Pensacola has narrow leaves that are slightly longer than Argentine Bahia grass , with many seed heads. It has an extensive root system that grows from 7 to 10 feet deep.
Using a fertilizer with ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate or urea as your nitrogen fertilizer can help lower the pH in your lawn. Alternatively, replace the grass with another that grows well in soils with a high pH, such as St. Augustine grass, which grows in USDA zones 8 through Proper mowing practices are necessary to keep any lawn healthy and attractive. During times of active growth, bahiagrass should be mowed every 7—14 days to a height of 3—4 inches.
The higher mowing height promotes a deeper, more extensive root system that makes the grass more stress tolerant. Planting And Care of Bahia Grass The best time to sow bahia grass seed is in the spring and early summer. You can also sow in the fall, but the seed will not germinate until the spring, and growth will be reduced. The most important factor is that the soil be warm; bahia grass will not germinate in cold soil.
Pensacola bahia grass has a finer leaf texture and is more cold tolerant than Argentine bahia grass , while Argentine bahia grass is darker green. Bahiagrass is a deep-rooted perennial adapted to a wide range of soils. It is low- growing and spreads with stolons and stout, scaly rhizomes. Stolons are pressed firmly to the ground, have short internodes, and root freely from the nodes forming a dense sod. Areas with higher pH levels can cause Bahia Grass to suffer an iron deficiency and begin to yellow.
This can be balanced out by adding an iron source. However, yellowing can also be caused by nitrogen deficiencies in Bahia Grass. Pensacola and Argentine are varieties of Bahia, formally called Bahiagrass , each with unique characteristics that make them desirable as lawn grasses in the southeastern United States.
Its roots can extend up to 8' deep. In Florida, Bahiagrass survives in level areas with no irrigation, but often fails on sandy embankments. Bahia grass normally goes semi- dormant during winter, yet people sometimes fertilize and water it to keep it green in winter, and thereby encourage weed populations.
Bahiagrass Paspalum notatum Flugge is a long-lived, perennial warm season grass that is grown extensively in the southeastern United States Figure 1. It is most commonly used as a pasture species, but can be used for hay production, erosion control, and wildlife habitat. Mow your bahiagrass every seven to 14 days during its active growth phase, which occurs from the early spring through mid-to-late autumn season.
Make sure that you are not overwatering, as this can cause soil erosion and wipe away the seeds. After the grass germinates in weeks, reduce watering to once or twice a week.
You can also apply an additional layer of fertilizer to help with growth. Once the grass has grown to about 3 inches high, you can mow it for the first time. Bahiagrass is a warm-season grass and was imported from South American in the early 20th century.
It is moth active during the late spring and summer during the hot months. With proper care and the right climate, Bahiagrass can be a perennial grass that comes back year after year.
The best time to plant Bahiagrass is during the late spring and early summer. Bahiagrass has a deep root system, so it is very drought resistant, even in dry, hard soil such as clay and sand. It has a rough texture and is not as smooth as other grasses that grow in the north, and it grows best when it is exposed to full sunlight and less shade.
Bahiagrass also has a good tolerance for soil that does not drain well. Like many warm-season kinds of grass, it takes a while for Bahiagrass to establish and germinate. Bahiagrass normally takes about 28 days 4 weeks to germinate. Since it establishes slowly, it is susceptible to weeds before germination.
However, Bahiagrass has a long and dense root system so it can grow in poor soil conditions and handle drought periods very well.
A thick cover of weeds slows stand establishment by shading the emerging bahiagrass seedlings. Weak stands due to poor seedling establishment can thicken over time.
If plants are well distributed over the field, managing the stand to reduce weed competition will increase the opportunity for stand improvement. Once the bahiagrass seedlings reach a height of 8 inches, broadleaf weeds can be controlled with 2,4-D. Care should be taken when using 2,4-D in new plantings since this herbicide does have some pre-emergence activity on grass seed germination and may adversely affect bahiagrass seeds that have not yet germinated.
Currently, there are no herbicides that selectively control annual grasses in newly established bahiagrass. Mowing is the only option when these grasses are a problem in a newly-established field. The mowing height should be adjusted such that little if any of the bahiagrass foliage is cut.
Mowing once a month or more frequently may be necessary, depending on the level of grass competition. Once established, bahiagrass can suppress most weeds and mowing may or may not be necessary. Carefully managed rotational grazing can accomplish a similar effect, but the animals must be managed to minimize grazing pressure put on the bahiagrass.
Cattle should not be allowed to graze new plantings of bahiagrass in the spring months. Heavy trampling may result in destruction of the young plants. See the Georgia Pest Management Handbook and check with your county Extension agent for additional information and current recommendations. Though it will persist in low-fertility soils, bahiagrass is responsive to good soil fertility.
When it is used in a livestock operation, a good liming and fertility program is essential to the production of good forage yields and to economic returns. Bahiagrass is very responsive to N fertility Table 2. After establishment, annual applications of to pounds N per acre should be used for good forage production. For better distribution of forage growth, divide the N into two or more applications during the growing season. Higher rates of N per acre should only be used in very intensive grazing or hay production systems.
As in all good fertility programs, soil testing should be the basis for making amendment decisions. Apply lime, P, K, or any other needed soil amendments based on soil test recommendations. All of the P can be applied at any time during the year. Apply half of the K in the early spring and the other half in the summer to prevent luxury consumption of this nutrient by the plant. Bahiagrass is less sensitive to soil pH than many crops.
Applying lime to maintain the soil pH at 6. Improvements in nearly all facets of crop production have been reported when row crops are grown after bahiagrass compared to following other row crops Figure 3. This includes the most important factors to producers—yield and crop quality.
Yet, there are other proven improvements that result from such rotations. In terms of soil environment, which greatly contributes to the sustainability of agricultural systems, factors such as reduced erosion, build-up of soil organic matter, root growth and depth of penetration by the succeeding crop, water infiltration, earthworm population, and soil tilth all change for the better.
From a row crop standpoint, the most important benefit is usually from reduced incidence of numerous pests. In addition, it is reported that peanut and soybean root-knot nematode Meloidogyne spp. Collectively, these factors can result in savings from reduced inputs such as a less frequent need for irrigation, elimination of one or more fungicide spray events, and potentially reduced applications of expensive specialty herbicides due to bahiagrass outcompeting weeds.
In addition to the potential for improved yields and reduced inputs for the row crop enterprise, the inclusion of livestock can be a very successful capital venture that diversifies the farm operation and may serve as a profit center. This can buffer and insulate the farm operation from market fluctuations and, perhaps, catastrophic weather events.
Even operations that do not wish to incorporate ownership of livestock could still benefit from similar systems e. Though an economic analysis should be conducted to determine if a sod-based rotation using bahiagrass is economically feasible in a specific scenario, this may be a profitable rotation system for some farms in the Southeast.
If bahiagrass is to be used in the rotation, it is recommended that it stay in stand for two years, followed immediately by peanuts or soybeans, then by a subsequent cotton crop Do not plant cotton immediately after bahiagrass, since there are reports of excessive and rank vegetative growth in cotton that followed bahiagrass.
Bahiagrass has many uses, but it is most commonly used as a pasture species or as a hay crop. Bahiagrass is also an excellent grass species for erosion control and wildlife habitat. Bahiagrass also been increasingly used in "sod-based rotation" sequences see inset, " Using Bahiagrass in Sod-based Rotations with Agronomic Crops ".
Well-managed pastures can carry about one animal unit e. The quality of grazing is highest during the early spring and begins to decline during mid-summer. Improved varieties such as Tifton-9, TifQuik, and UF-Riata produce 10 to 15 percent more total forage and provide a slightly higher carrying capacity than Pensacola.
However, bahiagrass varieties do not differ substantially in forage quality Muchovej and Mullahey, All bahiagrass varieties produce most of their forage close to the soil surface, regardless of fertilization Table 3.
In fact, approximately 60 percent of the total forage produced is within 2 inches of the soil surface. Thus, bahiagrass pastures should be grazed close for best forage production and animal performance.
Though overgrazing is undesirable, most bahiagrass varieties can withstand intense, close grazing pressure. Bahiagrass generally grows more prostrate under close grazing and becomes even more compact. Under extremely high grazing pressure, bahiagrass will produce almost all of its leaf area so close to the soil surface that the animals cannot defoliate it i. As a result, bahiagrass is the most grazing-tolerant species used for forage production in Georgia.
By overseeding winter annual grasses and legumes into bahiagrass, the grazing season can be extended and the quality of the forage can be increased. Unfortunately, the compact and dense nature of bahiagrass sods is generally not as good for overseeding as bermudagrass sods. Overseeding with winter annuals such as rye, oats, annual ryegrass, crimson, and arrowleaf clovers can be successful if the soil fertility and weather provide a favorable environment for winter annual growth.
However, it is necessary for the bahiagrass sod to be mowed or grazed as short as possible in early October and lightly disked prior to establishment. Winter annuals should not be overseeded until late fall, just prior to the first frost. During the spring transition, when bahiagrass begins to regrow, winter forages should be removed either by grazing, haying, or mowing.
This reduces the competition from winter forages for light, moisture, and soil nutrients when bahiagrass begins its spring growth. Bahiagrass can make moderate quality hay 50 to 56 percent TDN and 9 to 11 percent CP if it is cut before it becomes overly mature cut on less than five-week intervals. Since the majority of bahiagrass forage is located below the typical 1. If hay is a goal, the newer or improved varieties will provide higher hay yields han Pensacola since they grow more upright and more of the available forage can be harvested.
Still, bahiagrass may not be able to produce the high yields that improved bermudagrass varieties are capable of producing, even if it is well fertilized Figure 4. Therefore, bahiagrass is not recommended for new plantings when hay production is planned. Commercial hay producers should be aware that bahiagrass is often invasive in bermudagrass stands.
When dry, bahiagrass is darker in color than bermu-dagrass, which may reduce the value of the hay. However, the bahiagrass contamination is typically of little nutritional significance.
Thus, such mixed hay can still be fed as part of a balanced ration. Producers seeking to remove bahiagrass from bermudagrass need to first identify the type of bahiagrass that is present. Pensacola bahiagrass and varieties derived from Pensacola which tend to be more aggressive and, therefore, most commonly found as a contaminant in bermudagrass stands can be selectively removed from bermudagrass using metsulfuron Cimarron.
Bahiagrass seed production can be another source of income in addition to hay or grazing. Some of the newer varieties are plant variety protected PVP and seed harvested from these varieties cannot legally be sold. However seed harvested and sold from varieties like Pensacola and Argentine often help cover fertilizer or other annual production costs.
Seed yields may range from to pounds per acre. Growth of tillers which later develop seed heads is stimulated by removing accumulated forage either through grazing or mowing in the spring and theapplication of up to pounds of N per acre Gates and Burton, It is difficult to judge the best time to harvest seed since all the seed do not mature at the same time. A good technique to determine timely seed harvest is to grasp the stem below the seed head and strip the head through moderately tight-closed fingers.
Mature seed will easily release from the head. Check multiple heads. When the majority of seed are mature, begin harvest. Do not determine seed harvest by color since many seed are fully mature while still green.
Combined bahiagrass seed are of various stages of maturity, so dry seed as quickly as possible to avoid heat development that reduces germination and quality. In most cases, only one seed harvest is obtained. The time of harvest varies by season, fertility program, rainfall, and utilization or management prior to stem development. Generally, bahiagrass seed can be harvested as early as mid- to late June in the Coastal Plain of Georgia.
Bahiagrass can be an economical forage, especially for cow-calf producers with limited capital. It can work especially well for cattlemen who are leasing land for pasture production that was previously in agronomic crops.
Also, if silvopasture production is a possibility, then bahiagrass will perform better than bermudagrass once the trees produce a canopy. Bahiagrass is relatively inexpensive to establish and maintain Tables 4 and 5. Some cattlemen considering which type of grass to plant may be comparing bahiagrass, bermudagrass, or tall fescue. Based on the forage production information in Table 1, annual maintenance costs were estimated using the low, mid-point, and high values for nitrogen fertilization as recommended in Table 1, while keeping the P and K fertilization values constant Figure 5.
These values were then used to calculate annual cow carrying costs at various stocking rates Figure 6 , assuming the low, mid-point, and high stocking rates reported in Table 1. For example, the mid-range nitrogen fertilization for bahiagrass is pounds and the corresponding carrying capacity is 1. Conversely, at the high rate of pounds of nitrogen per acre and a carrying capacity of 1.
The best defense against weeds is to implement cultural practices that promote dense, vigorous bahiagrass growth. Occasionally, broadleaf weeds can become problematic. Broadleaf weeds are easily controlled in bahiagrass with several different herbicides.
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