Bermudagrass

Cynodon dactylon

Bermudagrass is a perennial grass that is also known as Couchgrass, Wiregrass, Devil’s-grass or by its scientific name, Cynodon dactylon. It often is viewed as a lawn weed when it displaces desirable types of grass and becomes difficult to eradicate.

Identify

Rhizomes

Stolons

Folded

Hairy

Bermudagrass can be identified as a mat-forming perennial grass with smooth leaf tops and bottoms, plus a membranous ligule with a fringe of hairs. It also has similar hairs occurring on the margins at the top of the sheath. Bermudagrass leaves can range from gray-green to bluish-green in color, and eventually turn straw-colored with frost. Many types of Bermudagrass are often used as a desired turf for home lawns, golf courses and athletic fields. However, it has been known to escape containment into virtually any open habitat and can be difficult to get rid of once established in an area where it is undesirable and seen as a lawn weed.

Life Cycle

This part-time lawn weed prefers areas disturbed by civilization, and it can often be found growing in gardens, croplands, orchards, landscaped areas, lawns and gardens. Bermudagrass can survive in most parts of the continental United States. These perennial grasses can germinate and spread from seeds, but they also produce a root structure (tubers, bulbs or corms) that can birth new weeds from your lawn’s surface (using stolons) or from underground (using rhizomes). Perennial grassy weeds live two or more years and have a deeper root structure that can give rise to new weeds—even if you no longer see the weeds in your lawn.

Care

Bermudagrass is a highly invasive—and sometimes noxious—grass that is extremely difficult to eradicate once present among other, desirable strands of turf grass. Hand-pulling, or other physical weed removal, is not practical. Other cultural control methods such as proper watering and mowing techniques are also largely ineffective. For effective weed removal, professionally applied weed control treatments are recommended for complete eradication.