Weeds taking over!

Some kind of grass. New plants resemble carpet grass, so it's hard to tell what they are until I pull it up. I have patches of carpet grass and am helping it spread. Hopefully it will crowd out these weeds. They have narrow leaves and mature from 12" to 36" high. They spread by clumping, by seed, and by underground runner. I only wish the plants I put in the ground were that eager!

Can anyone tell me what it is and how to get rid of it? Can't spray with weed killer because it's always windy here and the drift would do damage to other plants. One time at another house I had the same thing, and I applied weed killer with a paint roller. It seemed to be starting to work, but I moved and didn't finish it. The problem with doing that now is I can't afford to buy that much w.k. Unless I could buy a store brand in a large quantity.

BTW, I just remembered--someone told me back then that it was Johnson grass.

I believe it's also known as quack grass, knot grass and nut grass. At the root end there's the tiniest of "bulbs" so even if you rip out the green section it will still spread and still return. There is a killer for it but I'm fairly sure it would kill your other grass as well.

Good luck!

If it's nut grass, there are a couple of very specific herbicides to kill it. Don't guess and don't take our "best guesses" as gospel since we can't see what you're looking at.

I'd suggest that you let the hose run on a section with several springs until it's easy to pull the weeds, then pull a few out of the ground roots and all. Make sure you get all of the root, paying special attention to getting a bulb-like section that can be 4 or 5 inches underground (if it's nutgrass). Take these weeds - roots and all - to a local nursery with an in-house master gardener or turf-grass specialist and let them tell you what it is and what you need to do to get rid of it.

If it's nut grass, the regular turf grass will not choke it out and nut grass spreads aggressively. Good luck - nut grass is a big headache here in Texas and it's in alot of soil brought in for new homes.

I have also had a major problem with johnson grass especially if the soil amendments are not sterilized when they are initially put in the bed or lawn. In desperation, I have tried to kill johnson grass, crabgrass, etc. with an old paint roller also. It worked, fairly well, but it was not as neat and easy as I had thought that it would be. Lately, I have tried a bottle that had formerly held saline solution from contact lense and squirted or dropped glyphosate on the plants. I have also used a small kitchen sponge that is wet with the glyphosate and rubbed it on the johnson grass to protect the surrounding grasses. Three or so weeks after the above applications in beds, I use a garden fork to loosen the soil and dig up ALL of the white fleshy runners with the pinkish tint and get them OUT of my garden. I have learned the hard way that it is MUCH better to catch the plant before it gets very tall.

Nutgrass is actually a sedge not a grass and there are purple and yellow sedges that must be treated differently. Several products are sold that are specific for sedges, but read the label carefully and follow exactly. You may also want to take some of the plants to the nearest Cooperative Extension Center or a good garden center with expents to ID the plants and recommend specific treatment options.

Yep, nutsedge. When I worked for one of Chevron's ag farm research centers they used to call that sponge-type (or a fabric glove on top of a rubber glove) "The Glove of Death." {chuckling} Thankfully there are 'cides for sedges now, but it seems that they generally require several applications. I've an area in my backyard with some nutsedge in it that I must get around to treating.

Good luck,
Linda

Johnson grass looks like a crop for cattle, and it gets several feet tall. It can be as tall as a person. Nutsedge has semi-shiny narrow leaves and only gets maybe 8 inches tall or less. The waxy finish on nutsedge makes it hard for Roundup to stick to the leaves, and they are skinny so there's not much surface for it to stick to. If you have one of those V tools to dig down and get as much as you can of the nutlets, eventually you can remove all of it by hand. It took me 8 years, but I completely eliminated a bad infestation by hand. You have to stick with it and it gets discouraging. Every time you remove the top growth the nutlets have to use stored food to grow new leaves, and if you keep at it they finally use up all the stored food and shrivel up and die. But the more of them you DIG UP the faster you;ll get rid of it.
Get a good pair of knee pads.

Thanks for all your suggestions and comments.

Nut grass & I are old acquaintances! But this is not nut grass. I searched Google images and It seems to be quack grass.

Johnson grass was introduced for cattle grazing, and what a mistake that was!

I watered one large area and started pulling it out, and it comes out fairly easily that way. I used a small stool (that needs runners on the legs to keep it from sinking in the wet ground). The easiest way is just to bend over and do it, but due to my ancient age, I can't do that for long at a time. So I will pull weeds for 15 min. and switch to another activity for a while, then go back to pulling weeds for another 15 minutes.

I believe this is the best way but it may take forever.

You are doing it the best way per the advice of my Physical Therapist. I once had a terrible injury due to gardening in the same position for hours and his advice was to change positions often.

Your PT must be right--I do a lot of my gardening this way and I hardly ever have a backache. When I do, it's when I do something entirely different and use muscles that are used to being lazy--what a surprise for them, huh?

They want to reduce the extreme use of any set of muscles for a long period of time so you're doing the right thing.

Thanks, everyone---so far I have pulled up 6 bushels of this stuff! And still have a lot more than that to go.

We had a good rain yesterday, so that means I can pull from anywhere in the yard; no more watering then pulling one spot at a time.

Thanks again!