# Forum Home Renovation Landscaping, Gardening & Outdoors  Kikuyu growing through Sir Walter Buffalo

## Loki429

Hi 
We have a lawn of Sir Walter Buffalo approximately 3 years old. In places however there is some Kikuyu grass that is growing through it.
(This is most likely due to existing grass in that area not being removed/killed prior to laying the Sir Walter.) 
My question however is how can I easily remove the kikuyu? I have been manually pulling out runners but not really succeeding eliminating it completely.
Is there any type of week (?) killer that will kill off the kikuyu but not affect the Sir Walter? 
cheers
Loki

----------


## China

Kikuyu, is a real pain it will travel many metres ( from neighbouring properties ) as far as I'm aware if it kills Kikuyu it kills Sir Walter

----------


## dazzler

Sir walter is very dormant during winter.  I would keep pulling the runners till summer comes on, feed up really well with dynamic lifter, and keep pully the runners and the sir walter should go crazy and win the war.

----------


## Loki429

Thanks for that. 
I guess I have really only seen the kikuyu over winter and the Sir Walter sure is quiet! I've gone from mowing every week to once a month.
I did some searching for weed killer too and found nothing other than some "spot" killers that I guess would kill Sir Walter too if you happened to touch it. 
I'll keep pulling out the runners in the meantime and hope it all sorts itself out when the weather warms up. 
cheers,
Loki

----------


## namtrak

I think the only way to really get rid of the Kikuyu - short of digging a foot deep hole around it - is to spray it with a glysophate.  You can keep pulling it up, but you will be leaving nodules in the ground, which will keep on sprouting. 
Once you've sprayed it a couple of times, then you can work on repatching the area with some buffalo.

----------


## Bloss

Glyphosate, but not spraying - use a fine artists paint brush and paint it directly onto the kikuyu when it is actively growing (which will be sooner than the buffalo). Take care and use the poison straight. Have the glyphosate in a small container inside another container so that you do not spill any. Mark out area into squares and do a bit at a time - hands and knees stuff, but doesn't take long. get onto it anytime new kikuyu appears. When buffalo takes off in spring it will smother weed.

----------


## namtrak

Of course, brushing on is a great idea - forgot that one.  Not sure about using it straight though, I use it straight on stumps - but I have the feeling that using it straight on grass can burn the grass actually reducing the ability of the grass to 'suck up' the poison - happy to be corrected again!!

----------


## Dan - Yal

Have got the same problem myself. Kikyui growing through Palmetto buffalo. We did dig the kyk out before planting the buffalo but obviously didnt dig deep enough. 
Painting on glypho has given us the best result so far but it is labour intensive. Kills the kyk no worries though. As stated earlier, winter is the best time of the year to be doing this, whilst the kikyui is growing strongly 
Try to avoid mowing until absolutely necessary. Mowing is a great way to spread those kikyui runners around, before you know it you'll have the stuff growing all over your lawn. Made this mistake myself.

----------


## Green1

Hi Loki,I use a selective herbicide for Winter grass, on our couch. I know it says on the bottle don't use it on kikuya as it kills it, not sure about buffalo. We get  some kik grow through from neighbours and it sure knocks it. I'll check the bottle re buffalo. Could be a selective kikuya killer as well in your situation!

----------


## Green1

Loki that stuff is called Endothal, from Chemspray. It is designed to kill wintergrass and I think I picked it up at Big dub for around $10. It does say it is okay to use on couch and buffalo lawns, but it kills Kik. Glyfosate is the go for small amounts, brushed on as suggested. But if you want to do a large area, try this stuff. Do a small area first if you aren't sure and leave it a couple of weeks. It ceratinly knocks back the neighbours kik runners that come up in our lawn. 
Cheers, 
Greeny

----------


## grasstree

I have been keeping Kikuyu for years out of my Buffalo lawn, but it is hard work, and takes three to for tries each Winter. I also have an Empire Zoysia lawn. Easy to kill Kikuyu out of. Just hire in a lawn care guy and he sprays the Kikuyu dead, and does not hurt the Empire. I wish I had Empire on all lawns, its just so much easier to look after.

----------


## KANDL

From Ozbreed website (www.ozbreed.com.au):  *How do get couch or Kikuyu out of other lawns* 
        You have a beautiful Palmetto Buffalo lawn, or some other  wonderful type of turf, and unfortunately some untidy couch or Kikuyu  has crept in. What can you do about it? Apart from getting frustrated,  about the only thing you can do is spray that section of the lawn dead  with Round Up (Glyphosate). So where ever the couch or Kikuyu is, spray  that area, ensuring that every bit of the target plant is sprayed. It is  better to water the lawn a few days before spraying, to ensure the  target grass is healthy. You get a much better kill with Round Up when  the plant is healthy.  After a couple of weeks you will find a dead  area. Now the fun part begins. If it was Palmetto Buffalo, Empire  Zoysia, or Sapphire Buffalo, you can simple purchase Viro-Cell lawn and  patch up the Area. This method of patch up is simple and quick.  Viro-Cells are cell grown trays of turf. If you have another variety, or  if you cant get Viro-Cells, a slower but still successful option is to  simply pull out some runners from other parts of the lawn, and plant  them in the bare areas. You can also use turf, and fully patch the areas  instantly. If you have a cool season grass, such as Fescue, you can  turf the patch, or re-seed. If you have Kikuyu in a lawn that needs less  mowing, or example in Palmetto, you will find the Kikuyu will grow  taller than the Buffalo. In this case you can use a wick wiper on the  Kikuyu ensuring none is spilt on the Buffalo.  This way only the Kikuyu  dies. This process may need repeating a few times first. There are bar  type wick wipers available that have a wide spread for larger areas. For  Kikuyu in Couch lawns, some people have been successful taking out the  Kikuyu with DSMA, being used as a selective herbicide. This generally  needs at least a couple of follow up applications. Personally, I prefer  to simply use the Round Up spot spraying method. 
Good luck!

----------


## Fu Manchu

When spraying or as in this case, painting on Glypho or DSMA, it is advisable to add Seasol to the mix. This works far better than both adding urea or sulphate of ammonia. Also the additon of literally 2 or 3 drops of dishwashing liquid to your kill potion. If you have a proper surfactant then better still  :Smilie:  
Always spray or apply it in the morning so it has the whole day to absorb the deathly stuff  :Smilie:  The more hours it's on there the better it will work. 
Make sure it hasn't just been mowed, the more leaf, the more effective.  
Make sure it isn't about to rain.   :Smilie:

----------


## mike_perth

I dont know if I have posted this before but go to your local chemist get a syringe and needle (smallest needle they sell) and inject the glysposate directly into the runner - Ive been told by lots of people it couldnt work but it does - its really quick and easy to do and kills Kikuyu and its runner freinds dead! 
Just be VERY VERY CAREFUL with the needle as I dont know how well the human  body would tolerate a direct injection of glysposate!

----------


## nww1969

My method of killing anything other than the grass is to use a good quality rubber 
glove and dip the fingers into the weed killer and then rub the fingers over the 
offending weed.

----------


## grasstree

Some good ideas here how to get rid of Kikuyu. The injection one sounds interesting. I have tried the glove one, and it works well, just make sure you have one hand without round up on it to separate the Kikuyu first. If someone has some spare time, it would be good to test all these methods, and see which is the best.

----------


## mike_perth

If I had any Kikuyu left I would certainly try all three!! But my method has killed it all (and some of next doors were it comes from!) 
I have tried the paint on method in the past and it seemed to work quite well I just dont feel it stopped the runners seemed to kill say the last foot but not the whole runner - once I started injecting them the runner seemed to die completly 
Mike

----------


## grasstree

I will give it a go then, and see which is best. I may even write it up as a report somewhere. Should help all those Kikuyu challenged people out there.

----------

