Should you sprig bermudagrass? It depends on the variety.
Sprigging, the practice of digging up young plants that have been established elsewhere and transplanting them, has been the traditional way of establishing bermuda in pastures across the southern half of the United States. University of Missouri Extension agronomist Tim Schnakenberg said it’s very effective. “There are several ways to get the sprigs spread out in the soil to get it vegetatively propagated,” Schnakenberg told Ozarks Farm & Neighbor. “You’re pushing those sprigs into the ground and getting them in contact with the soil; hopefully a rainfall ensues, and you’re in business.”
But there are also new bermuda varieties on the market that produce ample, viable seed, and therefore offer an alternative to sprigging. Schnakenberg said while hybrids and varieties like Greenfield, Midland 99 and Ozark are still established by sprigging, most people in the region are now using seeded varieties. “They are productive, although maybe a little underproductive compared to some of the hybrid sprigged varieties,” he said, adding their voluminous seed output can be a drawback: “They may have more opportunity to be spread around the farm and end up in fields where you may not want bermudagrass.”
Sprigging also costs more than natural seed propagation. The sprigs have to be dug and transported; if you’re not doing it yourself you have to hire the labor and if you are, you need to buy the equipment. In addition, the sprigs have to be tilled into the field. Seeding, said Schnakenberg, can be done with a very good no-till drill provided you’re careful not to bury the seed; it can also be broadcast on tilled ground and rolled in, or drilled in with a conventional drill.
Dr. John Jennings, University of Arkansas Extension state forage agronomist, offered some tips for preparing a field for sprigging. “You need to get the field cleaned,” he told OFN. “Start in as soon as grass and weeds start greening up in the spring; apply herbicides to get it cleaned up. Spray again and if you can let the weeds flush and spread again, do it a third time; that helps to not let the weeds build a seed bank. When you open up an old pasture, you turn loose a lot of problems of seed that’s been lying there dormant.”
Jennings also recommended a soil test to guide applications of lime, phosphorus and potash and, he said, “Don’t leave a cloddy, loose, rocky, rough seed bed. Disk it appropriately; get it rolled or cultipacked back smooth. Make sure your sprigs are good and viable, and try to plant them as soon as possible after you take delivery. Don’t leave them sitting in a pile for a long time, because they can heat and cause some damage and loss of viability.” If you don’t have sprigging equipment, a manure spreader can do the job; after spreading the sprigs across the field, take a disk, set it straight and push them into the ground, following it with a roller or cultivator so that just portions of the sprigs are sticking out of the soil.
Jennings said there are one or two herbicides that can be applied to a newly sprigged field to gain some preemergence weed control. “Try to keep the weeds at bay for at least 6-8 weeks if you have good conditions,” he said. “The bermudagrass sprigs will start to grow and spread by then. When the stolons, the above-ground runners, start to form, that’s the point where you can put some nitrogen fertilizer on. Put on 40-50 units of actual nitrogen, and then that bermudagrass can grow and quickly cover the field.” Whether you’ll be able to take a cutting or grazing off the field the first year will depend on summertime rainfall. Jennings recommended growers access the Extension manual FSA-19, Establishing Bermudagrass for Forage; it’s available at the Extension website, www.uaex.edu.
