Other than Agent Orange...

[lesa]

Is there anyway to get rid of this

It is really starting to encroach on my wildflower field:

I have tried pulling it, cutting it down, and covering it with carpet-all to no avail.

 

[digitS']

I feel for you, Lesa!

I was out in my smaller veggie garden today, weeding the paths. Practically every weed imaginable finds that garden! Two of the worse are quack grass and lawn grass. I have eliminated quack grass from everywhere but along the border with the neighbor. It just keep creeping in there . . .

The lawn grass (KBG) must be my own fault. All I can figure is that I track the seed into the garden. It would carpet the paths nearest the lawn in a single season. Then, I'm sure, it would take over the remainder of the garden paths in another year. That might be fine if it could be trusted to stay in the paths but I know that that grass has other ideas.

My preferred technique for weeding the paths, and it is particularly appropriate for the grass, is to show up about 24 hours after I've run the sprinklers. I go over the path first with a spading fork and next with the 4-prong cultivator. I use that worn-out, short-in-the-tooth cultivator from the picture I showed you a few weeks ago . The idea is that I'm not really doing any digging with it - the spading fork did that. The cultivator just "flicks" the weed out of the ground. (Then maybe I have to "bash" it a couple of times to knock the soil off the roots .)

BTW - if the soil is good and damp, I don't really have to step on the spading fork at all. A couple inches is all the depth I'm trying for.

This approach might work for you . . .

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

That looks like it might be Johnsongrass. If it is, I feel sorry for you. I don't know if any good control. Even chemicals have a problem with it. I think
you can kill it back with chemicals, but it will come back from the rhizomes.

I spreads by rhizomes and seeds. Try real hard to not let it go to seed. Maybe if you can keep it from seeding and keep it mowed for a long time, like a few years, you can get rid of it, but I'm not sure. That stuff is tough. I've got it and I can't control it.

 

[seedcorn]

Great article out of University of Missouri. Johnson grass is another pest brought in by people who did not do their homework, thus giving us a super hardy weed.

I feel you are going to have to kill everything & start over.

http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=g4872

Didn't know Johnson grass could live that far north. Here in Indiana, it has a hard time surviving north of Bloomington, IN. There it is a HUGE problem, killing entire corn fields if not dealt with.

 

[lesa]

I thought it was a kind of pampas grass? I had heard it was brought to this country by cattle from Spain??

 

[4grandbabies]

I am battling it also. amd I think it is Johnson grass..I pull it by the roots in small areas if I see it before it gets too big.
It is a battle, and I agree, dont know if it can be done without chemicals, but I am not using chemicals. I run a long knife blade down in under it and try to cut off what I cant pull.
Hate the stuff!!

 

[seedcorn]

I am battling it also. amd I think it is Johnson grass..I pull it by the roots in small areas if I see it before it gets too big.
It is a battle, and I agree, dont know if it can be done without chemicals, but I am not using chemicals. I run a long knife blade down in under it and try to cut off what I cant pull.
Hate the stuff!!

Without chemicals, you will not stop it. If you are doing a small spot, you may control it but it will not be stopped until you kill all roots.

 

[journey11]

Pen a couple hogs over it?

Your wildflowers are so pretty! I'm so glad you can post pics now, Lesa.

 

[shadetech]

Makes me glad all I have is bamboo

Fastest growing grass in the world. It's only 30 foot tall, but makes great tomato stakes.

henry

 

[Ridgerunner]

You do need to make a positive ID before you determine your next action. What do the rhizomes look like? Do the seed heads look like this?

I wish I could be more positive about this one. My bermuda grass is more of a pain in the garden, but in the grassy areas like around my trees and berries, Johnson grass is a pain.