Organic weeding

So I've got this grass that is growing throughout my garden - ~1 foot tall and has these really long roots that lead to other patches of the grass (in nodes). I've been manually removing them for a few years now but they come in full form a few weeks later of course. I don't want to use weed or grass killer because I don't like the stuff and It will also kill all my organic grasses.

Before I till again in the next few weeks are there any suggestions on killing the stuff at it's roots without killing my other plants? I tried vinegar per a past suggestion but I think it made it greener :-). The roots are a mesh now and I fear that it may choke my tulips too.

Paul James, the Gardener Guy, did a bit using vinegar to kill weeds. BUT, it wasn't the strength we buy in the grocery store - it was much stronger.

FYI, I have to resort to Roundup on rare occassion. (A gallon lasts for years) Take a large coffee can; cut out both ends and put it over the offending plant and spray away. Leave until dry. The plant has to be actively growing in order for it to work.

Did you do a google search for natural/organic weed killers ?

Good luck with the search, grasses that spread by underground runners are E-V-I-L

I don't think there are too many organic weed killers around--there's vinegar, and there's boiling water, then you have options like hand pulling and there are some propane flame weeders like the Weed Dragon. The way it's growing by runners sounds like maybe it could be Bermuda grass which is very difficult to get rid of.

I've tried the boiling water around the edges of my deck just recently, and I love it!! Kills the thing very fast, then leaves a bare spot after you remove the dead growth. BUT, I hear it kills everything in the dirt, so I don't know how that would affect growing new grass in that spot.

It would kill everything, you have to be careful that you only get it on the things you want to kill. But it's the same thing with vinegar or Roundup or the Weed Dragon, none of them are selective either.

Have used the boiling water trick on non-running plants and it works like a charm. on dandlions and the like, but does it work on pests that multiply underground ?

First time I saw that Weed Dragon, I coveted one. Talk about working out ones aggression.

Take that !! And that !! And that !!! Die !!! Don't be messing with me !! Never to return !!

I don't have one...............

I have three kinds of grass here that fit the description, Bermuda grass, Devil grass, and a third one that I haven't been able to get an ID on. I've not seen Bermuda grass nor Devil grass get a foot high, but this third kind I've got sure does.

I've tried vinegar straight, bought organic weed killer on line, and Round Up. None of this made any of these grasses even a little bit ill, much less killed them -- they behaved as if I had given them really terrific vitamins.

I did wonder if tilling down about 4" and then raking and reraking over the ground to get as many of the pieces as I could would work. But, I don't have a tiller and most of my "soil" is hard-packed red clay, so I haven't tried it. Where you have stuff planted that you don't want dug up, I think your only option, tedious as it is, is hand pulling.

Karen

I garden the old fashioned organic way, have no problems and have one of those flame guns (petrol) its great and can clear an area as large as a football pitch in a few hours, but for the grass you are talking about, nothing works great, we call it Couch Grass here in UK, it does spread by root runners and is a tough as old boots,
what you are doing by tilling the soil, is chopping up the roots within the soil and this means you are making new cuttings from each tiny bit of root, before you know it, the grass has rejuvenate it's self and hey presto, a new area is affected by the grass, also as you dig/rake it out, it has such brittle roots, any little bit that snaps off is left in the soil and then that roots, the root system can go down feet unlike our lawn gras, so for the first time ever, I had to resort to weedkiller, it broke my heart, but I had to give it a go after fighting this stuff for about ten years (by the way, it will kill off your tulips by growing it's roots directly into the bulbs) I lost Peaonie tubers from this happening I lifted the tubers to find the grass had actually punctured the tubers with the pointed root ends that run under the ground, the poor tubers were being strangled, the tubers when lifted brought out tons of the grass roots all enmeshed into the tubers, but as always, bits broke off and re rooted. what I was told to do with the weed killer was paint it on with an old small paint brush, after bruising the grass leaves so the killer would get taken into the grass faster as even the green stem is tough, by painting the killer, you dont get blow off onto other plants beside the grass, it takes about a week or more for the grass to show any sign of changing colour, but it needs to take the killer al the way down to the roots for it to work, I had to repeat this sever seasons every time I noted new grass, but eventually it worked,
I remember my old Dad telling me why he planted turnip (swedes) he scattered the seeds of this quite thickly and when he dug the turnips up, along came the grass roots embedded into the swedes etc, he said he got rid of the grass as either it did not like growing beside swedish/turnip or the mass of roots were lifted, after seeing my peony tubers, maybe he had a point. I know even I dont like using weed killer as my ground was an old Victorian garden left to go wild and therefore chemical free for about 60 years, but there are some occasions when you just have to bite the bullet, touch wood, my borders have been free of this grass for a few years now, but I had to paint the killer on for several years to kill it off completely, hope all this helps you out a bit. good luck. Weenel.