I'm committed to getting a stand of Bermuda grass started on my place this year. Finding the sprigs is going to be a serious issue. I can get wrangler Bermuda seed dropped right at my door. I remember from an earlier thread I started about Bermuda that people advised against the "seeded" varieties. What exactly is the down side of the seeded varieties? They seem to be my best option. At almost $5 a pound I hate to fool around with something I don't need.
Pitfalls of seeded bermuda grass
- Thread starter Bigfoot
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heath
Well-known member
I've never planted Bermuda, so my opinions are not based on first hand experience. I've read several places how hybrid varieties revert back to common Bermuda. Hybrid varieties I believe also require more inputs. So would planting common Bermuda be a poor decision?
Hybrid varieties don't turn into common. That is a misconception that most people have had for years, it not even possible. However most hybrid varieties aren't nearly as hardy as common and most contain some common seed in the mix. What happens is the hybrid simply dies out and you are left with common. There is no seeded variety that can compare to Coastal, Midland 99, Tiffton 85 in carrying capacity or hay production. However common can make some good pasture. It's harder to start from seed and takes twice as long to get solid when compared to spriggs. When you put it out if you get high winds you stand the chance of the seed blowing into gullies and your neighbors pasture which can result in a near total loss of investment. I have done quite a bit of both and have good pasture from both, but I won't use seed again.heath":3cux1b96 said:
I dont know about your area but dun or some one posted a study with all the bermudas and what you could expect from 0-several hundreds # of fert. Tifton was 1st followed by several other sprigged varieties i believe. The Cheyenne bermuda which is a seeded variety was very high up there. It by far out did the other seeded types.
If some one can find the study to back that up it would be great. Im going off memory here.
If some one can find the study to back that up it would be great. Im going off memory here.
chippie
Well-known member
can you check with your extension office (ag agent) about which is best for your area?
1982vett
Well-known member
Isomade":251rvqjg said:
Amen....Brotha..... :clap: :clap:
Makes my eyeballs roll back into my skull when I hear "the hybrids revert back to" spiel.
I would expect when you plant a "hybrid mix" that contains 25 to 50% common bermuda, you are most likely going to have only common bermuda left in a few years....HOWEVER....what I'm seeing with the Texas Tuff I planted in 2004 is the 33.3% Giant Bermuda portion of the mix is more drought tolerant in my blackland soil than the Common and Majestic portion and that has kept those in check.
Biggest "pitfall" I see with seeded varieties is adequate moisture between germination and viable plant but that similarly compares to keeping a sprig viable between harvest and planting...still have about the same moisture issue after that.
:2cents:
Red Bull Breeder
Well-known member
You might look at some thing like the eastern grama grass as a warm season. It grows like heck once you get it started.
chippie
Well-known member
I don't think that they do. I've never seen seed on our Jiggs. The plants send out runners to propagate. That is why people sprig them.
OP
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Bigfoot
Well-known member
I'm not wanting to make Bermuda my main forage. It actually would be a poor choice for my area. It would come late, and leave early. I want to square bale some of it hopefully, but I really want to utilize it when my fescue goes dormant in the heat of summer.
By going with a seeded variety, am I in danger of being taken over by it? I would think the sprigged varieties would only creep so far. The seeded varieties may move to fields I don't want them in.
Looking only at cold tolerance Wrangler is my best choice of a seeded variety.
By going with a seeded variety, am I in danger of being taken over by it? I would think the sprigged varieties would only creep so far. The seeded varieties may move to fields I don't want them in.
Looking only at cold tolerance Wrangler is my best choice of a seeded variety.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
Isomade":1vwe3zxq said:
And if you lightly disc it every year it will spread like wildfire.
James T
Well-known member
Isomade":10g67nyz said:
Well, yes, they do. But they're sterile.
If fescue is to be the primary product, I wouldn't plant bermuda as it tends to choke out everything else around it.
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Bigfoot
Well-known member
When you guys say common Bermuda grass, I wonder if that is what I have growing in my yard. It also grows in a spot or two in my pasture. Cows eat around it. It's stem are very tuff, and doesnt grow tall at all. It must be cold resistant, it comes back every year. Surely these varieties we are talking about are more palatable than this stuff. I don't know where it came from. It's always been here.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
Bigfoot":3vq0s1eu said:
I don't know what you have but common is great pasture.
My cow's will bypass everything else to graze it first.
All the bermuda's are pretty stemy.
James T
Well-known member
Yea, I don't know what that's about. I have never seen cattle avoid bermuda grass. I tried Cheyenne one year, planting it by the book, and very little came up. Cheyenne seed is very expensive too. Created a half acre plot of seeded common last year and it did real well once the seed germinated. Know of a beefmaster ranch that bails common bermuda and they do all right by it. Have a test plot for Tifton 85 and Jiggs, both are doing well. Phosphorous is the key in our soil.
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Bigfoot
Well-known member
I took a picture of my Bermuda last summer. My wife is going to post it when she gets time. I pulled up one of the stems, and laid it on my tail gate. Hopefully you guys will recognize it as common or not.
