Bermuda Guys

[Jogeephus]

Before the release of Tift 85, UGA planted some test plots around. One of these was located on a friend's farm that had a large field composed what we call sugar sand. This is very droughty, very infertile soil barely capable of supporting prickly pear and lichen. Sprigs were planted here and when escavated the roots were found to penetrate the soil 15 feet. Can't say this was a lush stand but it does give some idea of what extremes bermuda can tolerate.

 

[Brute 23]

We planted Tifton in a field a couple years ago that is simular to what you are talking about. Its sandy like a beach. All that was out there before was weeds. The Tifton loves it and has been doing great.

 

[cross_7]

I wasn't knocking the tifton I was reiterating what iso said about our climate not being suited for Bermuda

 

[Jogeephus]

Didn't take it as knocking. I was simply stating that it is capable of tolerating some nasty extremes - except cold. Don't know your climate but if your low areas are as dry as our high droughty sandy bluffs then I don't see why its not worth trying. If it ever got a foothold you wouldn't be able to get rid of it if you tried.

 

[cmay]

I'm not a bemuda guy, but if you aren't going to fertilize, it might be better to just use common bermuda.

 

[greybeard]

It did work here even in 2011 where I fed jiggs in Oct/Nov/Dec--and that was a bad drought year, but we got a crapload of rain the following Feb and March tho.
If you need to feed hay to cows in those areas anyway, I don't see what any downside would be.

 

[JH_cattle_co]

We have areas where we fed round bales of bermuda that have pretty decents stands of coastal, not very large areas, but it's growing none the less. This is about 30 miles northwest of Pecos, Texas. You may also try seeding Giant Bermuda, about 20 years ago, at a couple of our pastures around Haskell my grandfather seeded the creek beds and draws with Giant and now it is so thick its hard to walk through.

 

[James T]

Being in the desert I have seen some guys have success with bermuda in water ways, seasonal lake bottoms, low spots that catch runoff and etc.
I have a few places I'd like to try either midland or coastal(maybe too cold here for coastal) but it is not possible to get a tractor/plow in these places
Would feeding round bales in these places work to get it started or is there a way to sprig without plowing ?

It's my understanding and experience that Coastal has to be planted by sprigs. So, once you get hold of some Coastal spriggs you could manually plant them in those areas you mentioned. Otherwise, you could get yourself some some Tifton or maybe Jiggs bales that are on the 'green side' (the cuttings will root), and feed them out in those low areas letting the cattle stomp them in the ground
for you. Doing this when the ground is damp is your best bet.