rain we've had in the past 24 hours, it should be pretty easy to yank 'em up.

Steve
Mansfield, TX

AMG · Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 75 Location: Dallas, TX

Dchall, I would love to allow you to embarass yourself with my Dallis grass :lol:

Seriously, I have to register my experience with the stuff as embarrisingly and frustratingly NOT easy to pull. It's leaves are very deceptive, getting to the root sometimes takes a bit of detective work. Then, making sure the *whole* root is out so it can't regenerate is another chore.

That said, to answer the OP: The only effective method I've ever experienced for dealing with Dallis grass is to pull it up. And, in the end, to accept the fact that you probably won't ever see it's complete elmination and to be happy that it is at least green :lol:

LovetoLearn · Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 128 Location: Clute,TEXAS

I had to pull this thread out of the background and bring it to the front to keep from starting a new thread on it. I didn't want to start a new one.

Anyway, I have/had a bad problem with dallisgrass invading my 3 year old St. Augustine lawn.

I do pull what I can every weekend and, yes, it is much easier to pull when the ground is wet. I use a "Weed Hound" also but dallisgrass can be deceptively sneakey. Just using the tool rarely gets the whole plant out of the ground leaving other shoots just off to the sides that will spring back into action very soon so I do dig around and try to get every little piece of root that I possibly can.

I spoke to a local grass farmer a few weeks ago and he said, if I have the patience, to just cut the lawn at about 2 inches and, if I have to, mow it every other day or very frequently to keep from allowing the dallisgrass from popping up stalks and spreading the seeds. He said that it might take a year or two but that I would see good results within a month or two.

So, with all of that explained, my question is about the corn gluten meal. I tried putting a spot of Roundup in the hole, in the past, to try and prevent the roots from taking hold again but it made dead spots of about 1 foot in diameter. Will CGM have the same affect? How affective is the CGM solution?

Any answers are greatly appreciated.

Health Helper · Joined: 16 Jan 2006 Posts: 56 Location: McKinney,TX

Lots of good advice, so I'm sure I will not be adding much. I had a problem with Dallis grass in my St. Augustine front yard and bermuda back yard when I lived in Plano. I pulled most out using a pitch fork to gently loosen the ground around it first, BUT THE KEY was always spending 5 minutes and pulling any of the tall seed shoots from any new sprouts before cutting the grass each week. (And don't put them in your compost bin unless you know it gets plenty hot.) The Dallis grass was gone by the end of the summer. The St. Augustine is a great carpet that really smothers out all weeds once established. It was harder to completely eliminate from the bermuda area, but not impossible.

Now that I live in the country, I hand pull thistle from my fields and don't worry about all the other lovely wild flowers and grasses. :D Mary

khwoz · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 778 Location: Weatherford,TX

LovetoLearn, the corn gluten will do nothing to existing plants other than make them grow better. It prevents (weed) seeds from sprouting & is a great fertilizer. To kill the stuff, use the 10 or 20% vinegar formula on the home page.

LovetoLearn · Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 128 Location: Clute,TEXAS

KHWOZ wrote: To kill the stuff, use the 10 or 20% vinegar formula on the home page.

Does it kill everything around it like Roundup does or just the area applied? Also, how quickly does the area recover so that I can plant more grass in the area?

Thanks for the advise.

organicbermuda · Joined: 28 Apr 2006 Posts: 19 Location: Waxahachie,TEXAS

LovetoLearn wrote: KHWOZ wrote: To kill the stuff, use the 10 or 20% vinegar formula on the home page.

Does it kill everything around it like Roundup does or just the area applied? Also, how quickly does the area recover so that I can plant more grass in the area?

Thanks for the advise.

It is non-selective so yes it does work like roundup and kills all green plants and grasses. I would wait a month or 2 after spraying before reseeding.

Jason

khwoz · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 778 Location: Weatherford,TX

Let me clarify the previous post. The vinegar will only kill/damage the growth that you spray it on. It will not migrate through the soil & keep killing & polluting like round-up will. In the soil the vinegar is beneficial; you can plant within a couple of days. To sum up, keep the spray from drifting - hit only what you want gone.