What are Perennial Weeds?
Perennial Weeds are longer lived plants that can survive winter or regrow from roots, rhizomes or tubers in spring after a period of dormancy. Many weeds that grow from seed ...
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One of the greatest enemies of Buffalo grass is Kikuyu grass.
Kikuyu invades Buffalo grass easily and very quickly, oftentimes without notice. Entire Buffalo lawns can be quickly consumed by Kikuyu before we even notice we have a problem.
In fact, most Buffalo lawns being planted today will have a Kikuyu invasion within the next few years. And if not controlled, the Kikuyu, in most cases, will overrun the Buffalo with ease.
So what’s the story with Kikuyu and Buffalo?
Buffalo is a very good grass at naturally keeping out invasions from most common weed types due to its thick thatch layer, however, it just cannot compete with, nor overtake its arch-enemy – Kikuyu.
Kikuyu seeds are very fine and easily move around the natural environment. Therefore, a Kikuyu lawn down the street or at the Council Park can easily invade other lawns through human traffic, birds, dogs, bikes etc… which carry the fine Kikuyu seeds and disperse them to other places … and lawns.
In fact, you could have brought Kikuyu seed onto your own lawn just by visiting your mate’s house and walking across his Kikuyu grass. Kikuyu seed spreads that easily!
Once the Kikuyu seed is in a fine leaf and low growing lawn such as Couch or Zoysia, the invader can be easily spotted and removed before it takes a foothold.
But for Buffalo, its wide leaf and thicker thatch layer often hide the new young Kikuyu seedlings which are developing amongst its own leaf.
Kikuyu is very well camouflaged inside Buffalo, especially at its youngest stages while it’s gaining a foothold and a deep healthy root system.
Eventually, the Buffalo lawn owner will notice a different grass amongst their lawn which grows much faster than his Buffalo, much higher, and spreads quickly.
By this time, the Kikuyu is well and truly established and strong and healthy amongst the Buffalo and will become very difficult to remove.
Once an invasion of Kikuyu has been noticed in a Buffalo lawn, it is imperative the lawn owner takes immediate action to kill the Kikuyu grass as quickly as possible.
If left without treatment, the Kikuyu will continue to get stronger, spread further and will eventually take over the entire Buffalo lawn, turning it into a Kikuyu lawn.
As we’ve already noted, the ease at which Kikuyu spreads, its rapid growth rates, its ability to hide so well in Buffalo, and the fact that most Buffalo lawns will become invaded by Kikuyu at one time or another, means that all Buffalo lawn owners must stay vigilant.
Kikuyu can be a chore to kill in Buffalo grass as there is no selective herbicide available for this purpose. So it’s best to tackle Kikuyu as quickly as possible.
Realise there is always a risk of invasion and always be on the lookout for any grass which looks a little different than Buffalo.
