Eliminating bermudagrass in lawns is no easy thing. Yes, you could spot-treat bermudagrass with Roundup and water, but you would probably wind up killing desirable grass at the same time. What’s needed is an herbicide that kills bermudagrass (Bermuda) but leaves healthy grass intact. For generations, no such pesticide was available, but today there is, and homeowners have access to the product if they want it.

Pictured below is the product you need: PBI Gordon’s Ornamec Grass Herbicide. Available to homeowners in plastic quart containers, Ornamec comes in two concentrations, 6.75 percent and 1.7 percent. The photograph below pictures the Ornamec 170 herbicide because this is the better product for consumers.

How does Ornamec destroy Bermuda without harming the cool season turfgrass on your lawn? There is no “luck” involved because Ornamec moves throughout every grass plant when it is sprayed on the leaves. Ornamec is moved systemically to the shoots, roots and rhizomes of bermuda. Because bermuda has cyclical growth, Ornamec should be applied twice the first year (spring and fall) when
bermuda is growing new and old rhizomes.

Let us walk you through a typical spring application of Ornamec 170 to lawns with cool season grasses.

* It is imperative that cool season grass be actively growing and not experiencing any stress due to lack of rain or plant food. Lawns should be fertilized early in the spring with a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer to promote optimum growth of the cool season grass.

* Schedule your application of Ornamec 170 to actively growing grass. You want to avoid cutting the lawn for three days prior to applying Ornamec. Check your local weather forecast to make sure no rain will follow your application for at least 24 hours.

* Check your lawn frequently so you are able to identify the early stages of bermuda growth in the spring and again in the fall. You want to spray bermuda when the first runners (rhizomes) are four to eight inches long. When you find the first leaf shoots of bermuda on the lawn, you probably should be spraying three or four days later.

* The day before applying Ornamec 170, take out your hose-end sprayer, fill it half-way with two or three tablespoons of Miracle-Gro granules, add water to the three gallon mark, then spray the liquid over the lawn (good grass and bermuda). This moves sugar throughout the grass so your Ornamec ends the spring growing cycle of bermuda the next day.

* Apply Ornamec 170 using the hose-end sprayer or a hand-pump sprayer with a plastic tank. Base your formula on the extent of bermuda you want to control. For a quart solution in a hand-pump sprayer, add 2½ ounces of Ornamec to 32 ounces of water. For a half-gallon, add 5 ounces of Ornamec to 64 ounces of water. For a gallon solution, add 10 ounces of Ornamec. If desired, you can add 6 to 8 ounces of Easter egg dye to mark the area where you spray. If you use a hose-end sprayer, add the recommended ounces of Ornamec to the jar for the area to be treated, but do not add water to the jar.

* Stay off the lawn for 24 hours after spraying with Ornamec.

* When bermuda growth resumes in early fall, be prepared to make your fall application of Ornamec 170. After the first year of treatment, you may only need a spring application the following year to eliminate bermuda from your lawn.