Lawn Weeds - What is Bermuda Grass? Wire Grass?
Last updated: 2 November 2022
QUESTION: What is Bermuda grass? Wire Grass?
ANSWER: Bermuda grass Cynodon dactylon is a warm season perennial grass. It is a valuable lawn, pasture and sports turf in warm climates and also a very aggressive and hard to kill weed in cool season lawns, orchards, gardens and landscape beds.
When it is a weed, Bermuda grass is also called Wire Grass and often referred to by the lawn pros as Common Bermuda. It is often mistaken as crabgrass, most likely because the seed heads are similar.
Hybrid Bermuda Grass – there are several improved (or cultivated varieties) widely used on golf courses and sports fields. It makes a great playing surface because it can be cut short and recovers quickly from damage.
In Southern climates, Common Bermuda Grass is planted as lawns and pasture grass. When planted as a lawn or sports turf, a common practice is to over-seed in the fall with perennial ryegrass to keep it green over the winter.
Common Bermuda or Wire Grass is a very aggressive lawn weed. Below is a picture of wire grass in a Kentucky bluegrass lawn.
It’s a very aggressive and hard to kill weed. Once established, herbicides are usually required to control it. Bermuda spreads by above ground and below ground shoots (stolons and rhizomes) that will root and form new plants, making pulling ineffective way to remove this weed.