What is this weed and why won't it die?????

I have a few of these in my flower beds, but mostly they're in my lawn. What are they, and how can I kill them more effectively? WeedBGon doesn't seem to work, and even with RoundUp, it seems like it takes forever before they turn completely brown. Is there any way to kill them more effectively in either a lawn or flowerbed, without disturbing the desirable bluegrass or perennials? I've searced various weed photo databases, but couldn't find anything that looked quite like this.

Thanks,

Dan

I've got lots of those weeds. They just keep popping up!! I don't know that they are either.

Looks like nutsedge... a perennial nuisance, we control it with persistent hand removal when the soil is damp. It grows faster than our grass and is very easy to spot. My favorite tool..a 12 inch long screw driver, drive the srew driver into the soil several times to loosen the soil around the base, pull up with ease with many long roots and tiny like tubers. I don't use pesticides, as my pumpkins love to play and roll around in the grass.

Hate to tell you, but these will be the bane of your existence from now on. Nothing will kill them other than pulling them up, but their roots go very deep with runners going off each tuber. We haven't been able to get them all and they just show up somewhere else.

Yes indeedy!...get to pulling on a regular, consistent basis or your yard and garden beds will be ruined!

I am going to try the screwdriver trick though. Great idea!

I agree that it looks like nutsedge (nutgrass). As the others have said, you can't get it with chemicals -- only by digging it up. Sometimes the little "nut" is 4-6 inches deep, and you must get that out. Each "nut" sends out shoots in several directions and starts new plants that also form a nut each and send out shoots, etc.

I hadn't thought of the screwdriver. Garden6, thanks for the suggestion. I've been using a planting trowel and with the trowel it's hard to dig down deep enough.

Karen

You're welcome!! :0)

Edited to add- it's the best weeding tool I have, and the 18 inch long screw driver are good for dandylions, wild daisies with the thick, round roots, etc...drive that baby around the base of the plant, lift up at a slant..voila most of roots will come up, if you miss some ..drive the screw driver again and pop those nasyt roots on up ! Much more effective and cheaper than the fancy doo dads.

This message was edited Jun 20, 2008 6:54 PM

Edited for precaution~ please don't use the 18 inch screwdiver near buried cable lines, don't want anybody taking out the neighbor's phone and cable service!!LOL! ;0)

This message was edited Jun 20, 2008 7:01 PM

Good Point. Like to keep the neighbors happy :-)

UGH ! Nutgrass is THE WORST !!!!! I swear it sprouts to 6 inches overnight.

I have to agree--one day it isn't htere--the next it is 4-6 inches tall! My grandma used ot say a weed is a flower someone else wants, but you don't want it where it is. (Or something like that!). I have never known anyone to want nutgrass!

Amy, love your Grandma's saying. I'm going to have to remember that one while pulling weeds. Adds a whole different perspective. Thank you for sharing that. :-)

Nutgrass is a pain here, too. Digging it up and getting that nut is critical but still it's a pain and grows fast as JasperDale said.

I have it too!!!! UGH!!!

Thanks for the info about the "nut". I have just been pulling the grass up, but I did notice it was breaking off from something. DUH! Shoulda looked deeper.


Hap

I'm not the first one to notice that evil weeds hang out with plants similar to them - just like evil people.

That nutsedge/nutgrass hangs out with grass and also with my Japanese irises so it gets me thinking I have more coming up when it's not true. Then there's that miserable clover that hangs out with my Dragon's Blood sedum and since they look so much the same it fools the eye.

I guess that's the way rotten people work, too. Hang out in a group and it's harder to tell them apart.

ohhhh yes, nut grass! I've spend hours and hours digging those little nuts out and you can follow the stolons over to its babies. If you pull it out and it snaps you know you've left its other part in the ground so it will continue to live and divide! I once took a small square (4x4) turned it over and scanned it over for the nuts. Literally hundreds and ALL sizes! Little tiny ones and some big ones....it was pretty much a waste of time because the little buggers are back! Once we put landscaping fabric down thinking this would smother them....NOT.... they grew right on through!! So now when they are visible I pull them but other than that I leave them alone, I give up!

Oh,for all its worth I was told in my Horticulture class that the nuts are edible!! I did taste one....I think it was tasteless...but crunchy. Hmmm might not be bad in a sir-fry!
But before you taste one you might look it up first.

AND, if you WANTED to cultivate the miserable stuff, it wouldn't grow !

I think the seeds/nuts are viable for a hundred years, or so it seems.
They tore down an old house near me last year and completely cleared the entire lot of everything. A week later the area where the house had been was a solid carpet of nutgrass.

Pirl is right about how it sneaks in and hides with other grasses and plants...and by the time you notice, it's too late !

It is said that the more often you pull the nutsedge with the roots.. the better. It is critical to pull it before it gets more than 3-4 blades thick as it decreases the energy of the nut's size by increasing the nut's effort to regrow the blades. It is also important to get as much of the nut and roots as possible. With the trusty screw driver and dew on the ground you will make gains in your lawn. Although the nutsedge presence will diminish over time, it will return to slap you across the head to see if you are paying attention and are detemined to kick them out of the lawn. ;0)

This message was edited Jun 21, 2008 3:32 PM

Thanks all for the id. I'll start pulling.....

I have no idea if this works or not, but someone I know lights their nutgrass on fire. They burn each little plant to the ground without digging it up first. I'm not sure if they dig it up later.

As I said, I don't known if this is effective or if it's just an excuse to play with fire. ;-)

Does this stuff choke out plants?? We have had some really good rain here and when I looked under a japanese sedge they were everywhere. Big ones!!

they definitely have the potential to!

Raincatcher - that should work. I have a long handled weed torch and the fire is supposed to heat the water in any weed until it expires. It works on the weeds that grow between the bricks on our terrace but I've never tried it within the garden.

At least it's green....:)

We had Yellow Nutsedge in Dayton, Ohio. (Cyperus esculentus) It was a warm season perennial that had triangular stems. The name indicates that it is a sedge, and not a grass. That also means that it loves water. This plant shows up as a light yellow-green. The roots terminate with small nutlets about the size of a kernel of popcorn. There are several species of sedge known. Plants grow rapidly in July and August. This is the only species of Cyperus that I'm familiar with. Digging was not successful for me, but I did it anyway.

Karin

P.S. I guess my name should have been diggingqueen_NC 8-)

UGH..Thanks everyone...at least now I know what that annoying pest is called !! Grrrr it pops up everywhere including in patio planters !

I guess I'll be fighting these nuts and smilax till I can't fight any more!!

There is a chemical you could apply, it is call Sedgehammer. I used it. worked great!!!!! This after a friend of mine told me that pulling it is like pinching off it's terminal growth... so if you dont get the "nut" it will sprout 10 more just like it. Good luck!

I have it popping up everywhere in my yard as well. My research has indicated (and I have practical evidence that has shown it to be true far too many times *sigh*) that nutgrass/nutsedge is so difficult to completely eradicate because it spreads not only by rooting, but by rhizomes and 7-9 small 'nuts'. When I get a close to complete 'pull' of roots and nuts I proudly offer a loud AHA! My husband says that he's not exactly sure which is the nutsedge, the weed or the nut sitting at the edge of the garden. :) One thing I've read repeatedly, never ever put it in your compost pile! My catch goes into a sealed bucket which is added to each pull. Eventually the contents are tossed into the fire pit.

LOL! "the nut sitting on the edge of the garden!" ;0)

Ours never goes into the compost either. Normal compost heat can reach 160 without a problem and yet tomato seeds survived. We found that out the first year and never made that mistake again!

I agree... it looks like nutgrass. I hate it. It can be 4 to 6 inches below the top of the soil. I haven't found anything to kill it either, even the stuff that says it will. pain staking manual removal is the only way i've found to do it. I helps if the soit is dry, you can trace down the nuts.

I actually applied Ortho Crabgrass Killer for Lawns where nutgrass was growing in my lawn. After a week, it was yellow and stopped growing. You have to follow the instructions and apply it for nutgrasses though, not crabgrass (which means you have to add more herbicide per gallon of water and make a more concentrated solution). I've just been pulling it from the garden, as I read 80% of the plant's energy is expended on its first 2 sprouts. Seems to be under control now, though not completely erradicated. I recommend the Ortho Crabgrass if you have it in your lawn. Again, follow the instructions.

I think garden 6 has the best tool for attaching nut grass, but you never can get all the nuts. They will be back!

One of my favorite handy dandy tools is the one I used when I was doing archaeology:

It is a Marshalltown masonry trowel. they are triangular in shape, and you keep the edges razor sharp. You can slice out a piece of dirt just like cutting cake.

I have found that there is a simularity between pulling nutgrass, and pulling grey hairs. you pull one, and 10 more grow back. I quit pulling.

Some of the remarks were funny. Nutsedge is persistent, no question about it. I don't think anybody mentioned those dandelion digger tools- they have a narrow "blade" with a notch in it. They're good for going after the nutlets, too. Sometimes the nutlet will catch in the notch. Pulling will eventually get rid of it whether you get the nutlet or not, because every time it has to resprout it uses up some of its stored food. Once all the food is gone, the thing under the ground is dead. It took me 7 or 8 years, I'm not sure. A small flower bed, too.

Roundup is somewhat effective on it, even though the skinny leaves mean it doesn't take up much of it at a time. But several sprayings will make a big difference. The secret, though, is putting a drop or two of detergent in the Roundup mixture. Nutsedge leaves are waxy, and the herbicide just runs right off without a surfactant. The detergent will keep the herbicide on the leaves.

It looks like nutsedge (nutgrass) to me. Very hard to get rid of because the roots are all connected to another sprout. Check with your nursery. There is a product (which I can't remember the name of) which may contain it.

I have used a product called Nutgrass ‘Nihilator by Monterey Lawn & Garden Products with fairly good results. You can only use it on certain types of turf grass (I'm using it on tall fescue) but one less nutsedge plant is one less.

I have no experience with this product. There is a possibility it's Roundup with a proprietary name. Whatever the case, I still recommend adding a drop or two of detergent to the mix to help the spray "stick" to the leaves. The waxy surface repels liquids.