Managing weeds in lawns using cultural practices such as mowing, irrigation, and fertilization may be important in integrated management. A field experiment evaluated the impact of cultural factors on weed populations in St. Augustinegrass turf. Irrigation treatments were daily to replace evapotranspiration (“Daily”), weekly to saturate the root zone only when wilted (“Conditional Weekly”), and as needed to saturate the root zone after severe wilt (“Severely Wilted”). Averaged over 3 yr, the Daily, Conditional Weekly, and Severely Wilted irrigation treatments resulted in 30, 6, and 2% dollarweed cover, respectively. Except for dollarweed and mat lippia, the largest cover of other weeds was under Severely Wilted irrigation. Fertilization rates were 0, 14, or 28 g N m−2 yr−1; in 2002, the highest fertilization rate had the smallest cover of weeds other than dollarweed. Mowing heights were 64, 89, or 114 mm; in 2003, the shortest mowing height had the smallest cover and dry weight of weeds other than dollarweed. After 3 yr of cultural management, most plots were excessively weedy, and turfgrass quality for all cultural management-treatment combinations, in the absence of herbicides, was unacceptable.

Use of PRE herbicides for control of annual grassy weeds during commercial sod production has been limited. Research was conducted from 2010 to 2013 evaluating the effects of pendimethalin (3.36 kg ai ha−1), dithiopyr (0.56 kg ai ha−1), prodiamine (0.6 kg ai ha−1), oxadiazon (3.36 kg ai ha−1), prodiamine + sulfentrazone (0.84 + 0.41 kg ai ha−1), dimethenamid-P (1.68 kg ai ha−1), and indaziflam (0.03 and 0.05 kg ai ha−1) applications at sprigging on the establishment rate and tensile strength of ‘Tifway' hybrid bermudagrass sod at harvest (377 d after sprigging). All herbicides increased the days required to reach 50% hybrid bermudagrass cover compared with the nontreated control. Days required to reach 50% hybrid bermudagrass cover were lowest for oxadiazon and prodiamine (39 to 44 d), greatest for both rates of indaziflam (65 to 141 d), with dimethenamid-P, prodiamine plus sulfentrazone, pendimethalin, and dithiopyr ranking intermediate (45 to 63 d). Both rates of indaziflam reduced sod tensile strength at harvest compared with the nontreated control during a single year of the study; no other differences in sod strength due to herbicide treatment were detected at any time.