Nuts! edge?

[Rog]

Ive heard of some new products out for nutsedge, anyone got the edge on what works?

[mx495]

I've always used Manage, works fine for me.

[cole1980]

I used this product "Image" liquid formula, very nice.

[Rog]

I have a nine hundred square foot bed that has been infested with nutsedge. The customer had someone use Image which managed to kill some ornamentals but she still has healthy nutgrass. I was honest in telling her that my experience was limited in dealing with this !@#$!@%! weed but that We could go with the more natural approach. I proposed to mulch with six inches of shredded hardwood and add to it annually. This should suffocate most of the little buggers and minimize the ones needed to be hand pulled. Maybe I am the one whose nuts but she is the second customer to tell me this horror story. I have used this approach with success but I am always looking for a better alternative. Just because I like it doesnt mean I should sell her sixteen yards of mulch, but I figure it beats her proposal of hand digging and replacing twenty yards of dirt.

Any suggestions are helpful.

[mx495]

Often, Manage requires two applications, but it definately will get rid of the nutsedge. Don't spray everything! Gaurd the other bushes and ornamentals from the spray.

[GroundKprs]

Nutsedge is a sedge. It grows from seed and from underground nutlets. Roots grow laterally, producing new nutlets. Complete control generally takes years, because killing all nutlets is not possible. Removal would be a recourse, but you must be sure to get all the nutlets - don't know how deep they go in your environment. Check with your state extension on that.

Now the 6" of mulch will probably work, over time. But it will also stress and eventually kill everything else growing in the bed. All plants, except a few water plants, need to take in air and oxygen through their roots. Anything over 3" of mulch will stress plants by not allowing air penetration into soil. If regular mulching builds up to 4", the proper managemant is to remove 2" or 3" before renewing the mulch.

Your only alternatives are chemical control, replacement of all plants and soil, or sterilization (which will kill all the plants also). But then the sedge nutlets are intermingled with the roots of the desired plants. This is the problem with letting nutsedge get out of control over many years.

[Seascape]

I have the same problem on a res. This guy spends 20 k+ a year and i havent had a weed on his site in 7 yrs until last year. About 1000 sq ft of this crap came up. I was pissed. I sprayed round up all year and got nowhere. Came in my mulch i think. Ive spoke w/ them about it needless to say. I didnt even know what the crap was until about last january believe it or not 20 yrs in this industry i never saw it. I have 5 small packs of water soluable manage in stock ready for its return which by the way its already sprouting back up. I may do a app on it this week.
mike

[GroundKprs]

Yellow nutsedge is a hot weather perennial. The hotter it is, the more actively it is growing. Treating too soon will not get much of the Manage into the nutlet, and it will just resprout. I like to treat on a warm day, mid 80s to 90, so it absorbs more or the chemical and consequently translocates more to the roots and nutlets.

I have seen it brought in in mulch. Must have been a mulch pile that sat for over a year and nutsedge got started in it the year before. In the spring it is not growing, but you should be able to see the roots and nutlets. Dig up some this year so you know what they look like and then you can recognize it in the future. Some suppliers don't care what they sell. I've had topsoil delivered with tons of quackgrass roots - sure didn't want to use that on a new lawn, LOL.

[Seascape]

I ran a app on monday. Shot 2 gal. Visited yesterday (friday) and sedge appears to be yellowing a little. Not enough though. Tips are dead 1/4 inch dead at tip. Weather has been cool mostly w/ alot of rain and dew. I guess i wasnt expecting much but just wanted to trial this manage to assure ill control w/ it. Rather know now than in the peak growing season on this stuff. It did seem to slow the spreading well. But really no good kill to it at all. Im not impressed yet.
mike

[McBillNLex]

My experience mirrors groundkprs. If temp less than 80 degrees, don't even bother. This crap is one tough nut to crack. Of course that may not sit too well with the millionaire client, who doesn't accept it can't be done from anyone.

[Rog]

Good perspective

What about sterilizing the soil, Ive heard of this but know little about it. Can't say I even like the idea, but drastic times call for drastic measures.

What's the procedure, how does it work, minimum distance to keep away from ornamentals, etc ?

Thanx.........Rog

[Seascape]

Premetol will sterilize soil.
mike

[GroundKprs]

Prometon (one trade name is Pramitol) is a triazine herbicide, in the same chemical family as atrazine, simazine, and others. It will control most growing and germinating vegetation, but will not sterilize the soil.

Real sterilization is only accomplished by heating or fumigation.

[Seascape]

My bad. Thanks jim.
mike

[GroundKprs]

Hey, better to try, LOL.

Now you take a potful of soil, put it in a 160º oven for an hour. You will kill any growing plant in that soil. You'll kill weed seeds and trees seeds. You'll kill fungus, bacteria, viruses. You'll kill any bugs in that soil, and the eggs of any insects.

Now that is sterilization - almost. What will survive that treatment?