nut sedge problem

[flgeorge]

I have a small, 50'X50', fenced area that my wife is attempting to grow a few items, corn, tomatoes, melons, peppers, etc. Before fencing this garden area I sprayed it with Gly Star Plus (Round-Up). After two weeks we put a couple of loads of horse manure down and disk it. Waited three weeks and sprayed it again, we knew there was nut sedge growing there. We then put up a fence, to keep the free range chickens out, I might as well have used a good fertilizer, the nut sedge continues to grow profusely. My wife has been in her garden daily digging up the nut sedge but seems to be loosing the battle. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of this weed without spending a ton of money?

 

[polo1665]

I didn't know what Nut Sedge was, so I looked it up and came up with this website. Looks like it may help. Nutsedge Management Guidelines--UC IPM
Looks like a tough "Nut" to crack.

Mark

 

[flgeorge]

Mark -

Thanks for the reply. The article from the University of California is similar to one I found from the University of Florida, both indicate glyphosate (Roundup) should do the trick but on application the nutsedge turns a little yellow them jumps up and continues to grow. Glyphosate costs $33 gal at the local CO-OP and does not seem to perform well even with an increase in the mix. Am hoping someone has had better luck with this weed and will share their experience with me.

George

 

[kenmac]

Image product works well

 

[flgeorge]

Using Image Nutsedge Killer would seem be a solution, however, the instructions say not to use on or around vegetables. Guess she will have to keep pulling until the end of her vegetable season. Hopefully we can rid the area of nutsedge at the end of the season or before beginning year.

George

 

[kenmac]

I fought this stuff on our baseball field last summer' I kept spraying it with glyphosate. I won nut sedge lost. Ambient temp. needs to stay in the 80"s or above to get good results

good luck

 

[MossRoad]

The problem with that weed in a garden is the soil is so nice a fluffy that the runners underground have no trouble spreading. And even if you pull up the plant, runner and all, if even the tiniest part breaks off, it comes back. I have had good results with tilling the garden early and often before planting and then hand pulling every time I see a weed poke through the soil. I inspect our garden daily and spend about 5-10 minutes weeding each day. If I miss a day, I can expect to spend 10-20 minutes weeding. Two days missed... 20-30 minutes. You get the picture. But if you stay on top of it you can control it.

 

[jinman]

I use a 2-cycle cultivator in my garden and hand-pull weeds as needed where I can't get with the cultivator. Nutgrass comes up, but I just keep knocking it down before it gets a chance to establish itself.

 

[EddieWalker]

I read somewhere that it helps to mow it before spraying it so that the ends of the blades are exposed to the chemicals. The problem with most chemicals is that they do not penetrate the surface of the blades and the poison does not get down into the root system. I have it really bad around my big pond and to get the very best chemicals, I went and got my private applicators license. I'm hopeful that it will allow me to buy something that actually works.

Eddie

 

[kthompson]

I think my memory is good here but be aware I am pulling from a few years back. Think the heat under black plastic will kill it. Not fabric cloth, it will grow through that. For as small an area as you are working with that would not be that costly. You could try running the plastic beside the plants if already up placing enough dirt on it to hold in place. It will also help keep moisture in. If you do this before unfolding the plastic take a pick fork and poke holes through it about a foot apart so water can seep through.

You may need to add a wetting agent to your chemical. Read the label very carefully and see if it suggest it. If so you need it. For small jobs liquid dishwasher detergent was suggest to me and seems to work. Of course you are not after suds, so use ones not know for suds.

 

[flgeorge]

I want to thank everyone for the suggestions, I would have posted earlier but had back surgery yesterday for a ruptured disk. Medicine sure has come a long way - back surgery on an outpatient basis.

Back to the nutsedge. I will try the black plastic as well as using our little tiller more often and will see how the liquid soap works - never heard that suggested before. I will also try the Roundup again with an increase in the mix.

In the meantime my wife continues to dig and search for all the nut seeds. She misses a few because, as was mentioned, the next day the area where she just dug up all the nutsedge more had popped up overnight.