Herbicides and herbicide prepackaged mixtures registered for use on established bermudagrass turf may cause significant injury to recently seeded bermudagrass cultivars, delaying full establishment. Research was conducted to evaluate the use of 12 herbicide treatments applied at onset of uniform stolon development (4 to 8 wk after seeding) to recently seeded ‘Princess 77,’ ‘Riviera,’ ‘Savannah,’ and ‘Yukon’ bermudagrass cultivars. In general, Yukon was more susceptible to herbicide injury than other cultivars. Atrazine at 1.1 kg ai/ha injured all cultivars 55 to 59% 14 d after initial treatment (DAIT), which lead to reduced bermudagrass cover 21 DAIT. Triclopyr clopyralid at 0.63 0.21 kg ae/ha, respectively, injured Savannah and Yukon greater than other broadleaf weed herbicides (2,4-D mecoprop dicamba or 2,4-D clopyralid dicamba). Foramsulfuron did not injure or reduce bermudagrass cover of any cultivar evaluated at any rating date. The only adverse effect of trifloxysulfuron was a reduction in Riviera and Yukon ground cover at 21 DAIT. MSMA applied sequentially and quinclorac treatments did not injure or reduce ground cover of Savannah or Princess 77. MSMA applied sequentially and/or quinclorac injured and reduced ground cover of Riviera and Yukon; however, both cultivars completely recovered from MSMA or quinclorac injury by 42 DAIT.
Nomenclature: clopyralid, 2,4-D, dicamba, foramsulfuron, mecoprop, MSMA, triclopyr, trifloxysulfuron, quinclorac; common bermudagrass, Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. #3 CYNDA, ‘Princess 77’, ‘Riviera’, ‘Savannah’, ‘Yukon.’
Additional index words: Seeded establishment, stolon development, turfgrass tolerance.
Abbreviations: DAIT, days after initial treatment; NTEP, National Turfgrass Evaluation Program.
