I am meticulously grooming my very first lawn through our first summer and all of a sudden this darn varment starts growing like crazy in my lawn. What causes yellow nutsedge to grow? And what is the best way to get rid of it? I read that it grows in areas where there is poor drainage, does that mean that I am watering my lawn to much? Also, I have been told the best way to get rid of it is to take 9/10th of a gram of "manage" and to spray the whole lawn with it. Any ideas on what causes it and what to do to get rid of it? Thanks!
You have a pesky weed there farrella. You don't mention how old the lawn is and how many years the yellow nutsedge may have been present for. If the infestation is new then you have a better chance of eradicating it. However if it is established it's going to be tough for sure. First off yellow nutsedge loves poorly drained moist areas. The warm weather is also favourable to its growth conditions. I suppose it is possible that overwatering your lawn could have had some effect but if your lawn was poorly drained to begin with then therein lies the problem. It also thrives in areas where it is not getting much competition for growth. It is therefore recommended to maintain a thick stand of lawn to starve the nutsedge of resources. Yellow nutsedge reproduces most commonly by forming nut-like tubers under the surface of the soil that can lay dormant for up to 3 years (photo here). These tubers start to form after the summer solistice (when days start to get shorter) so that means it could be happening now. Therefore if the infestation is small you could pull it (trying to pull up as much of the weed as possible). You may just get it before it start to produce tubers. Of course though as the tubers have a 3 year shelf life that doesn't mean that it won't appear from an iteration in a prevous year. There are herbicide solutions to attempt to get rid of yellow nutsedge that require repeated applications. The herbicide route is probably the best one to take if the infestation is large. The "Manage" herbicide you mention should be applied by a licensed lawn applicator. Otherwise retailers should stock other solutions but as with all herbicides care should be taken as it improper application may affect other plants in a close proximity. Let us know how large or how old you think the infestation is and we can maybe give you more detailed directions.
yellow nutsedge infestation I have only been living in this house for 9 months so I do not know how long I have had this problem. As far as the extent, it is pretty significant in my back yard but not in my front yard yet. It all of a sudden blew up about three weeks ago. To view the extent, I put up pictures here. Thanks for the info.
If you can spend some time pulling it, you can make headway against it. People say pulling it always leaves behind some of the "nuts" to sprout, but I have done okay by just pulling repeatedly as it sprouts. It will be worse not only in areas of poor drainage, but in areas of compacted soil, where it is harder to pull it out complete with roots and nuts. It's a pesky weed, but not at the top of my Most Despised List. Oh, I just remembered--I find that if I mow my lawn too short in early spring I have more trouble with nutsedge later that year. So, mow high.
The best thing to control nutsedge is Sedgehamer, (used to be Manage)its very expensive! but you can buy this in packets to mix 1 gal for about $15. for best results add a squirt of dish soap! let the sedge grow to 4-5in and spray a light mist.you will probably have to repeat this again in 7-10 days.
