Lawn Weeds

[Prashun Patel]

Does this topic depress you as much as me? Spray, compost, crouch-and-pick. The more time I spend on it, the more they thrive.

I have this ONE light green, tall grass that I just can't get rid of. I tried picking them out manually, repeatedly, but they grow back. Does anyone know what this is and how I may eradicate it?

I am in Central New Jersey and use a typical Mid-Atlantic seed mix: KBG + rye + fescue.

I realize there's crabgrass and other weeds in there, but these have been easier to get under control than that bright green stuff. It starts coming up mid July, and augments through August.

[George Bokros]

Probably need to use Roundup and reseed the spots.

[Brian Deakin]

I live in the Uk and I have a problem lawn
I would suggest the following advice

(1) Identify a suitable blend of grass seed
(2) Determine the best time to plant
(3) Make a wooden frame one yard square and use this as a grid to work across the lawn (removing or spot killing the offending grass and weeds) then overseed the area
(4) Set yourself a target eg 2 square yards per day and methodically work across the whole lawn

[Jim Becker]

The best thing I ever did for "weed control" in our lawn was to start cutting it much higher...3.5"-4". I've never used chemicals. Yes, there are still some "weeds" but new ones struggle to get a foothold because the taller, thriving grass blocks the sunlight and makes germination conditions less than ideal for "weeds". Most "weeds" thrive in poor soil where there is plenty of light available to them.

To get things stable as a baseline, you could indeed do a "wipe and replace", but you could also do things like core aeration followed by over seeding of a good grass seed (not inexpensive seed) that is suitable for your lawn's light conditions. As the new grass grows in and establishes a strong root system, it should spread and fill in between the aeration points. Using corn gluten meal very early in the subsequent season should help keep germination of new "weeds" (which are generally annuals) down to a minimum.

[Prashun Patel]

Great ideas guys. I'm going to have to go nuclear. I'll do it methodically...

I'll spot kill with herbicide now and reseed in about a month.

Jim, I'm going to start cutting the grass higher. I've heard that a million times; never did it.

Also, what brand of seed to you recommend? I've tried all manner of Pennington, Jonathan Greene, and Scotts.

[Bob Glenn]

Prashun, from your description, it sounds like your problem weed is nut sedge. Very hard to get rid of, if not impossible. The weed establishes a network underground, thus its ability to flourish. There are some chemicals that can be applied which will control the weed, however, it does not eradicate it.

[Gary Ragatz]

Prashun,

You might try dropping a line to Rutgers University Agricultural Extension - they should be able to help you identify the offending plant, and offer suggestions for remediation. They might also offer soil testing service. Rutgers is New Jersey's Land Grant university, and probably has an Agricultural Extension office in each county in the state.

Gary

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks Gary and Bob!

Bob, I think you may be right. Manual weeding appears to make it worse which has always made me think it breeds with rhizomes.

I am going to try an herbicide (brand name Sedge Ender). If it is a sedge, apparently these are hard to control late in the season. I may have to wait until next year and get them early in the season. I have read that it can take 3-4 years to eradicate. However, I've been living with and ignoring this for 15 years. So, like Leslie Nielsen said in Creepshow, "I can hold my breath a long time."

[roger wiegand]

We've turned almost all of our yard over to native wildflowers and grasses. There are several weeds I still battle, but crabgrass, nut sedge etc are no longer an issue. Mowing once a year is a definite improvement in the workload, plus it's a whole lot prettier and supports an impressive range of wildlife. (10 bluebirds successfully fledged this year!)

414764

[Doug Dawson]

The best thing I ever did for "weed control" in our lawn was to start cutting it much higher...3.5"-4". I've never used chemicals. Yes, there are still some "weeds" but new ones struggle to get a foothold because the taller, thriving grass blocks the sunlight and makes germination conditions less than ideal for "weeds". Most "weeds" thrive in poor soil where there is plenty of light available to them.

To get things stable as a baseline, you could indeed do a "wipe and replace", but you could also do things like core aeration followed by over seeding of a good grass seed (not inexpensive seed) that is suitable for your lawn's light conditions. As the new grass grows in and establishes a strong root system, it should spread and fill in between the aeration points. Using corn gluten meal very early in the subsequent season should help keep germination of new "weeds" (which are generally annuals) down to a minimum.

Agreed on the cutting height.

I have to mention something about corn gluten meal however. (Years of experience playing around with it.) It may work well in the North, but here in the South it barely works at all. It seems to rely on well-defined seasons, seasonal boundaries. Here in the South we have no such things, and there is a broad overlap among the many varieties of weeds we have, re their germination and growth periods, so what you end up doing with it is just fertilizing "most" (it seems) of your weeds. Even if you _could_ pin down when things were about to germinate, it's unpredictable year over year.

Corn gluten meal does, however, seem reliably effective against annual bluegrass, even down here.

(Yes I know Prashun is in New Jersey, but just in case anyone else much further South may be tempted by it.)

[Ted Calver]

Looks like yellow nut sedge.
https://njaes.rutgers.edu/fs119/

[Kev Williams]

I finally tried some of the connect-to-the-garden-hose weed killers. For 2 years I've used Spectracide 'Weed Stop for Lawns', and it does work okay. Some weed come back in a few months but at least it's easy to apply.

This spring I used some Vigora weed n feed spray, and I'll be dam'd if it didn't kill off all the patch of morning glory in the back yard that's been getting bigger every year. It's GONE! It may come back so the the jury is out, but the Spectracide never did kill it all off. But maybe it helped?

I know this much, I'm never messing with bagged stuff and spreaders again.

[Jon Nuckles]

We've turned almost all of our yard over to native wildflowers and grasses. There are several weeds I still battle, but crabgrass, nut sedge etc are no longer an issue. Mowing once a year is a definite improvement in the workload, plus it's a whole lot prettier and supports an impressive range of wildlife. (10 bluebirds successfully fledged this year!)


Congratulations to you, Roger. Typical lawns provide very little sustenance and habitat for birds and insects. We have planted some gardens to attract pollinators and our plan is to get rid of turf grass to the extent we can. Not having to mow would be an additional benefit for me.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

The best thing I ever did for "weed control" in our lawn was to start cutting it much higher...3.5"-4". I've never used chemicals. Yes, there are still some "weeds" but new ones struggle to get a foothold because the taller, thriving grass blocks the sunlight and makes germination conditions less than ideal for "weeds". Most "weeds" thrive in poor soil where there is plenty of light available to them.


:eek: Oh you are so right! It just dawned on me this is why we have so many more weeds in the last two years. Our very elderly dog was having trouble walking in the grass so we were cutting the grass really short to help her out. After she passed last year, we kept cutting it short out of habit. LOML and I have been commenting about the weed explosion this year in the grass and that is why. Time to adjust the mower level!

[Prashun Patel]

Vigora? Morning Glory getting bigger every year? There's a joke in here somewhere ;)

[Stan Calow]

We have lots of nutsedge/nutgrass around here. It pops up whenever the rest of the grass is heat-stressed. Sometimes, I hate to kill it because its the only green stuff in the lawn. We have several options of weed killer that targets it. The one I use now is called Image - active ingredient ammonium salt of magnesia. But if you go to a nursery instead a big box, there are a lot more options.

I remember the guy who used to do a lawn/garden show on HGTV say he stopped thinking of his yard as a lawn and preferred to think of it as a meadow, where diversity is an asset.

[Tom M King]

Looks like a Little League version of Johnson Grass. Picture doesn't show the sink the tractor shed just for small spray tanks.414785414786

[John K Jordan]

I have this ONE light green, tall grass that I just can't get rid of. I tried picking them out manually, repeatedly, but they grow back. Does anyone know what this is and how I may eradicate it?


There are a number of grass plants that propagate with both seeds and rhizomes. Rhizomes are horizontal roots that grow under the surface (just like bamboo), sprouting new plants along their length. Just pulling the plants won't work since the rhizomes stay in the ground. You have to kill or remove the rhizomes or the grass will continue to come back. You can check for rhizomes by digging down with a narrow spade or fork and lifting the soil to expose the roots. Rhizomes grow outward from the root of the plant. I don't think glyphosate (roundup, etc) or 2-4-D will kill it if it's well established. unless you can get the chemicals in the soil below the surface.

I know a hay producer who accidentally killed his Bermuda grass, also with rhizomes, by aerating the soil then spraying. The spray went down into the soil and killed the rhizomes.

Johnson Grass may be the most aggressive and difficult to kill since the rhizomes can be quite deep. Yours is probably not Johnson grass if it's short - JG can get 3-4' tall in just a few weeks. The base of new stems are red where they come out of the ground. The mature leaf is wide and has a very prominent white vein in the middle. The leaves are light colored.

What I have done successfully many times to eliminate Johnson Grass which should eliminate other grasses with rhizomes is dig up each plant and between the plants and find and remove every rhizome and every little piece of rhizome. This may take several seasons since if you break one and leave a piece it the ground it will generate a new plant and start spreading.

Another method I've seen used to get rid of Johnson grass is probably less practical for your lawn - fence off the area and turn hogs loose inside! They will dig down and eat every trace of the roots and rhizomes! I know a hay producer who used this method on a nasty stand of Johnson Grass.

JKJ

[Tom M King]

I'm not recommending you try this at home, but..... It takes a combination of Roundup, 2,4,D, and Imprazar to kill Johnson Grass, and it can't be sprayed too late in the Fall, or it will come back the next year. It doesn't take much Imprazar (Arsenal) in the mix to kill it, but without a tiny bit, it will come back the next year. I've found that to also be the only combination that will end Wisteria, if it's gotten out of hand.

Nutsedge is not quite so hard to kill, but Roundup will only knock it back for one season. Imprazar is also the only thing I've ever found that will permanently kill Sweet Gum, but sometimes you have to hit it again the second year. I was half joking about Nutsedge being like a Little League Johnson Grass, but the other half is a fair comparison.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, I'm going to start cutting the grass higher. I've heard that a million times; never did it.

When I was a mere lad, my dad absolutely insisted in cutting the grass to within millimeters of non-existence, saying it wouldn't have to be cut as often...and then wondered why it was primarily dusty weeds. The funny thing is is that it still needed to be cut weekly, etc. As I mentioned, I cut at 4" now and it grows the same general amount in a week as when it was shorter but looks lush and green, for the most part. And what weeds there are...they look better, too. :D :D :D

[Jim Becker]

I remember the guy who used to do a lawn/garden show on HGTV say he stopped thinking of his yard as a lawn and preferred to think of it as a meadow, where diversity is an asset.
I absolutely agree with that statement! At different times of the year, particularly in our front lawn, there is a cascade of small blue wildflowers that are awesome. There are other things that are equally beautiful to see throughout the year even though it's primarily a green carpet of grass.

[Mel Fulks]

I like the meadow treatment and our city used to encourage it. But they will also fine for growth over 12 inches.

[Jim Becker]

The meadow motif doesn't need to mean "long/tall"...there are so many low growing options available if one is planting as well as a lot of natural diversity like I mentioned with my own lawn that is down low, too.

[Mel Fulks]

Thanks Jim, I will research low growing stuff.

[Ted Calver]

I used to spec meadow mixes from Ernst ...their site has a seed finder that might be helpful. No affiliation.
https://www.ernstseed.com/products/

[Brian Elfert]

The best thing I ever did for "weed control" in our lawn was to start cutting it much higher...3.5"-4". I've never used chemicals. Yes, there are still some "weeds" but new ones struggle to get a foothold because the taller, thriving grass blocks the sunlight and makes germination conditions less than ideal for "weeds". Most "weeds" thrive in poor soil where there is plenty of light available to them.


I've been cutting at 4" for several years and I still have as many weeds as ever. It might not help that I don't fertilize so the grass isn't real thick.

One issue with 4" is the lawn never has that fresh cut look to me. The lawn also looks kinda ragged even with new high quality blades on the mower. A lot of people are cutting their lawn when it gets to around 4" and if you start at 4" you are probably not cutting until 5" or taller. 4" is at least better than my neighbor who cuts so short that his lawn is scalped everywhere.

I'm lucky I don't live in a neighborhood where a lot of emphasis is put on nice looking lawns.

[Jim Becker]

I don't fertilize, either, Brian. I do know that while I have weeds, they certainly are less prominent. Yes, it doesn't look as well groomed after a week, but I personally don't mind about that. Subjective thing... :)

[Nathan Johnson]

I've been cutting at 4" for several years and I still have as many weeds as ever. It might not help that I don't fertilize so the grass isn't real thick.

One issue with 4" is the lawn never has that fresh cut look to me. The lawn also looks kinda ragged even with new high quality blades on the mower. A lot of people are cutting their lawn when it gets to around 4" and if you start at 4" you are probably not cutting until 5" or taller. 4" is at least better than my neighbor who cuts so short that his lawn is scalped everywhere.

I'm lucky I don't live in a neighborhood where a lot of emphasis is put on nice looking lawns.

I've settled on between 3.5 and 3.75 as the sweet spot for cutting height. 4 inches seems just a tad high for me partially for reasons you stated.
Keep in mind too that not all mowers are created equal. The higher you cut the better suction you need under the deck and a good blade won't matter if the grass won't stand up.
Water is more important than fertilizer, and always mulch your clippings back into the yard.
A good core aeration and overseeding would probably fill in quite a bit.

[John K Jordan]

I've settled on between 3.5 and 3.75 as the sweet spot for cutting height. ...

I mow about 3 acres around the house, approach, the little orchard, around the outside of the fences, and another 10 acres in the pastures as needed. I cut shorter or higher, depending. (My mowers cut 5' at once so it doesn't take long.)

In the spring I cut most grass at around 3". A lot of our honey comes from clover so when it's blooming I raise the deck as needed to leave the flowers.. When the weather is hot and dry (like now) I mow at 3.5-4", mostly to cut off the undesirable seed heads. Pastures get 5.5", the upper limit of my Kubota mower. Letting the grass in the pasture get too high can reportedly cause fine seeds to irritate the horse's eyes. Keeps the weeds and things the horses won't eat down too.

Fortunately, changing the height is so easy on the diesel mower - foot pedals operate a hydraulic deck lift. I can easily lower from full height to 1" while moving to "spot mow" a patch of weeds or raise the deck to miss a stray rock or limb.

Also fortunately for my time, I'm not too picky about perfectly manicured and weedless lawns. I always remember what a neighbor told me in 1972 - "if it's green, I'm happy." :)

JKJ

[Bob Bouis]

Nutsedge has a small bulb or "nut" underground that I'd expect makes it very resistant to something like roundup that kills foliage. Don't know what you'd use to kill it, though, since the most popular products I know aren't safe on northern grasses like fescue (IIRC).

Also, cutting your grass high can be good but most warm-season grasses will develop bad thatch if not cut regularly. The stems will grow on top of each other, then all die over the winter because they're not in the ground and are exposed to the elements. Then the stems (which are like wood rather than leaves like grass blades) will not decay fast enough in the spring, so the new stems will grow on top of them and you'll repeat the cycle. With grasses that need it (centipede, bermuda, etc), cut them low, or else...

[Tom M King]

Yes, where we have yard type grass, it's either Centipede, or Bermuda, and does get cut low.

The only thing that I know will effectively kill plants through the roots, is Imprazar. It's first common names were Powerline, and Arsenal. Power companies sprayed it under powerlines (probably still do, although I see they must be mixing it with something to kill Pines now in the same spray), and Arsenal was used on new stands of Pine timber to kill Sweet Gum. It won't kill a Pine tree, and I'm not sure about other evergreens, but it will kill about everything else. It doesn't take much either.

Weeds like Wisteria, or Johnson Grass are spot sprayed. It does leave a little dead spot, depending on how you have the spot sprayer adjusted, but Bermuda will fill it back in next year.

Sometimes a Sweet Gum will come back the next year, but the leaves will be tiny. Hit again, any time in the growing season, and it won't come back the next year.

[Brian Elfert]

I've settled on between 3.5 and 3.75 as the sweet spot for cutting height. 4 inches seems just a tad high for me partially for reasons you stated.
Keep in mind too that not all mowers are created equal. The higher you cut the better suction you need under the deck and a good blade won't matter if the grass won't stand up.
Water is more important than fertilizer, and always mulch your clippings back into the yard.
A good core aeration and overseeding would probably fill in quite a bit.

I have two different 60" commercial mowers. One is rear discharge only and the other is mulching only. The mulching one seems to cut a bit better.

[John K Jordan]

I have two different 60" commercial mowers. One is rear discharge only and the other is mulching only. The mulching one seems to cut a bit better.

I wonder if it has something to do with the rear discharge. I recently bought my second 60" Kubota and the new one can be ordered for rear discharge. The guy I deal with (and trust) said he didn't recommend the rear discharge version. I think he said it tends to clog up which might affect the air flow and the quality of the cut but maybe it's just the difference in the air flow path. Just wondering.

JKJ

[Brian Elfert]

I wonder if it has something to do with the rear discharge. I recently bought my second 60" Kubota and the new one can be ordered for rear discharge. The guy I deal with (and trust) said he didn't recommend the rear discharge version. I think he said it tends to clog up which might affect the air flow and the quality of the cut but maybe it's just the difference in the air flow path. Just wondering.


I bought the mower used so I didn't have a choice on the type of deck. I would prefer mulching. The mower is made by Jacobsen. I found out Jacobsen will fabricate just about any metal part they don't stock since they fabricate everything in house. I have not called to see if the mulching kit for the rear discharge deck can still be ordered.

[Tom M King]

I've been looking at getting a 72" zero turn mower lately, and had settled on wanting the Ferris because of the nice suspension system. Some of the stuff that would be cut with it gets fairly long, so we don't have to cut it so often. For cutting longer grass, I was thinking that a rear discharge would be better, since it doesn't throw grass out to one side to be cut over again. Ferris has a 72" rear discharge deck that is only available in Europe. Here, their only 72" deck is a side discharge, which seems a bit odd to me.

I don't really want mulching, since most of what will be cut with that mower will be cut as fast as possible, and some of it not cut so often, as one would a lawn.

[John K Jordan]

I've been looking at getting a 72" zero turn mower lately, and had settled on wanting the Ferris because of the nice suspension system. Some of the stuff that would be cut with it gets fairly long, so we don't have to cut it so often. For cutting longer grass, I was thinking that a rear discharge would be better, since it doesn't throw grass out to one side to be cut over again. Ferris has a 72" rear discharge deck that is only available in Europe. Here, their only 72" deck is a side discharge, which seems a bit odd to me.

I don't really want mulching, since most of what will be cut with that mower will be cut as fast as possible, and some of it not cut so often, as one would a lawn.

You might want to try the mower first. As mentioned above, my dealer said the rear discharge mower deck tended to clog more. I think he said it was worse with tall and wet grass.

I usually cut in a counter-clockwise path that throws the grass clippings away from the uncut grass.

I thought about the 72" deck but it wouldn't work for me. I plant and build things with the mowing in mind, leaving at least 6.5-7' clearance for the 60" deck plus side discharge chute.

JKJ

[Malcolm McLeod]

Hard to tell from the photo, but if it is either nutsedge or nutgrass, I've had fairly good luck with Image herbicide over Bermuda. Not sure what it might do to your KBG, etc.?

Best chemical option I've ever used was MSA, but Uncle Sugar deemed it unsuitable for use by the unwashed. Once upon a while ago, it hammered an old wheat field I turned into a lawn, totally eliminating Johnson grass (>1" a day growth!!), nutsedge, nut grass, thistle, clover, and eleventeen other broadleaf weeds.

[Malcolm McLeod]

I like the meadow treatment and our city used to encourage it. But they will also fine for growth over 12 inches.


The meadow motif doesn't need to mean "long/tall"...there are so many low growing options available if one is planting as well as a lot of natural diversity like I mentioned with my own lawn that is down low, too.

Look into strains of Buffalo Grass - some as 'Turffalo' (https://www.depts.ttu.edu/communications/newsletter/stories/vol1_no4/turffalo.html). It grows to 3"H only, so generally NO mowing. No idea of it's growing range or wet tolerance, but I know it does well in Texas' summer droughts and winter blue northers.

Edit: Sorry, Turffalo source may be TKO'd. Look at 'Prestige' or 'Sundancer' - from U. of Nebraska, if sources are accurate.

[William Chain]

Nutsedge.

It is difficult, but you can selectively kill that without damaging the grass. I'm using a product called tenacity. It is most certainly not cheap, but it works beautifully. In one more season with this stuff, I'll have the place looking like a golf course.


Does this topic depress you as much as me? Spray, compost, crouch-and-pick. The more time I spend on it, the more they thrive.

I have this ONE light green, tall grass that I just can't get rid of. I tried picking them out manually, repeatedly, but they grow back. Does anyone know what this is and how I may eradicate it?

I am in Central New Jersey and use a typical Mid-Atlantic seed mix: KBG + rye + fescue.

I realize there's crabgrass and other weeds in there, but these have been easier to get under control than that bright green stuff. It starts coming up mid July, and augments through August.

[Tom M King]

Thanks William. That's a new one for me. I ordered some. I see it goes on with an incredibly small dilution. What do you apply it with?

[Tom M King]

You might want to try the mower first. As mentioned above, my dealer said the rear discharge mower deck tended to clog more. I think he said it was worse with tall and wet grass.

I usually cut in a counter-clockwise path that throws the grass clippings away from the uncut grass.

I thought about the 72" deck but it wouldn't work for me. I plant and build things with the mowing in mind, leaving at least 6.5-7' clearance for the 60" deck plus side discharge chute.

JKJ

I wish I could try them. The dealers for the ones I'm considering don't even keep the 6 footers in stock, so would be a special order anyway. Someone sent me this link, and I think this will do what I need to anyway.https://www.advancedchutesystem.com/ I'm used to a side discharge, but think this would solve a couple of problem spots where we don't like to keep throwing the grass in one direction.

Our yard doesn't need much cutting. It's mostly moss. Everywhere that would need this mower if pretty open, but I'm just trying to cut down on the mowing time. We keep up several historic museum house properties, and they're pretty open, but too much trouble to load up the tractor and 7' rotary cutter, and I don't let any of my helpers drive that rig anyway. I had a guy that could take a regular riding mower, with 48" deck that I provided, but he's having health problems, and I've ended up doing more than I wanted to myself lately.

A 72" zero turn would cut what is an all day job into a half day for the properties, and be used about half the time here.

I had left on my list the Ferris 3200, or Scag Cheetah, either with the 37hp EFI gas burner engines.

[William Chain]

Just a hand carried sprayer. Next season I’m going with a 30 gallon tank and sprayer I will tow behind the mower.

[Tom M King]

I don't know how much you want to cover, but that boom welded on the back of my 7' rotary cutter (post 17 in this thread) is a replacement boom for an "ATV sprayer" that covers a 30 foot swath. The tow behind mower sprayers typically cover 80". The two pumps are so I can flip switches on the tractor dash, and either spot spray, or cover the 30 foot swath. I'm planning to put better quality tips on that boom for next year. I don't know if they put wheels on any of those ATV rigs.

[Brian Elfert]

I've been looking at getting a 72" zero turn mower lately, and had settled on wanting the Ferris because of the nice suspension system. Some of the stuff that would be cut with it gets fairly long, so we don't have to cut it so often. For cutting longer grass, I was thinking that a rear discharge would be better, since it doesn't throw grass out to one side to be cut over again. Ferris has a 72" rear discharge deck that is only available in Europe. Here, their only 72" deck is a side discharge, which seems a bit odd to me.

I don't really want mulching, since most of what will be cut with that mower will be cut as fast as possible, and some of it not cut so often, as one would a lawn.

The issue with rear discharge is the grass gets everywhere under the mower. Mine has a radiator since it is diesel and the radiator was plugged with grass when I got it and overheating. I cleaned up the radiator and keep it clean and no more overheating, but it is a constant battle to clear the grass out of everything.

My 60" mulcher also is diesel and it will cut just about anything.

[Bill Dufour]

I notice that home lawns do not have clover in them anymore. Only school lawns seem to have clover in them these days. Do they even sell lawn seed mix with clover in it. I would like to get some lawn daisies but I can not find the seed locally.
Bil lD.

[Jim Becker]

Bill, I would think you could get clover seed easily from a farm supply like Agway or something locally equivalent. Note there are different types of clover and ideally, you'd select a variety or two that are honeybee and other pollinator friendly.

[Bill Dufour]

I see they are now pushing a new improved Lippia grass for the western states.
Bill D.

[Jeff Ramsey]

It's yellow nutsedge and prosedge will get rid of it (at least control it). Nutsedge is rhizomatous and stubborn, so pulling blade clumps is futile. I personally would never use glyphosate (aka RoundUp) on anything. So you can either control it with something like prosedge, or make peace with it accepting the fact that it does spread aggressively.

[William Chain]

That's a much bigger cutter and setup than my operation. I just have a 52in deck on a John Deere, and I'll eventually tow the tank behind that. But if hand spraying works (yeh it takes a while, but whatever, I'm outside) I might just keep up with that. This product is so potent that it doesn't take much.



I don't know how much you want to cover, but that boom welded on the back of my 7' rotary cutter (post 17 in this thread) is a replacement boom for an "ATV sprayer" that covers a 30 foot swath. The tow behind mower sprayers typically cover 80". The two pumps are so I can flip switches on the tractor dash, and either spot spray, or cover the 30 foot swath. I'm planning to put better quality tips on that boom for next year. I don't know if they put wheels on any of those ATV rigs.

[Prashun Patel]

I used SedgeEnder. It appears to have worked quickly and effectively. I am surprised, since we are at the end of the season, and it's supposed to be used shortly after emergence in the early summer.

I also have an infestation of Spotted Spurge. I am just hand picking this a bit every day.

[Tom M King]

That's a much bigger cutter and setup than my operation. I just have a 52in deck on a John Deere, and I'll eventually tow the tank behind that. But if hand spraying works (yeh it takes a while, but whatever, I'm outside) I might just keep up with that. This product is so potent that it doesn't take much.

I knew you didn't need the 40 gallon tank, but the ATV rig comes with a small tank normally. I just bought the replacement boom, since it will cover a 30 foot swath, but still doesn't stick out past the sides of that 7' rotary cutter. I was just suggesting to look at the ATV sprayers if you wanted to cover a wider area than the typical 80 inches. I don't know if they are offered with wheels, or just come to fit on the back of four wheelers.

[Glenn Norton]

I know how to fix it. Get a herd of goats, they eat everything and don't use gas. They emit it.

Gotta have a smart ass

[Bill Dufour]

I have heard that given a choice goats will eat poison oak before anything else. it has a nice tangy taste to them. the little ones like the milk from Mom. But people who drink the milk get sick sick sick. Not sure about eating the meat.
Bill D.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

After spending a year getting the area around the house to sprout anything, I am just happy that it is green. I can't see weed and feed and then constantly mowing it because it suddenly goes through a growth spurt. We live pretty far back off the beaten path and get no drive by folks. So I really don't care whether the dogs play on grass or dandelions and plantains. The grass seed I put down came up and was at first very spotty, but it is slowly filling in and choking out some of the weeds.

[Prashun Patel]

A month+ later, my lawn has improved considerably. Thank you for all your help, Guys. Am grateful to have access to so much experience in a variety of fields here.

Sedge Ender worked very well. It killed only the sedge, and left the surrounding turf unaffected. Within 1 week, the plants began to die. I roughed up the soil in between, reseeded, and then picked out the dead plants over the course of the next few weeks. No new sedge has emerged (yet!)

I also started cutting the lawn at 4". Like my teenager's hair, it's shaggy but looks healthy.

I also realized that there is no substitution for persistence and old fashioned mechanical weeding. That has kept most of the leafy weeds at bay - except one...

My new nemeses is spotted spurge. I have months to prepare for Battle Royale 2020...

I also have some bright green areas that I think are poa (2nd pic); I believe these areas just get too much water.

[Art Mann]

The advisability of cutting grass longer as a weed control mechanism depends on the grass species and variety. For example, If you had Tifton 328 (Tifgreen) Bermuda, the best way to suppress weeds is to cut the grass very close to the ground. As the name implies, this cultivar is used on golf greens in Southern climates and naturally grows quite short. Taller grasses can't tolerate the near scalping and will not thrive.


The best thing I ever did for "weed control" in our lawn was to start cutting it much higher...3.5"-4". I've never used chemicals. Yes, there are still some "weeds" but new ones struggle to get a foothold because the taller, thriving grass blocks the sunlight and makes germination conditions less than ideal for "weeds". Most "weeds" thrive in poor soil where there is plenty of light available to them.

To get things stable as a baseline, you could indeed do a "wipe and replace", but you could also do things like core aeration followed by over seeding of a good grass seed (not inexpensive seed) that is suitable for your lawn's light conditions. As the new grass grows in and establishes a strong root system, it should spread and fill in between the aeration points. Using corn gluten meal very early in the subsequent season should help keep germination of new "weeds" (which are generally annuals) down to a minimum.

[Jim Becker]

That's really looking good, Prashun. It looks healthy and lush As I mentioned earlier, I actually like the longer length in general and it's been helpful with the weed thing, too.