I moved into a new house on 2 acres this past winter. The entire yard is Mexia. We would like to put St. Augustine in the back and some other type of grass like Bermuda in the front. At least right around the house itself. The farther you get from the house I don't care so much.

I figure in the back, I can till up the Mexia and just put the sod over the tilled ground. St. Augustine should choke out the Mexia.

What about the front? Will I have to till up that also and seed from scratch? Is there a variety of seed I can throw out and water up that will take over the Mexia? Anybody ever had to do this before that can give some advise?

Ag97

move out of Mexia, TX

bahia grass ?

and do you mean bahiagrass?

Mexia? or more likely Bahia?

Give me a break. I'm originally from the Panhandle. All we have up there is ragweed and Russian thistle. Yes, I guess it would be Bahia. When I've heard people talk about it, it always sounded like they were saying Mexia. My bad.

Anyways, are there any suggestions on how to get rid of said grass and replace it with something that isn't so tough to cut?

Ag97

Roundup dude. There are other things but they are far more expensive. Although I'm sure there are things I don't know about. Where is the freaking agronomist when he is needed?

Ally or there is a generic brand that has the same active ingredient.

It will grow in St Aug.

If you're going to spray- anything with Metsulfuron as the active ingredient. ie. Cimarron Max

Put up a fence and man it with National Guard.

St Aug will eventually choke it out with proper care. It has worked in my mom's backyard. She has about an acre out back, and it was ALL Bahia and Johnson. She plugged some at augustine over about the front 1/8 acre, and it has slowly spread and taken over about 1/2 the yard, and there is nothing but at augustine in the front 1/4 to 1/3....

Thought i might mention that took about 10 years...

Farmer Jack and confucius have got it. Ally, Cimmaron, or a generic called Clean Pasture DF. Producers in Bryan should have it.

Ask the Agronomist (TM) to the rescue ....

"Ally" and its kinfolk will take out Bahia grass at the 2/10 oz per acre rate. Take not of that rate - it ain't much. It can also be rather rough on St. Augustine as well as illegal since it is not labeled for home use. If your yard really is SOLID with the stuff, you might do just as well using Roundup and starting from scratch, or use a sponge like a ropewick and wipe all the heads when it comes out. Beware - that stuff has great seed that come up for years.

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Thought i might mention that took about 10 years...

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What about Nut-grass then! Damn stuff creeping over from the neighbors yard!

Image is "iffy", but is said to work. I heard one of the organic guys on the radio not long ago pushing molasses (watered down) as a treatment for nutgrass. something to the effect that it makes the roots rot on nutsedge, but not grass.
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/dallasnews.php?id=585

[This message has been edited by B-1 83 (edited 8/6/2007 2:41p).]

Dude that sucks, I'm not going to lie to you nutgrass is the freaking worst. My dad (farmer) says about the only thing that reliably kills nutgrass is "steal" as in a diskhare. Round-up will kill it but for some reason it doesn't kill it as good as you would expect. In fact there is a very specific time that you have to hit it in order to kill it. There is this stuff called Dual we used (ag use with rice, not for your yards) and it works OK. Realy the best way though is to dig that crap up and put fresh soil down in it's place.

I don't know if you want rotting stuff in your soil, it can bring on fungas and then you have another outbreak.

There are far more good fungi in the soil than bad. The Dirt Doctor link above gives some info.

Image with MSM for bahia

Manage to get rid of nut sedge.

Write it down. Been there, done that.

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Manage to get rid of nut sedge.

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What exactly is manage? That crap is driving me nuts and just happened this year in a few spots where I had grubs or something. I used Image this weekend so i'll wait and see first.

MSMA will tear St. Augustine a new one won't it?

True, don't spray MSM on st aug.

Manage is good stuff but hard to find. It is ONLY designed to get rid of nutsedge.

However, I've come to find out that Sedgehammer has replaced it.

http://www.landscapemanagement.net/landscape/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=178621

I have been trying to kill nut sedge and berry vines with Roundup. It does not phase them. It is the pre-mix homeowner gallon spray. My bro in law works on a ranch. He gave me some Buccaneer to try. I have a bunch of wisteria I want to kill out also.

As far as grass type is concerned, the previous owner had sodded with St Augustine in the front. It was barely hanging on. I put a few centipede plugs out. The centipede is doing great and has choked out the St Augustine. It is spreding to areas that never had any grass.

Wow Manage is expensive! $85 for a little over an ounce. I'm going to have to bite the bullet I guess.