Bermuda grass weed control

As we continue to hone our weed control program for the fairways, there are times when some weeds may be evident. Right now, there are visible weeds in the fairways that stand out in great contrast to the mostly dormant Bermuda grass. We will be eliminating these weeds very soon and we will continue to tighten the defense against any weeds as we move forward.

Our pre-emergent weed control is in place on the Bermuda grass. This ensures that no new weeds will be appearing in the fairways. Now we will turn our focus to removing the existing weeds. The next available dry, calm day we will begin the chemical application. This application is difficult because the product must dry before golfers can walk through it or carts can drive through it, otherwise it will track and kill the grass on the greens or in the rough. This makes the timing difficult because we have to restrict where golfers are while we are applying. When the next acceptable day arrives, we will be closing the front or back 9 for a couple of hours. For example, we will ask all golfers to tee off #1 tee only while we spray the back 9. As the groups make the turn they will be able to play the back 9. Then, another day, we will ask all players to tee off #10 tee only while we spray the front 9. Again, as the groups make the turn they will be allowed to play the front 9. This ensures that at each time we have at least 2 hours without golfers on the 9 holes we are working on and gives the chemical time to dry so we do not have any collateral damage.

The upcoming spray is the final step in our program, but not the only step. How are we defending against weeds in the first place? How does this upcoming application fit into our overall program? While we may never attain a 100% weed free Bermuda grass stand year round, we continue to reach as close to weed-free as possible. We were not able to make our round-up application this winter. Between wet or snowy conditions, the timing was never right. Making the round-up application eliminates any visible weeds that infest the fairways over the winter and is our first shot at heading into spring with fewer weeds. You can read more about the benefit of this round-up application here. Once we clear those plants out, we apply our pre-emergent weed control in the spring, which stops any new weeds from growing. Finally, our last tactic is to make a post-emergence weed control application. This application removes any weeds that germinated after the round-up, but before the pre-emergent control. Once we are finished with this process, the Bermuda grass is free to grow without competition.

Any fairway grass is susceptible to weeds and a weed control program must be in place. However, with the Bermuda grass being brown and dormant, our weeds stick out much more obtrusively. We do have a plan in place and we continue to tweak it each year to eliminate as many weeds as possible. We despise looking at the weeds as much as the golfers and we are determined to continue fighting for perfection.

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

Carts are to remain on cart paths only until the Bermuda grass resumes normal growth.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org