June 15, 2013 Buffalograss

New Buffalograss plugs at bottom, Buffalograss planted last August at top.
Burlap covering topsoil along the base of the building on right side.

     During the late fall and early spring, we sprayed the grass-like weeds that were still green after the buffalograss went dormant. This worked great. We no longer have those weeds competing with the buffalograss. There are only a couple of spots where thick-bladed grass is growing. I will carefully paint some Roundup on those with a small paint brush, being careful not to get any Roundup on the buffalograss.
     The buffalograss came out of dormancy about a month ago. It has really started spreading now that the weather has warmed up. I have been spot spraying using a household spray bottle with lawn weed killer with Trimec herbicide, 4 tablespoons per gallon of water to kill broad leaf weeds. Always be sure to read the instructions on all herbicides you use. Buffalograss instructions say not to spray 2-4 D products when the temperature is above 85 degrees, because it may harm the grass. We really had a bad infestation of field bindweed, or wild morning glory, especially in the back area of the picture and the 2-4 D has really killed it well.
     I spread lawn fertilizer, 25-5-10 with slow-release nitrogen, 1 pound per 1000 square feet about a week ago. I will spread some more again in late July or early August.
     We sprayed Roundup on anything green in the area in November and again until early April. After spraying in early April, I looked closely at the buffalograss and it looked like it was coming out of dormancy. I was really scared that we had killed the buffalograss with our last spray of Roundup, but in May it really began to turn green so we hadn't killed it! Phew!
     We don't want to over water the buffalograss, so we have only watered it twice since it greened up.
     Water runs off our building and eroded a lot of the dirt away since last summer. There was a depression about 8 to 12 inches wide and 6 to 8 inches deep all along the building at the base. To remedy that, I bought  burlap fabric, 3 feet wide and 20 feet long and topsoil at Walmart. They also sell burlap at Home Depot and Lowe's. I put one side of the burlap down into the hole and dumped the topsoil into the depression. Then I folded the rest of the burlap over the top of the topsoil and pushed landscape pins into the burlap every couple of feet. So far, it has kept the soil in place and hasn't eroded anymore. The buffalograss is starting to grow into the burlap and the burlap will eventually decay away, hopefully after the buffalograss spreads its roots into the soil so it doesn't erode anymore. That's the plan, anyway.

November 3 Buffalograss, Semi-Dormant

We have had one hard frost this growing season. The buffalograss is mostly brown, but there are still green leaf blades, so we don't dare spray Roundup on the green weeds surrounding the buffalograss yet.

Brown Buffalograss in Foreground,
Green Weeds in Background. Notice the erosion along the
base of the building.

Still some green in the Buffalograss

Buffalograss Progress

Our Legacy Buffalograss is still alive and spreading. We have had temperatures about 10 degrees above normal in our area the past few weeks. We expect below freezing temperatures in the next few weeks then our grass will go dormant. If any weeds are still green after the buffalograss is completely dormant, we'll spray them with Roundup.

Legacy Buffalograss on October 3, 2012

Individual buffalograss on October 3, 2012. It has grown quite a bit since
we planted it August 3.

Weed Problems in Legacy Buffalograss

The buffalograss was planted 41 days ago and there are many patches of a thin-bladed grass-like plant that has started growing from dry root-balls that looked innocent enough before we planted. We should have removed all the root-balls before we planted. Here's a photo of the dry root-balls and of a watered root-ball.

(Right) Innocent-looking dry dormant root-balls we left in the soil.
(Left) Grass or Sedge sprouting from a root-ball after we watered the area.

The photo below shows the buffalograss plugs on the right and the weedy grass-like plants on the left. If the root-balls dry out on the weedy grass, the grass dies back. The roots aren't very deep and have little bulbs on the ends.  We think it's a cool-season grass or (sedge?) that we hope we may be able to spray with Roundup when the buffalograss goes dormant after frost. Anyone know what plant this is and how we can get rid of it?

Buffalograss to the Right of Hose.
Weedy Grasses and Field Bindweed on Left.

We think the weedy grasses aren't growing next to our fence because we treat the area frequently with Roundup. If you have time, prepare your soil before planting your buffalograss by watering, spraying weeds with herbicide, watering again, spraying, etc. for at least a few months. It will save you a lot of trouble!

Field Bindweed (wild morning glory) is a big problem in our area and we will really have to fight this weed for a long time.

September 3, 2012 Photos of Legacy Buffalograss Plugs

Legacy Buffalograss Plugs after growing for approximately one month.

Legacy Buffalograss Plugs Sept. 3, 2012

Legacy Buffalograss, Individual Plant Sept. 3, 2012

You can see that the plants are beginning to grow stolons that are several inches long. These stolons are beginning to root into the soil at several nodes.

August 4, 2012 Photos of Legacy Buffalograss Plugs

We ordered 13 flats of Legacy Buffalograss (1274 plants in all) and they arrived on August 2. We have a fairly steep slope from our building to our neighbors' property and thought that we needed to plant grass to help prevent mud and debris from washing onto our neighbors' property during rainstorms.

We planted the plugs about 1 foot apart, hoping that they would spread fairly quickly.

Newly planted Plugs of Legacy Buffalograss August 4, 2012

Individual Legacy Buffalograss Plug August 4, 2012