Question
Just moved into new home in Athens Ga area and builder planted fescue seed in some areas. I layed bermuda sod over the fescue seed and it is now growing through the sod. The sod is getting green and now we have two different grasses in the lawn. Is there any way we can get rid of the fescue?

Answer
Hi Robert,

>>"...get rid of the fescue?"

This is one good reason for demanding more top-soil and area preparation before installing sod.  Sod should be installed over totally vegetation free substrate.

Note that FESCUE is a recommended grass-type to MIX with BERMUDA if there are shady areas in the lawn.  Bermuda will not do well in the shade, and so the Fescue covers these areas.  If this was part of your builder's plans for the landscape, then maybe you should cultivate the fescue for the shade coverage.

I do not know of any grassy-type herbicide on the market now that targets the popular wanted turf-grass FESCUE.  Such a chemical may exist, but I have never heard of such.

Although the lawn and garden center will sell herbicides that target 'grassy-type' weeds, the common turf-grasses are not usually on  the target lists for these chemicals. Most of these products will come with a warning that improper use of the product may also damage the lawn.

Since all members of the grass-plant family are genetically related, a chemical that targets one specie will also affect another closely related species; Bermuda grass (Cynodon) and Festuca (Fescue) grasses are not very closely related.  So herbicides that target some of the cool-climate grasses considered as weeds in lawns (e.g. 'Poa', 'Lolium',...etc.) may with continued repeated applications at recommended dosages eradicate weedy fescue and other cool-climate grasses in warm-climate lawns.

 With higher more concentrated dosages, the grassy-weed killers will sometimes kill a un-wanted turf-grass (Bermuda and/or Fescue at different rates) that is an errant weed among other wanted grass plants or the dominant species that makes-up the lawn.

I do not recommend that anyone use a commercial chemical by mixing-up concentrations contrary to the manufacturer's instructions with the product.  The manufacturer's recommended concentrations are usually conservative numbers (Tablespoons, mls or ounces per gallon, etc.) that can be expected to give certain minimum but good results for their marketing strategies.  

If you choose to experiment with higher concentrations of a commercial grassy-type herbicide, do so at your own risk.

On a hot day with temperatures above 85 degrees F, the Fescue will be 'heat-compromised' and this would be the best time to try the higher concentration-dose method. Again, the worse that can happen should be some loss of the Bermuda in the process.

Otherwise, you are limited to using a total kill broad-spectrum herbicide like ROUND-UP which will kill everything and leave a dead bare earth area you will have to get re-sodded. ROUND-UP can be mixed-up in a plastic bottle-type sprayer and used to carefully spot-spray a weed here and there and in this way it does not cause a lot of larger dead-spots. Be warned that this chemical is very powerful and will kill virtually any herbaceous green plant that gets even a small dose.  It is generally recommended for larger dense patches of a weed in an established lawn where the wanted turf grass will have to be re-seeded or sodded after its use.

With Bermuda grass,...you can also 'sprig' the resultant bare areas with sprigs from the non-sprayed sod.  The sprigs can rapidly fill-in where the chemical treatments have worked against the grassy weeds.

In mid-winter and when the Bermuda grass is totally dormant, the Fescue should still be green.  This is also a good time to use ROUND-UP to kill the Fescue in a Bermuda lawn.  You may consider waiting until your Bermuda is dormant next winter to use this sure-to-work method that should not harm the wanted Bermuda grass; only the green weedy stuff that gets a dose of ROUND-UP should be killed in a dormant lawn.

The last and more labor intensive  way to be rid of the errant fescue is to manually pull it from the lawn.  Fescue is one of the easier plants to manually eradicate especially after a rain when the soil is moist.  This is a sure non-chemical way to get rid of the fescue but is not a very practical way if there is lots of it to deal with.  Sometimes you can hire help and get all of the weedy fescue hand-pulled and gone in a few hours. Use a 'Dandelion-Digger' to make this process easier.

Keep any Fescue in your Bermuda lawn OR any weed in the area from producing seeds, and you can eventually eradicate it in the landscape.
--------
I Hope this has answered your question(s)!

Visit my Lawn & Gardens webpage for more Tips, Facts and Links:
http://hometown.aol.com/eilatlog/lawnol.html

Your Questions and Comments are welcome at ALLEXPERTS.com
---------------------