If you’ve got a soggy area in your yard, you might see nutsedges, a perennial weed that thrives in waterlogged soil and can indicate leaking irrigation. Sometimes called nutgrass, they are true sedges with stiff, thick leaves and not grasses, and grow faster than turfgrass species, are lighter in color, and grow upright, causing nonuniform turf. It’s tough to control once established; removing tubers is the key.
To limit tuber production, remove small nutsedge plants before they have 5 to 6 leaves; in summer this is about every 2 to 3 weeks. Up to this stage, the plant hasn’t formed new tubers yet. Removing as much of the plant as possible will force the tuber to use a new bud to sprout, drawing its energy reserves from tuber production to the production of new leaves.
Continually removing shoots eventually depletes the energy reserves in the tuber, because the nutsedge will have to use 60% of its reserves to develop the first plant and 20% for the second. However, mature tubers can resprout more than 3 times. Even though these newer sprouts start out weaker than the previous ones, plants can develop from them and produce new tubers unless you subsequently remove the new sprouts as well.
The best way to remove small plants is to pull them up by hand or to hand hoe out the new tubers and the basal bulb. If you hoe, be sure to dig down at least 8 to 14 inches to remove the entire plant. Don’t use a tiller to destroy mature plants – it will spread the infestation.
If you find nutsedge in small patches in your turf, dig out the patch down to at least 8 inches deep, refill, and then seed or sod the patch. Be sure to monitor the area through the spring and summer and remove any new nutsedge plants that emerge.
Click here to learn more about nutsedges.