Will 2-4-D Kill Bermuda Grass Seedlings?

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I bought a house on 16 acres, and the pasture is a disaster. The prior owner got old and let it go, and about 2 acres of the upper pasture was infested with cockleburs.

So I nuked it with Roundup last fall, chiseled it, disked it twice and drug it level.

I broadcast bermuda seed 2 weeks ago. I now have some seedlings coming up (thick in some areas, but sparse in others).

The problem is that the cocklebur are sprouting by the hundreds.

I won't put up with cockleburs, so I'm thinking of nuking them with 2-4-D. Is the 2-4-D going to kill the tender young bermuda seedlings?

If so, then that's just the high cost of low living. I'm going to get rid of the cockleburs if I have to kill every living thing on this place.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

P.S.: I posted this in the haying forum because I intend to use this land for pasture and hay, and I figure hay folks would know more about chemicals on new grass seedlings than anyone else.

 

[jeff9366]

IMAGE is a specialty herbicide for Sand Burrs/Cockleburrs. Even so, IMAGE has required two applications in my experience. IMAGE is sold in Lowes and Home Depots in Florida.

2,4-D will not phase Sand Burrs/Cockleburrs.

Roundup/Glycophosphate will kill Sand Burrs/Cockleburrs but it usually takes four applications.

Seed is viable in the ground at least three years. If you disc repeatedly Spring/Summer/Fall BEFORE nuts are set on plants, you will gradually reduce the population. As you probably know, those burrs are nuts, which contain about eighty seeds per nut. Nuts can go through a burn pile fire yet seeds remain viable.

Digging the buggers out with a hand trowel is effective but slow. That is my lawn eradication process.

I would track down IMAGE.

 

[Tx Jim]

I sure thought 2-4D would kill Cockleburrs but not kill grass burrs.

 

[Texasmark]

I was on the Texas A&M University (TAMU) Extension Services www as I recall when I learned something about 2-4-D. Plants with the mixed up support structure in the leaves are affected by it. Grasses have a parallel support structure and aren't affected.

So what I gleaned out of that was to look at a plant and look at the leaves. If it has parallel grain structure, like some tree leaves, it may stun it for a few days but that's all. I know that if you want to kill brush....aka small trees and bushes and all you have to use P+D which is Pecularin (or some spelling similar) + 2-4-D....a controlled herbicide in TX. The P is in for the parallel grain plants, the D is for the rest. Not my info, something I learned over the years.

Added: I have fabulous Bermuda hay patch today which has not been reseeded/sprigged since using 2-4-D at least 2 applications over several years, both Amine and the other...milky looking recipe. Supports what the TAMU guys said. Course it has been renovated with my Hay King pasture renovator, fed several nice doses of PNK + minerals, and the right spring rains at the right time.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I sure thought 2-4D would kill Cockleburrs but not kill grass burrs.

Yes, it will kill cockleburs. I think Jeff is referring to sandburs, which I'm not familiar with.

I HAVE to get rid of the cockleburs. They are the bane of my existence at the moment.

I suspect my young tender Bermuda seedlings won't fare very well under 2-4-D, but thought I would check here first.

If I KNEW the 2-4-D was going to kill the seedlings, I'd just nuke the pasture with Roundup and be done with it. I can re-seed sooner after Roundup than I can with 2-4-D.

 

[Texasmark]

Yes, it will kill cockleburs. I think Jeff is referring to sandburs, which I'm not familiar with.

I HAVE to get rid of the cockleburs. They are the bane of my existence at the moment.

I suspect my young tender Bermuda seedlings won't fare very well under 2-4-D, but thought I would check here first.

If I KNEW the 2-4-D was going to kill the seedlings, I'd just nuke the pasture with Roundup and be done with it. I can re-seed sooner after Roundup than I can with 2-4-D.

The container of 2-4-D does have a caution as I recall. Read the label. I think there is a time line on bermuda seedlings, letting them get established before you chase the burs. You don't want to hit them now anyway. I always hit mine just as the burs blooms were forming giving me plenty of leaf area to pick up the inoculant but they still be in the active growth stage where the inoculant is most effective.

I don't know what kind of burs they have in Florida, but in Texas burs hate it big time. 1 application back in the early 80's and haven't had a bur on the place since.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Texasmark, thanks for the advice. I see new cockleburs coming up every day, so you're right. I need to be patient and let as many of them sprout as possible before I spray. I just don't want to wait too long and let them start forming the burrs (i.e., seedpods).

 

[Tx Jim]

I just don't want to wait too long and let them start forming the burrs (i.e., seedpods).

Cockleburrs: I heard their seeds called Porcupine eggs. The seeds are a pain to remove from a horses mane/tail or cows switch.

 

[kthompson]

I just had a few acres sprigged of coastal bermuda and 2 4 D is listed to use on it. It will be a couple of hours before I can post that info but will as the company but will.