Pesky dollar grass

I can't seem to get rid of the Dollar grass that keeps making it's way into my hummingbird and butterfly garden. I patiently pull up the long runner pieces of root, but that just seems to make them mad and they return with a vengance. I don't want to kill the other plants in the area, so I'm hesitant to do anything. It's taking over my yard grass, too, and I'd like to get rid of it, my my garden is most important.
Any ideas?

Getting rid of unwanted grass with running roots is one of the most difficult garden tasks! If you cannot find a specific "grass-killer" chemical at your local garden center, the method I recommend is to lift all the other plants, make sure you get all the grass roots out of their roots, pot them up or plant them somewhere else temporarily, then zap the grass-infested bed with Roundup or a similar "kill-all" chemical. Install a barrier between the bed and the lawn (you can buy green or black plastic strips for this purpose) to prevent more grass from invading. When you are sure all the grass is dead, re-plant the bed. It sounds like a lot of work, but you only have to do it once.

Hi Ragley, the grass you are talking about is a nightmare to get rid of as you already found out, the smallest bit root left is like HEY BABY, TIME TO MULTIPLY, I have your problem but so far it has'nt invaded flower beds, so I just burn it off with blow torch. the other solution could be to brush the bits of grass with the round up, instead of spraying where it will go onto other plants, get a small brush, a pair of rubber gloves on your hand, and put some roundup into a jar, then paint onto the grass, you may have to do it all season, but it will eventually weeken the grass and the roots, if you do the paint way, you wont get any onto the other plants and as soon as the roundup dries on the grass, it cant harm any hummers or other wildlife for that matter, it may show up again next year as there will always be tiny bits you missed, but keep at it this way and you will find it gone after a while. dont know if it really does work, but I found an old garden diary of my late Dads who had a wonderful garden and grew food crops as well as flowers, he had wrote down that he had to plant seeds of turnip beside this grass so that it dissapeared when he harvested the turnips and threw them away. so dont know if there was something in the turnip family that the grass dont like, or, if all the roots of the grass grew into the fat turnips and that cleared the land of the grass, he never wrote down the results, pitty eh. by the way, we call it couch grass here in UK. good luck anyway, it is a bugger to get rid off. WeeNel.

weenel--glad i read your explanation about the round up and how it doesn't hurt animals once it dries on the plant---i have several box turtles that live in our yard--i always worry when i use round up --it is a big yard and weeks can go by before we see one but i still worry that somehow they will end up eating from the one small area i round up!

Thanks for your responses to getting rid of the dollar grass. I'll see what I can manage along the suggested lines. Unfortunately, I've got a wonderful Eucaliptus tree in the middle so I can't zap the entire garden, but painting on round-up just might work in the areas right near the tree. I love the "Dad" suggestions - maybe I'll try growing turnips.
Ragley

Get a Guinea Pig to eat it all. Or you could just use a tiller or a flame thrower, not like the ones of war like the garden ones. The burn up the next seeds while killing the mother plant.

Hi Ragley, I agree with you totally about the severity of ALL weed Killer as to the animals and wildlife, I detest them, but as I said, sometimes it is the last resort, but with all chemicals, it is always best to read and re-read the manufactors labels and directions as in the past I have heard people say that sometimes they change the ingredients and a problem has occured, beter to be on the safe side and just double check what the makers say, like I also said, you may have to do this paint job a few times over the growing season and relook again next year so that you can do it again before it gets hold, if you do it next year, try waite till this grass is tall enough to paint as you will need about 2 to 3 inch of green for the killer to work, hope it all works out for you, If you have real concerns about the animals in your yard, try build a little barrier around the painted bit for a day or so. good luck. WeeNel.