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Rye in Hybrid Bermuda


Question
I overseeded my hybrid Bermuda lawn in central Texas with what I thought was annual rye three winters ago.  It tuens out that my wife tells me that really wasn't what I wanted to do.  At any rate, each winter I get patches of rye that I can pull up with my hands.  But, there are so many of them that it takes almost a week to do.  It there anything I can do - now - to rid myself of this rye?

Answer
Good Morning Dennis:
Overseeding warm season grasses with a cool season Annual Ryegrass is a recommended practice. This allows you to achieve a green lawn throughout the year.
Both Perennial and Annual Ryegrass can provide a winter green lawn overseeded on warm season grasses that go dormant in the fall and winter.
Annual Ryegrass is one of the few seeds that can be sown without the hassle of tilling, scarifying, or digging into the soil and destroying any of the permanent ground covers already in place. Watering the yard and applying fertilizer before or after sowing are the main two steps in fastest establishment. The trick to sowing any seed is to get an even coverage in conjunction to sowing the correct amount to achieve an even lawn appearance as the grass fills in. And to get the seeds to make "soil contact" for germination to occur.
You need to choose if you want to continue with the overseeding or if you wish to stop the seed of the Annual Ryegrass from germinating in the future.
If you wish to continue overseeding you must make sure that the seed is evenly distributed over the entire lawn which would eliminate the patches that you describe. You could do that now in your area.
If you wish to eliminate the Annual Ryegrass you have two options:
1. Applying only to the patches in the lawn, you can use a chemical called 'glyphosate' ( 'ROUND-UP'). This will leave a dead, bare earth area where the patches were and you will have to re-seed with Bermuda grass at the proper time in your area. To be rid of a weedy grassy or herbaceous plant use any one of the recommended herbicides sold at your local lawn and garden center which target grassy-type weeds (as opposed to 'broad-leaf' weeds).

2. Pre-emergence weed control agents are used in the fall and spring. They are used (on established turfs) in the fall to control winter annual weeds. These include annual ryegrass, annual bluegrass, winter bromegrass, wild barley and other grassy weeds. They are also used in the spring to control grassy weeds like crabgrass, southwest cupgrass, goosegrass, stinkgrass and summer annual broadleaves, like spurge and knotweeds.

Copy and Paste to your browser "December through February lawn care of warm season grasses".
http://lawncare.roundup.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=FeaturedArticles.detail&partner...

Copy and Paste to your browser "Overseeding Warm season lawns".
http://lawncare.roundup.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=basics.detail&partnerId=100005&...

I hope I have given you some help.
Have a good lawn.
Floyd McMahon

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