Discussion Board - Breaking new ground/Bermuda Grass

I'm in the process of tilling some new ground that used to be a horse pasture. There is alot of bermuda grass and the ground is pretty hard.
Matter of fact couldn't even get a 2 bottom plow to break. I ran a subsoiler over it and then ran something like a chisel plow over it. This worked pretty well. I then made a pass or two with a disk. I still have large clumps of bermuda grass and large dirt clods. Anyone got any suggestions to what i could do (non chemical)
to get rid of this grass? I wonder if i ran the 2 bottom plow really deep now and just disked the heck of out it if it would work.

Roots go several feet deep and you just have a tough time getting rid of it.

Just year before last I had some lease land that hadn't seen steel for at least 25 years. Was a waste land with erosion and weeds and a mess.

I went in and did as you did; worked it over real good down to a depth of about 12" (Haymie chisel plow). Planted sudan seed last spring and got a good stand of sudan for hay. Before the season was over, I had more bermuda in my bales than sudan. This year I did the weed kill again, will fertilize again, but no planting.....gonna harvest the free grass.

Mark

As long as you have ANY living roots, it will come back. One tried and true method for CONTROLING it in lawns is to let the grass grow more than 4" tall,never cutting any shorter. That MIGHT help in a pasture situation, but I wouldn't count on it. Bermuda is a tough grass. It seems to thrive on conditions that most other grasses can't handle.

Without chemicals, all I can say is good luck!