My flower garden has an infestation... of nut grass. Actually it's official name is Cyperus esculentus. I have tried everything without success. I should have looked it up on the internet, because a quick look at any site, including Wikipedia would have told me, "It is extremely difficult to remove permanently when it is considered to be an intrusive weed in lawns and gardens. This is due to the plant having a stratified and layered root system, with tubers and roots being interconnected to each other to a depth of 50 cm or more. The tubers are connected by fragile roots that are extremely prone to snapping when pulled on, making the plant extremely difficult to remove with its entire root system intact, and the plant can quickly regenerate if even a single tuber is left in place."
Since I didn't know this, the first summer I tried...
1. Pulling it out. It doesn't work. The roots break, leaving the little tubers in place to sprout new plants.
2. Next I tried spraying it with roundup and then covering it with newspaper and mulch. Didn't work.
3. This season, I am digging about 12 inches deep, and screening all of the soil. I am trashing all of the tubers, roots, and any wood chips that get caught in the screen. It is tedious and time consuming, but I am bound and determined to save my flower bed.
If that doesn't work, there's a herbacide called "Manage" that's supposed to work, but it's $150 a bottle!!
Anybody want to come and help me play in my dirt?
3 comments:
I'm no help here. I have a black thumb. I've given up trying. I just let things grow the way they want to and occasionally run the mower and the weed trimmer over the mixed greens in the yard.
Just an update. After all of that back breaking sifting through the dirt, my nut grass grew back!! Next step: expensive chemicals!!
Just an update. All that sifting I did was useless. I ended up spraying the chemicals. I'll see when the warm weather hits if it worked.
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