Nutsedge

[Ridgerunner]

Sometimes called nutgrass. Has anyone had it and managed to eradicate it?

It showed up in the garden a couple of years ago and I did not recognize it for what it was. So now with tilling and how it multiplies it has taken over a section about 20' wide and 40' long. It's spread beyond that but that's not too bad, I'll try to control that part by digging.

Some criteria. I wan tot do it without chemicals, it is in the garden where I will grow food. Glyphosate (round-up) is not that effective on it, it does not kill the tubers. The stuff that is effective, and there is not much that is, well I'm not putting that stuff where I will grow food, even if I wait a year. The stuff that kills it is meant for a lawn, not a garden.

For those not familiar with it, it spreads by rhizomes much more than seeds. The plant grows from a tuber and almost as soon as it starts growing it forms rhizomes that can spread out and start a new plant, but from digging it, most seem to just grow new tubers, which soon send up a plant. It doesn't take long before there are a lot of seed tubers in the area. The tuber sends up a strand that forms a root ball above the tuber and is connected to the plant. If you pull up the plant the strand breaks and the tuber is left behind to send up another plant.

I've searched online and talked to my county extension agent. He wasn't very encouraging. He did not think much of that sugar method I found online. I knew it couldn't be that easy. Supposedly the sharp point on the plant will poke through about any type of mulch, newspaper, cardboard, even the heavy black plastic. He did think it could be starved out, though I'm not sure.

I have a several sheets of metal roofing I've been saving since a straight line wind took the roof off of a loafing shed several years back. My current plans are to cover that area with that metal, then top that with a 6 mil black plastic sheeting to do everything I can to smother it. That nut can be several inches deep, I don't think I can heat the ground up enough to cook it. I'll leave that on until next season.

I'm also planning on putting a lot of organic material under that metal. I'll put grass clippings from mowing the yard, various stuff I have been saving to start my next batch of compost, the briars I have from pruning blackberries, basically whatever I can come up with. I just pruned a boxwood hedge so those prunings will go. If the woody part doesn't break down I'll rake it up when I uncover it.

I'm interested in any comments from those that have experience with this stuff.

For those that enjoy photos.

 

[Just-Moxie]

Awww...I thought that was grass!

 

[PhilaGardener]

Nutsedge is a very problematic weed and easily spread by rototilling (so don't!); the best advice is to sift the soil to get out the tubers and just keep after it. The tubers are edible (chickens are said to love them too, so that might be an efficient way to clean things up!)

If it is widespread in the area, you will have to be vigilant about seeds drifting back in. We have it here in PA and it is a pain, but once I got ahead of it I have been able to keep it under control. (I was pulling some earlier this morning!)

 

[Beekissed]

I wish you good success and will be watching for how it all works. I see occasional clumps of that in my son's BTE and I hope it doesn't take hold.

I don't have a problem with that kind as yet, but am fighting Bermuda grass in his little garden, which seems just as fruitless. It LOVES the BTE garden and in just two springs is spreading slowly across the garden.

Those extension agent guys are trained via USDA and I've never heard one recommend an organic solution to anything, let alone weed control. I'd try that sugar method...what have you got to lose but the purchase of some sugar?

I'm also thinking of some things I read on it and those with the most success used a cutting hoe, like a scuffle hoe, and enriched the soil all the while...said it seems counterproductive to feed it, but it works.

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh my. You have nutsedge and bermuda...I'm so sorry. No thoughts on control for you, just a lot of sympathy.

 

[Nyboy]

What is a loafing shed ?

 

[majorcatfish]

have been battling it for years in the main garden, have sprayed ok works great at first, but it comes back.

try this. yes it's a little hard work but it seams to work have a lot less to the point of almost gone...
wait till it rains the next day or so go out with a 4 prong hoe and dig underneath the root system. the rain will loosen the soil and you can get pretty much all of the roots....

funny story... was out of town the dw went out and hoed the whole garden and did not pick up the grass/root balls got back 2 weeks later. omg i almost gave up that season...

 

[thistlebloom]

What is a loafing shed ?

If you really knead to know Nyboy, it's full of flour and yeast and bread pans.

Sorry, sorry, just joking. It's a three sided (usually ) shed for animals to go in and out of freely for shelter.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah, my big mistake was not recognizing it for what it was. I kept pulling and hoeing without going after the tubers. Then I tilled and spread it. I have it in other parts of the garden, but I'll try digging them out and not letting them last long enough to set new tubers. I keep Bermuda and Johnson grass somewhat under control by digging out the roots. Now that I know what this stuff is maybe I can keep it down in other areas. You just got to stay ahead. In that area I'm way behind.

Bee for that Bermuda try maintaining a boundary so it doesn't grow back in from the outside. Those runners will go several feet underground. When I see it, I dig it out, looking for the runners underground that are practically always present. Or if seeds sprout, pull them before they get established. In that BET garden they should be easy to pull.

I'll try some sugar on an isolated area to see how it works. I'm not sure how much to use or what it might do to other plants if I use a lot.

When I moved here I had a loafing shed. It was 12' wide and 60' long with the back, two ends, and a roof. The idea is to give animals, in this case horses, a place to get some shade and out of the wind. I closed off 8' of one end for a chicken coop and put doors and a wall on the front so I have a storage place. When they built it they used short smooth nails to put the roof on. A 70 mph straight line wind ripped it right off. When I repaired it I used longer ribbed nails so they would hold.

I've been doing that in the rest of the garden, Major. I dig it up and carefully go through the soil to try to get the tubers as well as the plant. That's why I'm going to try to smother it, I've seen how long it takes to dig it and go after that tuber. I figure I'm not doing much good if I don't get the tuber. it will be back up in a few days. I'll give up a growing season on this section to try to get it under control in that area. I still have a 50' x 50' area to grow in. My worry is that the tuber will just go dormant and quit trying to send up new shoots until I take that cover off. But I'll find out.

 

[seedcorn]

If I had it that bad, I've got a small spot-thanks to walking into garden in work clothes-I'd Chem it. Glyphosate won't do much.

Doubtful you can smother it.