Ask Burton!

This week, a last call on one of the most pernicious weeds in the landscape.

 

Q: I have a weed sprouting all over my lawn and now starting in my flowerbeds. It has a triangular stem, and when I pull it, it seems to come back in just a few days. What is it, and how do I stop it?

 

A: This is nutsedge, and it’s a bad weed to have. It’s generally worst in wetter areas of the lawn, and around newly torn-up soil. The reason it comes back so quickly is because of its extensive, thin root system, covered in medium sized nutlets that store carbohydrates for the plant.  When pulled, the roots break instead of pulling the nutlets out of the ground, and each and every nutlet will promptly sprout new foliage.

 

Basically, pulling it can be worse than doing nothing, just spreading the plant faster. There are herbicides that can control this weed, but you need to apply them very soon, or not bother until spring.

 

In the lawn and around established woody ornamentals (shrubs), Sedgehammer herbicide will kill nutsedge. Mix it in a tank sprayer, and keep the mixture shaken and occasionally stirred around as you spray, so it doesn’t settle out of solution. This spray should be kept out of vegetable and flower gardens. Another herbicide, Image, will also get the job done, but it tends to persist in the soil and slow the growth of the lawn (and anything else!) for months at a time. We prefer Sedgehammer.

 

Whichever herbicide you use, you need to do it soon. These herbicides are slow and will usually require additional treatments later for severe outbreaks of this weed. You’re already likely too late for a second application four weeks after your first at this point, but you can knock the problem noticeably down now, and continue control of this problem next May, once temperatures are much warmer.