re: Will St. Augustine grass plugs overtake Bermuda?

Had to chime in - Ive been a golf course supt for almost ten years. Since my Aggies sucked this weekend I might as well talk about something...Don't know everything but here is a couple of facts:

- no spray will kill only bermuda in a st.augustine mix.
- "plugging" any grass at six foot intervals will take forever to spread even if the plugged grass is somewhat better suited
- bermudagrass is extremely difficult to completely remove. The best herbicide combination that I have seen is repeated applications of roundup combined with fusillade sprayed at the appropriate rates, intervals, and time of year. Even after all this bermuda can either come back or be tracked back in. Soil sterilants and fumigants are more effective, but difficult, expensive, and many times unavailable to apply. Both of the above are non selective and will kill everything in the application area. See this article from some other SEC schools for more info

LINK

-in my opinion the only way you will not have a mix is if the area has a ton of shade. St.augustine does much better in the shade and thus will be the more aggressive plant in that situation. Too much shade and neither will grow.
- watering and higher mowing height will favor st. Augustine in most situations. Too much water in spring and fall and st Augustine more susceptible to disease such as brown patch.
- drier conditions and lower mowing height will favor the bermuda in most situations.

I have mix in my un-irrigated yard. With all the droughts bermuda has taken over in a lot of spots. I like bermuda better as it is more tolerant of herbicides, has better drought hardiness, and is more disease resistant in my climate.

Just my two cents.....