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Tuesday - October 30, 2007

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Weed and feed for buffalograss
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

What is a good winterizer or weed & feed for buffalo grass? I live in Southwest Austin.

ANSWER:

Well, see, one of the best things about planting Bouteloua dactyloides (buffalograss) is that you DON'T have to put on weed and feed materials or do special "winterizing". It is native here, is adapted to our weather, can get what it needs from our soils, and has medium water needs. Since many of the "weeds" you don't want in your buffalograss happen to also be grasses, anything you buy that will "weed" the area will kill the buffalograss just as blithely as it will the weedy grasses. There is no way to explain to an herbicide that one grass is good and the other ones are all bad.

This Texas Cooperative Extension website has excellent information on the planting, cultivation and maintenance of buffalograss. We would call your special attention to these lines in the "Maintenance" section: "Buffalograss does not need fertilization but will respond to light applications of nitrogen. If bermudagrass is undesirable in the lawn, avoid nitrogen fertilization." Further, in commenting on the amount of moisture required, it is noted that medium irrigation during the spring and summer will keep buffalograss green, but "As with fertilization, excessive water promotes bermudagrass." We think you'll agree that the last thing you want in your buffalograss is bermudagrass, a grass imported as a lawn and grazing grass, which has become intensively invasive in flower beds and lawns everywhere.

In summary, you have made an excellent choice, for this part of the state, in planting buffalograss for your lawn. You neither need nor do we encourage you to use any other "additives", herbicides or pesticides. The buffalograss does not require them and you don't want them in the runoff from your property into the water supply.