In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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March 19, 2008

Nut grass sneaks into garden

Q: Along with my free strawberry plants came blades of grass that didn’t bother me at the time. They turned out to be nut grass, and although many years have gone by, and try as I may digging with a shovel, I can't get the nuts with the roots. I’ve dug out lots of them but they multiply anyway. Is there hope of killing the nuts too? I have tried round up spray on the blades, but still they thrive. I am looking forward to another gardening season and would like to have dirt and no nut grass covering everything.
Gerry Sanders, Sacramento

A: At first you think it’s an innocent looking slim, blade of grass, or perhaps a choice, little-known bulb naturalizing itself in the rose bed. So you watch and wait. And more and more and more of the slim blades appear. And more, and more, and more. No gorgeous blossoms. So finally you pull one out. It snaps as you pull, letting you know part of the plant has broken off underground.
It’s nut grass, and it is the bane of gardeners everywhere. Herbicides don’t touch it, varmints don’t eat it, and the more you try to pull it out, the more it grows.

Mention nut sedge, or nut grass in front of a gardener, and their whole demeanor changes, they turn red in the face, talk about herbicides. It’s enough to drive a gardener crazy!

Like Bermuda grass, oxalis and vinca, it’s a thug that takes work to eradicate.
There are two types of nut sedge. The most common one has yellow flowers (Cyperus esculentus), though there is another with purple flowers (Cyperus rotundus).

Gardeners with experience with this pesky weed tell me the only way to get rid of it is to use a chemical control. Use Sedgehammer or Manage on the yellow nutgrass, and Image on the purple. Wait a few weeks and spray again. And again. Diligence is the operative word. Let any nutgrass live, and it will come back to haunt your garden again.

Be sure to follow label directions when using herbidices.

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