[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[Chris Trask]

     I have found that mechanical removal (diging up the roots) is the only effective method for removing nut grass.  It spreads by seed, rhizomes, and stolons, and the root nodes can be as much as a foot below the surface, which tends to make herbicides ineffective.  

     Your first landscaper is suggesting the extreme method of removal, but he's on the right track.  You can do it a bit more easily by digging out the root nodes where you find the largest concentrations, then digging out the smaller ones as they emerge.  The initial effort is quite a bit of labour, but the subsequent effort gets easier as the infestation diminishes.  You have to be diligent with the removal of the later growth as it will replenish the storage of sugars and starches in the roots quickly and then continue to spread by rhizomes as it gains strength.


-----Original Message-----
>From: garciau1 at cox.net
>Sent: Oct 10, 2006 5:19 PM
>To: arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu
>Subject: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page
>
>Uvaldo Garcia
>85028
>garciau1 at cox.net
>
>My front yard has been taken up by nut grass.  I have one landscaper telling me I have to pull up all the lawn and a good ten to twelve inches of top soil to be rid of it.  I have another landscaper telling me I have to have someone fumigate to kill everything in the lawn.  What would be the cheapest and most efficient way to be rid of nut grass.
>
>Thanking you in advance
>
>Uvaldo Garcia
>
>
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Chris Trask
Outings Leader, Sierra Club (1981-1991)
Palo Verde Group Outings Chair, Sierra Club (1985-1988)
Grand Canyon Chapter Outings Chair, Sierra Club (1988-1991)
Member, Arizona Native Plant Society
Member, Arizona Governor's Advisory Council on Invasive Species
Member, Central Arizona Weed Management Area