Quack grass problems in front lawn

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GinWilk Oak Park, IN Jun 04, 2014

I sent without a subject the first time, so I'm resubmitting. I have a problem in my lawn with quack grass, which appears at its worst as small corn stalks or leaves growing much taller than the regular lawn. It's quite a distraction and takes away from an otherwise lush and green carpet. I have sought answers before, and have tried recommended treatments: including digging up the individual plants by the root and putting vegetation killer into the spots where they were....also have tried adding lime to the soil, because quack grass apparently doesn't like a lime-based environment. But no matter what I have done, it's always come back. Anyone have any answers?

I live in Southern Indiana, on he border with Kentucky, and have a clay-based soil.
Thanks for any answers you can provide.

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WeeNel Ayrshire Scotland, United Kingdom Jun 04, 2014

Is it the case that this type of grass like damp soil a bit like reed grass, so maybe it's a drainage problem especially when you say you have clay soil.

Hope someone in your area can come in and help you better than me,
Best Regards.
WeeNel

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GinWilk Oak Park, IN Jun 07, 2014

Thanks, WeeNel, for your insight.

GinWilk

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SusanKC Shawnee Mission, KS(Zone 6a) Jun 07, 2014

The corn stalk description makes it sound more like nutsedge. Do you have a picture of the grass that you can post?

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GinWilk Oak Park, IN Jun 16, 2014

Thank you SusanKC....I looked online and found a YouTube demo on nutsedge, and that's exactly what it seems to be. They recommended treating with Sedgehammer herbicide...so I'll try to find that. thanks for steering me in that direction.

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SusanKC Shawnee Mission, KS(Zone 6a) Jun 16, 2014

My understanding is that sedgehammer takes a number of applications and is not always 100% successful. I've been hesitant to use it since we have animals that run through the yard and we grow veggies/fruit.

Nutsedge is associated with poor soil drainage, wet soil, compacted soil, or low calcium levels in the soil. The nutsedge we have came in with a load of mulch.

We've done a number of things to get rid of it including pulling the young plants and trying to solarize the soil. Neither of these yielded the results that we wanted but it does keep it from going to seed.

We did see a reduction in the amount of nutsedge in the grass when the lawn was aireate a couple of years in a row.

The best results for inside the garden beds has been when I have planted lemon grass in the area where we have a problem with nutsedge. The next year the nutsedge is gone.

I've also seen a new article on using molasses to kill it. I would have to read more about this as some of the animals might eat it. http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Herbicide-Reviewbr_vq3234.htm

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