I planted my fig hedge. I tilled the spot, raked the grass out. well atleast what i could. i layed down some of that black weed stuff and mulched. now the weed stuff is allowing the bermuda grass to come through. i am thinking of protecting the figs in the hedge with 5 gal buckets and spraying round up on the weeds and grass comming through the weed plastic.

any thoughts.

I've heard figs are quite sensitive to roundup.  Opinions will differ but there is also the concern of possible health effects of eating fruit where roundup has been used nearby.  I use organic mulches and occasionally pull weeds.  It's not a big deal and can be therapeutic :)

if you do, be VERY careful.  do not know if it will affect figs but not worth being careless.
if you spray, do so with NO wind or breeze,
around tender stuff I want to keep i will sometime use a paint roller or the like to keep away from drift

I've believe roundup is really bad for the environment and definately wouldn't use it around plants I planned to consume.... Just my opinion tho. I could be wrong but I thought roundup is owned by monsanto( not a good corporation).

I'm not a fan of round up myself or any chemicals for that matter. I try to go as organic as possible which I have when it comes to feeding. I use compost, manure, blood meal and bone meal. I don't even use miracle grow as I don't like the salts. My delema is this burmuda. The way it roots and sends out underground runners. It is the most invasive grass I have ever come across, so much that even with plastic and heavy mulch it still comes through. Weeding it is a chore to say the least and only worsens the problem as it send off several new starts where the roots have been severd. I have tried for years to kill this grass with no luck. This includs burning, tilling, ground clear chemicals, laying heavy plasic on it for months at a time. It just thrives and grows so fast I mow three times a week. at my witts end with this grass.

OK,Dave if you are as you say,here is how you win,in the fight against weeds:
-Grow your plants in bush form and let all low branches live so they take all light possible and so weeds will stop growing where there is no sunlight.
Meanwhile now while plants are small use a light duty weed wacker to cut them down,till bushes large enough to kill weeds.
If you insist in one trunk shape you will have to use weedwacker all the time,so it is up to you.
Using Round up does not work because weeds are stronger than any domesticated plant so round up kills your plant first.
My problem here is that round up was used liberally by former owner 30 years ago,and ,it is still impact negatively my soil so much that some plants like (grape vine),grow deformed monster leaves even now after 30 years.
Also round up was sprayed by my neighbour 7 years ago,and spray ,fell on my Wegela which ,was half dead for 5 years and now is back healthy and beautiful.

Edit Note:I am not sure what herbicide was used before by former owners,so pointing it was Round up,might not be true,but according to my lady neighbour who lived here ,from 1964,the former owner used herbicide liberally,and so she warned me not to grow any food producing plant here,but I could not take here advice because I do not have any other land to garden.

The former owner of this property used roundup for a number of years 'down the hill' to control the weeds. All that he created was a massive forest of giant mustards that took more than a decade to stop germinating and growing ... and for the annual Mediterranean grasses to return. Grasses that can be weed-whacked in less than a day - less time and far less expensive than it took to hire someone to apply the round-up.

I battle bermuda grass here too. Just keep mulching to keep your soil soft, and digging up (as deep as you can) the runners that form. You'll get rid of most of it over time. Use the work as a relaxing form or meditation. It doesnt even bother me to see it anymore.

Dave,

Not that it matters but are you sure it is Bermuda grass?  I thought the stuff only grew in warm areas?  

IMHO Glyphosphate is 100% fine.....you could drink the stuff, though I wouldn't:)  Yes it was invented by Monsanto but the patent on it ran out more than 10 years ago and many companies make the stuff now.  It is not a poison it simply blocks an enzyme that is needed by plants to make a needed life sustaining amino acid.  Animals don't have this enzyme as we acquire that particular amino acid in our diet. Monsantos version has POEA in it which is not good so buy a version that does not have that chemical surficant in it. 


Glyphosphate only works if it touches the leaves or green stems......in the ground it is harmless and very quickly is bound up by the soil and destroyed.  Bacteria are very quick to act on it and it is consumed.  

The EPA classifies the stuff as a class 3 with 1 being very toxic and 4 being harmless.  The EPA has determined you could eat ONLY food grown on Glyphosphate treated ground your entire life and still be at ZERO risk.  

Yes there have been studies in mice and rats where they have INJECTED them with LARGE concentrations of Glyphosphate and it has caused some damage.  There are also studies where mice and rats were fed 99% pure Glyphosphate and it was shown to be harmful.  For example the Glyphosphate you find in stores is in the 20% -50% range generally of concentration.   Those studies are generally done by people with an agenda so they can say SEE!!!!  it is harmful.  They then site these studies without explaining the methodology used in a deliberate attempt to confuse the issue and push their own agenda.   So as long as you don't inject the chemical in large concentrated doses in to your body or blood stream with a needle it is perfectly safe.  Same goes for drinking it...to get the dose they had to use to show damage in rats and mice you would have to drink bottles of the concentrate daily for MONTHS before it would reach toxic levels.   If you would drink coffee in the concentrations they are using you would be dead after the first dose.  


One more thing......if you add water soluble ammonium sulfate (my favorite fertilizer) to the Glyphosphate mix the Glyphosphate becomes MUCH MORE effective.  You can actually use the Glyphosphate at half the recommended dose if you use the Ammonium sulfate with it and get the same results.  
 

Don't know a thing about Glyphosphate.  That may be the ticket.  It's worth looking into.

Short of that...I wouldn't use round up near my fig trees.  I do use it in my front yard and on the neighboring vacant lot on occasion, but nowhere near anything I would want to eat.  My fig hedge isn't experiencing the weed problem your is, but if it was...I wouldn't use round up on it.  Tempting as it might be.

Herman's idea is the way I'd go. 

I was told by a turf guy it was burmuda. I can post some pics after work.

Centurian,

Sorry for the confusion..Glyphosphate is the active ingredient in roundup.  

round up ready figs  sounds really yummy.

It is my understanding that it is indeed a safe product if used properly. I have sprayed around my fig trees for a few years without adverse effects. I agree with Wills on this, but you will have to make your own decision.

I want to be clear that this is not an endorsement of Monsanto which should rot in hell.

http://www.ibtimes.com/monsanto-named-2013s-most-evil-corporation-new-poll-1300217

If you don't buy Roundup brand Monsanto gets $0

As long as you don't get it on the fig trees, you should be fine. Just tarp them, or use a piece of cardboard as a shield.

Doesn't matter is it is bermuda of something else.

Roundup is death on Bermuda Grass. I wish it worked as well on Nut Grass and Morning Glory.

Roundup will not kill Bermuda grass. It will top kill the above ground portion of the plant but will resprout from the rhizomes. I have to deal with it here. My method has been to mulch heavily and to repeatedly spot spray the new Bermuda sprouts. This will keep the Bermuda from taking over, but is not a permanent fix. Herman is right when he says growing in bush form will help. Bermuda does not like shade.

Yeah weeds out of control here too. I don't like round up, so heav mulch in the form of cardboard and newspapers, then you can top it with any commercial mulch you like 

whatever grass it is I cant kill it off no matter what i do. if i could clear a 10x10 area i might plant a patch of zoysia to see if it will outdo the burmuda. i can control zoysia alot better.

heavy mulch like newspaper or cardboard, topped with black weed cloth will do it, it'll smother and cook it

Here is a method I have used....mix up your round-up like normal.  Then tie a string onto a towel, soak the towel and then drag around only on the areas you wish to kill.  If you get it on any fig leaves, wash these leaves immediately.  After the grass is dead, I would use a pre-emergent weed killer.  I have used this around established plants and it works really well.  You can get the pre-emergent at Home Depot or Lowes.  It is a granular type product that you spread around on the ground.  For Bermuda grass, it make take two applications. 

I have not had any problems with round up around my figs but I don't spray it near the plants as I have them mulched 10-12" deep and this really cuts down on any grass.

Personally, I believe Roundup, and most other commercial weed killers, simply add poisons to the environment, so I tend not to be a fan, but understand if people choose to use them.

That being said, a method that works very well is to get an old piece of carpeting and lay it over the area for a few weeks.  It will kill everything growing underneath it and make it easy to pull or shovel.  Once it's all dead & removed, then use the cardboard and weed blocker with mulch to help anything from re-growing.

Roundup does not work on my Bermuda Grass.   You have to keep doing it multiple times and it still comes back, and then you've got roundup in your yard for decades, and it goes into our groundwater.  I've tried multiple things on the Bermuda and it keeps on coming back.   The easiest and most effective is to put wet cardboard and newspapers and then soil/mulch over it, but eventually it will come back.  It has worked the longest for me though.  I got rid of mint completely that way too.   Tried a million things, but I still have Bermuda where I don't want it.