Common Name: Bermudagrass
Scientific Name: Cynodon dactylon
Family Name: Poaceae
Origin of Bermudagrass: Southeastern Africa.
Bermuda is listed as a perennial that grows during the warm season.
Bermudagrass is a sod-former, extremely drought tolerannce, and it needs a lot of sunlight. It has rhizomes and stolons which helps it to spread across the ground.
You should plant the seed at 5-10lb/acre in the spring for hulled seed from March 1 to June 1.Hybrid bermudagrass is spriged at 20,000sprigs/acre from February to late June and are planted2 to 3 feet apart.
Soil Type best suited to Bermudagrass: Best suited for sandy soils but is viable in any soil type.
The only known problem weed to Bermudagrass is any broadleaf plant. This only is a problem during the seedling stage.
Herbacides listed for Bermudagrass are Diuron/Karmex, Zorial, 2-4D at establishment and Diuron/Karmex with surfactant,Zorial with surfactant, 2,4-D and Grazon once the stand has been established.
The growth curve for Bermudagrass looks like the following:
Bermudagrass is best used for grazing and cutting hay.Under grazing conditions you can get more out of your grass if you controle graze. This is if you have the pasture crossed fenced into three or more pastures, this will allow you to move the cattle and let the other grass grow for 10 days or more. Using Bermudagrass for hay it should be havested every 4 to 5 weeks.Waiting longer than this length of time will impove yield, but the quality will decline. For hay production fertilizer should be added after each cutting.The livestock best for bermudagrass is horses, stocker calves and cow/calf operations.
Pictures of Bermudagrass:
REFERENCES:
Miller,G.L.and R.Dickens.1996.Potassium fertilization related to freezing resistance in bermudagrass. Crop Sci. 36:1290-1295
Busey,P.1986 Bermudagrass germplasm asaptation to natural pest infestation and suboptimal nitrogen fertilization. Journal Am. Soc. Hort. Sci. 111:630-634.
LINKS:
Website pertaining info on Bermudagrass
Webiste devoted specifically to Bermudagrass
Duplin County, NC, page to bermuda grass
