Bermuda grass weed management

One of the most critical aspects of our Bermuda grass management program is weed control. Since the Bermuda grass is dormant or growing less vigorously than other plants for half of the year, the fairways and tees can be a great location for weeds to grow. We must stay diligent to keep the weeds at bay.

Weed management is a year-long battle. As soon as one treatment is wearing off, we are preparing the next. Our program consists of three different pre-emergent and two post-emergent weed control applications spread out through the season. We are gearing up to make one of these post-emergent applications very soon.

A pre-emergent application is made in early March that prevents any new weeds from growing. Once that barrier is in place we move on to this first post-emergent application. This will target any weeds that were already present before our March application, as well as any weeds that snuck in at the last minute before the barrier was established.

This is a picture of a tee that was
purposely not treated with any other
herbicides this season in order to test the
effectiveness of the new chemical we are trying

We are using a new herbicide this year to prevent some weeds from becoming resistant to any one chemical. Repeated use of the same chemical can create weeds that are no longer affected by that particular chemical. One of the main weeds we have in the Bermuda grass is Poa annua, which is actually the same grass that we purposely grow on the putting greens. However, in the Bermuda grass it is a weed. Poa annua is particularly adept at constantly, and rapidly evolving against herbicides and recurrent applications can lead to a population consisting of entirely resistant plants. We rotate different classes of chemicals to guard against this resistance.

Very soon we will be making this application with this new chemical. We will be clearing the Bermuda grass of weeds so that there is no competition once the Bermuda grass starts growing. We will also be ensuring that our herbicide applications continue to work in the future by attacking the weeds differently every year.

 

Etiquette Reminder of the Month

When parking your cart at a tee or green, please keep all 4 tires on the path

Also, as part of a Golf Committee initiative to improve course etiquette, we have included links to videos teaching proper on course etiquette. Please take a moment to watch:

Ball Marks - How to properly repair

 

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org