Crabgrass in Coastal Bermuda

I have part of a 6 acre coastal field that has been infested with crabgrass. I plan to spray for crabgrass this winter with a preemergent herbicide. However, I am going to square bale that field in a week for horse hay, and I would like to know the effects of crabgrass being in coastal (the mix is, at worst, about 50/50). I have heard that crabgrass has decent nutrition, but that it takes longer to dry. If anyone can tell me about crabgrass hay, and how long it takes to dry, I will really appreciate it.

SF

To the best of my knowledge Crab grass and bermuda are related (way back) and killing one will kill the other! Read up on the products disclaimer. The bermuda (weeds) in my lawn were affected by the preemergence I applied with broad leaf herbicide this spring. It is not simple! Jim

Takes longer to dry for sure, helps if you ted it the day after it"s cut but it"s still slower to dry than coastal which creates a problem when they are mixed. I think it just has a higher water content to begin with, seems like there isn"t much there when you get it dry. I usually try to make sure the crabgrass is dry and then rake while there is still dew on the grass the next morning to avoid knocking the leaves all off the coastal which is really too dry by the time the crabgrass is. I plan to put a preemergent on my 20 acre field this spring and knock the crabgrass out like you, I also have quack grass to deal with.

Add at least one day to drying time. Crabgrass does make excellent horse hay, but it is hard to dry down. If you have a couple of days of low humidity that is the perfect time to cut it. You can make sure it is dry by taking a handful of the crabgrass out of the field and burning it. If you get much smoke... it is not dry.

Jim, there is an herbicide called "Prowl H20" that is supposed to kill crabgrass (not to mention sandspurs) preemergently on dormant bermuda. I am not an expert on the herbicide, but from what I have heard, it doesn't bother bermuda.

SF
Prowl H20

A second note.. Prowl H20 is now labeled for premeegence in costal. I spryed 20 acers this past spring with mixed results. 8 aceres it worked well and 12 it did not. Having said that the two field are 10 miles apart. Different moisture levels. You can also use Pasteaure(not sure of spelling) with 5 oz of roundup per acere. This was given to me as a label supplement by my chemical supplier. I used it on 11 aceres 10 miles and 20 miles from the two other fields. It gave about 60% control, but then again we have been drought stressed this year.

I usually ted the hay the day it is cut, and then again the next day. The day after this I rake at 10 AM and bale. I suppose I could cut really early in the morning to add more drying time.

SF

Crabgrass is better feed than Coastal Bermuda (wire grass its called here)

Do you include foxtail in the "crabgrass" as good hay..

Yes, we have. We had a huge problem with it in our field last year.

Pastora will kill crabgrass (also kills bahia), but its very expensive. I think it was $260 to purchase enough to do our 7.5 acre field and that was last fall. I don"t know how long you have to wait after spraying to cut for forage for horses.

Good news is crabgrass doesn"t come back very well. So little of it sprouted this year, we never sprayed the Pastora.

Crabgrass takes longer to cure than bermuda because of the heavier stems and leaves. It will sour if baled too soon, turns an ugly brown regardless of how it cures and doesn"t smell very good even when completely cured. Really makes a mess of good coastal hay.

Crabgrass would be an excellent forage if you could get it to cure well. When it was such a problem last year, we talked to our Ag agent a lot about it. According to him, they"ve been trying for years to come up with a good way to cure it, but haven"t yet.

Another problem with trying to raise it for forage is that, according to studies, unless you "disturb" the soil, very little of the crabgrass that comes up one year, will come up the next.