Here's some decent info to start with. Its one of the most difficult lawn weeds to get rid of. I've had fair results using repeated applications of Ortho crabgrass-b-gon. Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nutsedge

I've got the same problem. I just identified it yesterday after hours of searching the internet...ha. I believe I got it from a load of soil my landscaper put on my lawn a couple of years ago. Grrr. Thanks to JohnT for that great article.

I just ordered 3 packages of Monsanto's Manage and 5 packets of QuickPro Dry (70+% glyphosate) on eBay this morning. Not too expensive considering the evil nature of this plant.

As for the timing of this application, I'm not sure it will work this late in the season on mature plants, but I can't sit around and do nothing. I found an article where they applied it in September and October in AZ. They concluded that using both glyphosate and Halosulfuron was effective in controlling both small and large plants. So I'm going to give it a shot. I'll probably do two applications this fall and repeat again next spring.

I plan to apply to individual plants using a small paint accessory fashioned like tongs with pads. About the only laugh I got while researching this was that someone calls this method, "the tongs of death." Another possible delivery method is to spray through a tube that surrounds the plant such that the spray won't touch others. I'll also add some food coloring to ID which plants have been touched. I also considered using a sponge bottle to apply...like a stamp moistener. I may use that method on some other weeds in my lawn.

The upper surface of the leaves is waxy and the lower surface is dull. I can only imagine getting to that lower surface will be important for any translocation.

You can spray Manage, but glyphosate spray (Roundup active ingredient) will kill surrounding turf. It will definitely take a while to apply...my infestation is probably in the neighborhood of 100 plants. I'll probably use clippers to make a fresh cut on the stems so the poison will seep. I read one post that suggested that application to one stem may kill more than one plant because of the root system linkage.

I'm probably hoping against hope, especially when JohnT's article specifically says, "Many people mistakenly use systemic herbicides such as glyphosate to try to kill the tubers after the plant is fully grown. Unfortunately, when tubers are mature there is little translocation of the herbicide from the leaves to the tubers, thus tubers are not affected." My only thought is the concentration of glyphosate I'll be using is nuclear. Also, I've read that you can treat perennial weeds in the fall, prior to a hard freeze. "Herbicide movement into the root system is greatest at this time of year." Contradictory, but I have hope. Ha.

Next spring, I'll likely use only the Manage spray on newly formed plants. It sounds like persistence and patience is the only way to deal with this scourge.

If you DO hire a company to spray Halosulfuron, wait until spring. This stuff is most effective on young plants. Also, you probably will need at least one repeat spray.

I'll let you know what happens. Doing anything at this late date may be a fool's errand, but gotta try.

I have a large yard in the DFW area and have dealt with purple nutsedge in both my yard and some neighbor's yards. Your comment that Manage won't work on the mature plants late in the season isn't correct.

A week ago, I treated some plants that I let get out of control in my yard during the summer and they are yellowed and dying. Keep in mind however, nutsedge is an ongoing issue that you can get ahead on but not completely get rid of. If you don't go after the new plants soon enough, like I didn't this last time, you will have have a new sprouting in the spring and maybe even later this year of the nutlets.

Let me give you some tips on using manage effectively.

1) I would never mix it with roundup. Its not necessary to get a good kill on the plants no matter what stage they are in. Manage will in fact stop the growth of the nutsedge almost immediately so the next time you mow, it wont be going anymore. Within a week or so, the nutsedge will turn yellow and then brown. The trick is to treat the plants early on in the life cycle so they don't produce nutlets.

2) Make sure you put a non-ionic suficant in your mix. A little bit (few drops / gallon) of Dawn dish washing soap works good or you can get a "spreader sticker" from some garden stores. Without this, you are wasting your time and money as it breaks down the waxy surface of the nutsedge so the herbicide can be absorbed efficiently.

3) I would use a marker in your spray. Although its not necessary, I use a true marker that you can add to your mixture that will go away with the rain and sun. This way you can see what you have treated and also avoid walking through it. You can get a marker from some nuseries or lesco dealer in your area. If you have a home depot landscape store, they carry it many times. I am not sure food coloring will work the same and may not show up good enough to see, but then again I haven't tried it.

4) Since it is an ongoing problem that you will have for a few years you may want to buy a 1.3 oz bottle of the manage for about $100. It will make 43 gallons of mix and since Manage isn't being made anymore and its replacement (Certainty) is currently only packaged in a bottle that costs $350. Its not clear if they will repackage it for the average consumer so it would be wise to get enough to last you a few years. Besides, at $15 or so per single package of manage that makes 1 gallon, you can see that the bottle for $100 that makes 43 gallons is a much better buy.

Hope this helps you in fighting this nasty weed.

I have used Manage for 4 years & nutsedge comes up every year where I have supposedly killed it! Even surfactent has not seemed to help.

Could someone explain how to kill this weed in a short but sweet answer? Apparently it needs to be hit early in it's life cycle from what I have read on this forum. Is manage alone enough?

Sage Lover:

Manage does work and if you are seeing the effects on the plants you are spraying, it worked. However, its not like a normal weed where once you kill it, its gone. Here's the best way I know to explain it.

The first application of Manage will control up to 95% of the existing nutsedge. Because nutsedge spreads underground by tubers or 'nuts', and above ground by seed (although I have heard the seeds are not viable for the most part) it will be necessary to make multiple applications to totally contol the weed. Nutsedge thrives in wet soils, so reducing the frequency of watering with your irrigation system will help control the spread of nutsedge. In addition, it has been said that for every ton of top soil you apply to your lawn, you are planting at least 500 pounds of weed seeds. Try to avoid bringing in top soil unless absolutely necessary. Roto-tilling your lawn will also bring tubers to the surface. Weed seeds can lie dormant in the soil for years (crabgrass seeds have been known to live 15 years in the soil) until brought to the surface so they can germinate.

First, the weed you see grows from a tuber. Once the plant gets to a stage where it is 3 leaves (if I remember correctly) it starts to store its energy by creating new tubbers. In theory, if you are dilligent and you pull the plants before this occurs, you prevent it from reproducing.

The reason you don't kill the tubbers when the parent plant is killed is if you wait too long, the tubbers are mature and they are no longer receiving nutrients from the parent plant so they don't receive the herbicide. If you treat them early enough, you will prevent tubber production and kill the ones developing.

Be patient and you can get to a point where you will hardly ever see nutsedge if at all. But if you do, get it quick so it doesn't produce its tubers.

Hope this helps explain things well enough to help you get ahead of the problem.

Wow, thanks for all the great info. Actually, I didn't do anything with my nutsedge patches. The topgrowth died in September which I'm assuming is natural. So, I'll wait for the little buggers to sprout in the spring. Thanks for the info about the future costs of Manage/Certainty...ouch. I'll take the advice about getting a nearly lifetime supply. Argh, I hate this stuff. Makes me think I'll be buying potting soil to level my lawn from now on.

Some of you guys are dreaming of spraying something on nutsedge and watching it die while you spend Sunday inside, out of the heat :-) I know 'cuz I've been there. There is no herbicide that actually works vs. nutsedge, and no landscape company that can actually eliminate it for $100+ and a few treatments.

The answer is persistence and hard work. You gotta get down on your hands and knees and pull it. To maximize nutlets and tubers coming up when you pull, wait till after a heavy rain, or turn the sprinkler on a few days in a row, then do it.

When you pull, grab each one carefully, as low to the ground as you can. Helps if you get below the surface (dig into the dirt some). I don't use gloves so I can feel when it's likely to come out -- all the way out. You know it's working when you pull up tubers and interconnecting "vines" and sometimes even one weed pulls up others nearby. Once you're that good then you're nutsedge's worst nightmare. When you start to pull if it feels like too much resistance then use a trowel to loosen the dirt... otherwise you break off the stem leaving the evil tubers (rhysomes, I guess).

When we bought the house in 2005, it took me 2 years to figure out the previous owners had been overrun by this evil weed, what was going on, and come up with a strategy... all the while the thing just infested and got worse. No amount of mowing and trips to Home Depot for the latest nutsedge herbicide did any good. But after hand pulling two years in a row results are excellent. Now it's easy to keep up with ... see a couple of new ones, gotcha, can do it in 20 min. My biggest problem now is some spots in the neighbor's yard are moving closer :-(

-Jeff

I am controlling the nutsedge the same way except I start pulling the minute I see the plants start coming up in the spring. Since the nutlets have not formed and the soil is moist I find it is easier to pull then. I continue to pull as I see the plants. I have gone from a light green haze to only a few spots.

You do have to train yourselves to do two things, grab the plant low almost to the ground and do not slide your hand as you pull. Sliding will make your hand feel like it has paper cuts for a week or so.

Any and all sedges are plants that grow most often in very moist soils, even though many people here dispute that. The link below, from Ohio State Universtiy, has this sentence in it, " Yellow nutsedge thrives under warm, wet conditions and can often be found in low, damp areas of lawns."
To totally eliminate this look closely at the soil conditions, especially where this grows, correct those soil conditions, and you may not need to spend a lot of money in the future to control the sedges.

Here is a link that might be useful: About sedges

I am amazed that no one in this forum has mentioned SedgeHammer - a turf herbicide manufactured by Gowan that is for the elimination and killing of nutsedge. I have fought nutsedge in my snall Florida yard for years - not even ChemLawn could get rid of the weed so I fired them and started my own do-it-yourself program. I've used Roundup which kills everything to spending hours pulling the stuff up. I recently called a Farmers Co-Op and discovered SedgeHammer. You can also buy it on eBay. Anyway - it works, and my lawn is finally free of nutsedge!!

Oh my goodness! I'm overwhelmed by the information I just read! I'm going to look up purchasing Sedgehammer, as suggested above but my story seems to have a twist that no others do. Here it is: We just bought a home with a front yard that consisted of a pile of dirt...that's it. We had a bobcat come in and level the yard. It is going to be a rental property that we didn't want to have any yard maintenance worries about so we decided to cover the whole yard with nylon mesh weedblock, planted a tree in the middle and spread two inches of rock on top. Done, or so we thought. This dang weed is coming through the weedblock and rocks!! I couldn't believe my eyes! I pulled some and took it to my local nursery for ID. They said it is 'torturous' and they don't have anything to help me. I read above that the best idea is to pull it. Well, I can't unless I make holes in the weedblock, which defeats it's purpose...not that it's doing it's job in the first place! I had some Round-Up at home already so put it in the weed sprayer, diluted a little more strongly than recommended. It's kind of doing the trick. We hit it once a week, for about a month now. The weeds are dying but there are new ones every day. Please...any words of wisdom? I'd dig 'em up in a heartbeat but the weedblock is my stumbling block!!!

There's a product called Image. You can get it at Lowes or Home Depot. It works great. But until you gotten rid of it, I would bag the clippings when cutting your lawn. That way the seeds from the nutsedge is not being spread on your lawn. I did that for about the first 4 cuts this year and all of mine is gone and I had a lot of it in my yard. Good luck guys.

Wow....looks like I am going to be busy for a while :( I recently had a large section of my yard torn up during the digging of a new well. Since it was a mess, I took the opportunity to bring in several loads of "black dirt" to fill in a big "low" spot.

Last month I had a friend spread the dirt around and I seeded it and spread straw. Once we got a few very hot, humid days and nights....the grass really started to take off. About a week later the nutsedge started to "POP".

Now I have a big problem!!!!!

The neighbor also used some of the dirt I had brought in to fill a couple of bad areas and he to as nutsedge growing like crazy. He just ordered a jug of Image and plans on treating his small problem with it.

I, on the other hand, have a much bigger problem. The section of lawn I am dealing with is approx 40' x 80' and it was seeded less than a month ago.

Should I take a chance and hope the new grass will survive an application of Image or Sedgehammer, or should I just RoundUp the entire section and start over.

If I start over, what would prevent new nutsedge seeds from coming to the surface when I prep for re-seeding?

Also....which do you prefer...Image or Sedgehammer?

Thanks,
Scott

Instead of spending large amounts of money every year to control this annual "weed" correct the conditions that allow it to grow and then you will not need to purchase those poisons that are known to be harmful to our environment.

This is from the first paragraph of the linked article, "Nutsedges are common weeds in landscapes and gardens in the coastal valleys, Central Valley, and southern areas of California. They thrive in waterlogged soil, and their presence often indicates drainage is poor, irrigation is too frequent, or sprinklers are leaky. Once established, however, they will tolerate normal irrigation conditions or drought."
I don't think it condescending to attempt to give peopel common sense advise. Telling people that sedges are plants the dev eloped growing in bogs is not fanaticism. Most all "weed" problems are related to the soils they grow in and correcting those soil conditions will help solve most all "weed" problems, without spraying products that are destroying our environment.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nutsedge

Just spent about 5-6 hours over the weekend on my hands and kness pull out the d**n stuff. This was in part of my mother's yard. I'd never seen it there before; believe it crept under the neighbor's fence, since there is a slight slope. I've dealt with it in common areas/neighboring lawns near my home in VA, so I know how tough it is. Only thing to do is keep pulling it with as much root as you can get until it stops growing back (for a while, anyway). If you don't control it, it will spread like crazy, and no weedkiller (such as weed-b-gon) will kill it. You want to pull it anyway because it really makes your yard look awful, so even if you could kill it, you'd want to pull as much as you can. I'm afraid what Mom's lawn is going to look like at Labor Day! I'd like to find a way to get even for our neighbor's "gift".

I was told by my boss who is a licensed chemical sprayer, that "BASAGRAN" is the only chemical that will actually kill off the Yellow Nutsedge Weed. He said it may take a couple of years spraying it before the weed will completely die out. But you should see results after the first year. Haven't tried it yet, but I sure intend to very soon!

My experience has been that Sedgehammer and Image are not effective over the long-term. I tried both in a small area, thought I had results and left the area alone, and the next year that area had the hardiest patch of nutsedge I've faced yet. Back to hand-pulling and constant vigilance.

Maybe those chemicals work if applied frequently, but that's something I don't want to do.

-Jeff

So I live on a hill by Grant's Farm in Crestwood Mo. I was told by my neighbors that we have a high water table keep in mind we live on a hill. We been here around twenty years. Here's our problem Nutsedge and Bermuda grass. I've been pulling out nutsedges for years. Big ones little ones and every size in between. Then add Bermuda grass, I'm going crazy. I actually had a landscaper tell me I could dig up my whole yard down about 7-8'' and never get rid of Bermuda grass. I'm at war and the weeds are winning. By the way what kind of weed has thorns all over it and is huge with about five thorn leaves that circle it. It all of a sudden is growing in my yard. And thanks to Scott's this year for killing my plants and trees, and letting the weeds thrive. I'm so fed up this summer. I just told my husband rip it all out and have all sand he just looked at me like I was crazy. Also are lot is 100'w 200' d. It's a lot to take care of.

A friend, with an in ground irrigation system, last summer spent around $500.00 on products to "eliminate" nutsedge from his lawn and did succeed last summer. This summer the nutsedge is back and growing quite well, because he has not changed the soil conditions that promote the growth of this plant.

Nutsedge does not grow in my lawn, or any other lawn I have seen that does not get watered daily.

kimmq is kimmsr

Kimmsr, nutsedge can and will grow wherever it wishes to, and does not limit itself to overly wet sites. It's time to start believing in what those experienced with the weed know, instead of what you read.

As I have mentioned many times to you, nutsedge grows just fine in dry soils. I don't have an irrigation system, the soils here are well drained red clay, I haven't watered anything by hand (except for the veggies) all summer. Come look at the nutsedge.

Same here, rhizo; yes, it grows where it stays wet, and where it stays dry, and everywhere in between - thank heaven for Sedgehammer.

Sedges, Yellow Nut Sedge, Purple Nut Sedge, etc. evolved as wet land plants so while they have adapted to many environments they still need a fairly moist environment to begin growing, at least according to the people that study these plants. Perhaps this article might be of interest to some here.

http://extension.psu.edu/pests/weeds/weed-id/yellow-nutsedge

kimmq is kimmsr

Aaaagghhh! 2 years of sedge ender, sedgehammer, ortho nutsedge killer, etc etc. & FINALLY some decent control thru this dry Houston summer then...BANG! The rain came & now it's back. Anyhow, don't bother with glyphosphate--You'll only kill the top of the plant & everything else around it on accident. Don't bother with toothpicks or tweezers or hypodermic (sp?) needles or any other methods of targeting individual blades--You need to treat the whole area with something made for nutsedge to get that "translocation" down to the hair-size roots everyone talks about. GlyP simply does not migrate down to the roots with nutsedge. Sedge Ender by Bonide has worked well & is cost-effective for spot spraying. Image nutsedge killer is a tried & true winner as well. Sedgehammer is good, but too much trouble for the same effectiveness of other products. Ortho is ok & widely available. Bottom line is I don't think I'll ever get rid of it for good. Once all the patches are dying off & going yellow, all of a sudden a mature 2 foot tall nutsedge blade will pop out the top of a shrub 3 feet away. What can men do against such evil?!?!

Get a pig they love it.

My dog actually chews on it too. So do the rabbits that invade when my wife & dog are in CO. Weird.

Probably if one were to read the article from Penn State linked above, and learn something about these sedges, one would have a better idea of how to control these sedges.

kimmq is kimmsr

I've read a lot of things about nutsedge over the years, but I'll be happy to look at how those PennState yankees like to treat it (just kidding northerners). I'm always in the market for a better way.

reelkake, I think you might find that the people from Clemson tell you much the same thing as the people from Penn State do.

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/pests/weeds/hgic2312.html

kimmq is kimmsr

Broken link on the Clemson page. This pic makes me happy.

Try this link.

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/pests/pdf/hgic2312.pdf

kimmq is kimmsr

Kimmq/Kimmsr, I live in Southern California and what you may not realize is that the soil can be extremely heavy clay that retains water even when you do not irrigate often. I really do not irrigate much at all, and have a drought tolerant planted bed that has a nutsedge problem. In order to remove the nuts, I have to dig with a large shovel and remove giant chunks of solidified clay in which the nuts have grown. The weed is extremely vigorous and difficult to irradicate even when not irrigated.

We've been having pretty good luck with echelon but it's rather expensive

I had a lawn-wide infestation of nut sedge after replanting the lawn. You cannot kill nut sedge in one year, it is an ongoing project. I have used Sedge Hammer and it has been quite effective. I have two small spots of sedge (about 10 plants in total) left in the lawn.

You have to apply Sedge Hammer repeatedly (I do it about every two weeks) until the sedge leaves turn brown, and the plant dies. The problem with nut sedge is that even if you kill the leaves, the herbicide only trans-locates back about 2-3 nuts in the root chain. The roots can have up to seven nuts on any root. That is the problem - there will be nuts left to germinate the next year.

That's why it will come back the next year, there will still be nuts in the root mass that are still active. So, what you are doing the next year, is killing the left over nuts, and 2-3 nuts back from them. Ultimately, you will kill all of the nuts and the plant will disappear.

The problem with trying to dig the plant out is that the roots are very fine and fragile. No matter how careful you are, you will end up leaving some of the nuts in the ground, and as soon as the main plant has been taken out, the remaining nuts will start to germinate.

Roundup (glyphosate) will do nothing to the plant. You need to use a sedge-specific herbicide like Sedge Hammer with spreader sticker in the mix. I have found that a small amount of Quicksilver herbicide added to the Sedge Hammer seems to increase the effectiveness.

I apply the Sedge Hammer / Quicksilver / spreader sticker mixture after the plants have at least three to five leaves and the temperature is above 80 degrees. It usually takes two treatments over two weeks to kill the plant for this year. I then monitor the area the next year and repeat the treatment. Eventually, you can kill all of the sedge because there will be no more nuts left in the ground to germinate.

In my case, it has taken about six years to get all of the nut sedge out a 3000+ square foot lawn. But, since you only need to treat the plant 2-3 times over four week period, it is really not very work intensive.

Once you treat the plant for the year - you're done until the next year. It's a war of attrition and you just have to work at it until it's all gone. It can be done, I've done it in my lawn.

You can kill all the roots (nuts to some) you have but if birds fly over your yard after eating seeds from a planting of nut sedge someplace near by you will see the stuff grow again. Where nut sedges grow now they will grow again in the future.

I have seen areas, next to each other, that has nut sedge growing quite well and with an automatic sprinkling system while next door with no watering other than rain has none. The lack of nut sedge growing in that yard is not the result of the person living there doing something to remove the nut sedge.

kimmq is kimmsr

"The lack of nut sedge growing in that yard is not the result of the person living there doing something to remove the nut sedge."

Uh...huh. Really? That's your simplistic answer? Not much help are you? But, apparently you "know it all" based upon your posts - even though you have NO idea about the conditions at my place. So, in effect, you have no idea what you're talking about. But, that's the nice thing about the Internet, it's so easy to be a keyboard expert.

Well, here's the deal at my place. Where I live we get 9-inches of rain per year. The percolation rate of the soil is 1.5-inches per minute. That's not a typo - it's 1.5-inches per minute, not minutes-per-inch. So, whatever water you put on the ground is gone fairly quickly - and, if you don't run a sprinkler system you don't have grass.

The nut sedge became a problem because I ordered 24 yards of topsoil from a local company in an attempt to amend the poor soil prior to planting grass. The nut sedge came with the top soil. The grass is a fescue blend developed for use by highway departments for the southwestern US - so it has relatively low water requirements.

Out of 53,000+ square feet, I have 3,000 square feet in grass so that we have a small area of lawn to enjoy.

Better living through chemistry - it works.