Bermuda vs. Bahia in East Texas

[JoeR]

Just got back from a wonderful visit with some friends in East Texas. They just moved there and purchased a home on 20 acres. So, I was able to talk to some of the ranchers nearby about forage and haying. I told them here in sandy Florida, the easiest forage is Bahia, and they told me the locals in E.Texas call Bahia a dirty word. Yet, I noticed Bahia grows on the roadside. Most of their pastures look like Bermuda. Anyway, we got distracted and never finished the conversation about forage. Now I have a question. Why do more people prefer Bermuda over Bahia in E. Texas? Bermuda grass seed is far more expensive, so I would think Bahia would be preferred based on cost. Of course, I do not know the nutritional side of Bermuda grass either since I can't grow that easily in my neck of the woods.

Thanks,

Joe

[Pat]

Bermuda does well in East Texas and responds well to nitrogen and water. Enormous quantities of Bermuda can be produced if you get enough water (rain or irrigation) and add sufficient nitrogen.

There are several grasses that are better than Bermuda when no fertilizer is to be used and or conditions are a bit dry but Bermuda will outperform them all if you dump on plenty of nitrogen and have enough water to match.

Fertilizing my native grasses is a waste of fertilizer and diesel to spread it but they will outperform Bermuda in our drought conditions. I have no personal experience with bahia and it isn't popular here either. Bermuda is the grass of choice for the commercial guys around here, mostly because you can get super tonages by dumping on the nitrogen. You really have to get crazy to hit the point of diminishing returns when applying nitrogen to Bermuda (assuming sufficient water.)

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[hudr]

Bahia is treated as a weed around here. It can have comparable numbers to Bermuda if grown/hayed properly, but not much beats Bermuda on protein, roughage and energy content.
However, Bahia will grow where Bermuda won't. And cows will eat it (my 6 year old will also eat asparagus, but he doesn't pass up ice cream for it, either [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img] )
Also, Bahia will absolutely take over a field if allowed to propagate. Once established it is very hard to "weed out" if you'll pardon the pun.
Also, all the hay guys around here tell me the stems will wear out cutter blades faster than running them in dirt. (I'm sure there is some ETx exaggeration in that statement).

[egon]

Does this grass contain some silica which would be hard on cutting edges?

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[hudr]

it has a very tough, almost woody stem when it reaches seed head height. Unless blades are very sharp it will not cut cleanly, but seems to tear. I know before we got it under control in my parents yard I would have to sharpen the mower blades after each cut on Bahia.
We found the best way to control Bahia and promote Bermuda was to fertilize heavily and cut short. Bermuda will eventually "shade out" the Bahia. Bahia is very tough and suited to high traffic and low/no maintenance. That is why you see it on ROWs and medians on the highway. That and it would be almost impossible and cost prohibitive to kill out over such a large area as an Interstate system.