Young crabgrass setting in asparagus patch

12 years ago

I have three rows about 25' long of asparagus. Inbetween the rows I have weeb fabric and playground mulch to keep the weeds down. Well the crabgrass is growing thick everywhere. Im working out of town during the week now and only have weekends to weed. What can I do to keep my head above water? I was thinking round up since it is a root. Or I could just let it grow and worry about it next year. Im not an organic type of guy. So if you know of a chemical to treat please help.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

User
12 years ago
Roundup will kill your asparagus.

Crabgrass is an annual. It will die off with the frost in the fall. Next spring, you can apply a pre-emergent to keep seeds from germinating in your beds. There is a version of Preen for vegetable gardens.
0
denninmi
12 years ago
How mature is the asparagus? If its more than a year or two old, you should be able to mulch relatively thickly around/between/under it and drown out the crabgrass without harming the asparagus. I'd suggest a roughly 4 inch deep layer of either clean straw. This is what I do with mine, and it seems to really help the asparagus grow as well. As it rots, it enriches the soil.

An alternative would be the selective herbicide "Ortho Grass-B-Gon Garden Grass Killer" -- I have found this very effective in killing weedy grasses, and is safe to overspray on most plants. However, just to let you know, I have NOT tried this on asparagus. It doesn't harm other members of the lily/asparagus family (families? -- the botanists are ALWAYS changing things around, just to confuse us I think!) that I have used it on/around, including Asiatic lilies, hostas, solomon's seal, and many spring bulbs like fritilarias, hyacinths, etc. Technically not labeled for use on vegetables, but ... you can make up your own mind about that issue.

Preen would be a good idea next year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ortho Grass-B-Gone Garden Grass Killer
0
Related Discussions
Some questions about asparagus
Q
Comments (17)
Thanks Itilton. Now its making a lot of sense to me. So it looks like I actualy have 2 different patches of asparagus growing! I thouth the other patch was just females, but I guess it was just never harvested and grew to fern? Roughly how many should I let just grow and fern out if I want to keep coming back every year to harvest asparagus? I just been cutting what I thought was males down and leaving the ferns. I know it seems odd, but to help give you guys an idea. I just bought this 12 acre lot about 6 months ago. So I had no idea asparagus was evening growing here. Just noticed them this spring. Now that I understand asparagus a little more I can mark off the areas I see them. Again, thanks a bunch for the information!
...See More
Is this Crabgrass and do I need to get rid of it?
Q
Comments (21)
Well, I spent all last night pulling it up anyway. That part of the yard is shaded, but it faces south. The tree is on the south end and has shade over it, but in early morning it gets a fair amount of morning sun and in late afternoon gets some afternoon sun. Not a lot, but some. The weed was growing on the eastern most edge of this lawn, where it gets the most sun. Either way, it's gone now. For now. The house faces south. This is the front lawn I'm describing, broken apart by a concrete path. To the west of the path is a huge tree in the middle of the area (don't ask me what kind...). Further west on the lot is a larg side lot filled with mature trees forming a full canopy (partly due to lack of maintenance) so TONS of shade. It also borders the house so doesn't get much morning sun. At the moment it's still weeds, but if the front takes, we'll start planting shadow turf there too. To the east of the path is a similar sized section that has only a smallish crepe myrtle and very little shade. It's a corner lot, so it gets full morning and afternoon sun and a fair amount of setting sun. That's where the Bermuda is - at least some of it. And also a TON of weeds. Not the crabgrass like stuff, more like clover leaf (but not that). The plan to till was to get rid of all that. I spent a good 7 hours last weekend pulling up weeds from one small stretch and my hands and back are killing me. How would you recommend we remove what is basically a carpet of weeds? There is some bermuda mixed in, but for most of the area, it's 90% weeds. I'm sore :( Here's a picture of the soon to be bermuda lawn that's full of weeds, looking north from the street: http://cheriseandfredo.blogspot.com/2007/09/and-after.html There's lots of overgrowth of bushes and whatnot that need trimming too. Do you have a recommendation for a tree trimmer that won't want to go in and tear out all our trees? We REALLY like the shade (have a/c but don't use it often). We like the park-like look, but it's bordering on overgrown forest.... Here's a fairly good picture of our side yard http://cheriseandfredo.blogspot.com/2006/02/autumn-in-texas.html We're in Lavaca. Not too close to the River, but we can walk to it! Oh, about the shadow turf, so it'll pop up elsewhere, not just expanding from the main plugs? I have a few sprouts that look like it, but they're kind of isolated and I'm not sure if that's really MY grass or some weed invading...It is expanding. Slowly, but I think I can see it. It's good to know it took a little while before really hitting its stride. I was worried I'd overwatered it. I am about to go buy some more plugs I think.
...See More
I hate Crabgrass!
Q
Comments (14)
How did you identify crabgrass? I googled images of it and IÃ¢ÂÂm pretty sure that is the weedy grass I do have to try to keep out of my beds. WeÃ¢ÂÂve cut our grass tall too, and whether that keeps the crabgrass down or not IÃ¢ÂÂm not sure. We water the shrubs and perennials but I rarely water the lawn during a dry summer. IÃ¢ÂÂm watering it today for the 1st time all season, because IÃ¢ÂÂm seeing actual drooping shrubs, so I know itÃ¢ÂÂs really dry out there. The lawn is in part shade, which helps, and it is somewhat brown with some green color to it still. We also have clover, violas, dandelions that I donÃ¢ÂÂt try to weed out. And we donÃ¢ÂÂt use chemicals. Corn Gluten sounds like it could help, but if you have to apply it annually, I guess IÃ¢ÂÂm not seeing the advantage. I would have thought that using it one season, would allow some of the other grasses you want more of to spread out and fill in? One long mixedl border is separated from the lawn by the vegetable garden that is mulch around raised beds, so for most of it I donÃ¢ÂÂt have to keep any grasses out of the bed, but one area near the entry there is still a small patch of grass that is actually about 80% crabgrass that is ugly and does manage to creep into that bed. So IÃ¢ÂÂm planning on getting rid of that patch all together. Then at least, I wonÃ¢ÂÂt have any grass near the length of a long mixed border. Every once in awhile I think about paying more attention to the lawn, but then spring comes along and the lawn looks great and I think something else needs my attention more. I canÃ¢ÂÂt help but think about Bill, who I believe no longer has lawn? (g)
...See More
Asparagus
Q
Comments (14)
Chandra if your crowns have only been in the ground for a year, I would quit soon and give them time to build up more reserves whatever the size of the spears. Jay, in a rainy summer--like last August--we will have new spears erupt and I often pick enough for a batch of fresh asparagus at that time. Several years ago someone got the idea of cutting asparagus down completely in August in order to sell fresh asparagus in Sept. I asked a representative that came to town from the Ok Ag dept about it as I had heard they were trialing the techneque. He said that it might work if one had enough acreage to only cut each area once every 4-5 years, but they had been cutting the same patch for several years that way and figured in another year or two the patch would be dead.
...See More
tdscpa
12 years ago
"Or I could just let it grow and worry about it next year."

I can not recommend that procedure. I tried that last year!

I had such a problem getting everything planted (two feet of rain between thaw and normal planting time), that, by the time I got around to dealing with weeds, it was too hot for me to expend the energy to clean everything up. (I have a heart condition, pacemaker, and can not do much "heavy lifting", or even steady work without very frequent rests, and working very hard in 100F temperatures is not possible.)

It was just so hopeless out there with crabgrass in my asparagus (the neighbor on that side of my garden uses crabgrass as the variety of choice for his lawn), I let it go.

I have just been greeted with the results of that: crabgrass sprouting everywhere! I had a drier spring this year, and had almost everything planted on time, and have had cool enough weather that I have the crabgrass and other weeds under control. I used the hoeing and pulling method, but I will use some pre-emergent in the future.

If it gets too hot and I keep having more crabgrass sprout before I find the pre-emergent, I will use "roundup". I will use a cheap paintbrush and paint the seedlings with it.

I am not afraid of roundup. I was able to defeat it in my bluegrass lawn by painting some encroaching sprigs of it with a small artist brush using a "roundup" substitute, and the space I garden in now, was the backyard of a neighboring house that had a Bermuda grass lawn that I sprayed several times over about a two month period the year I bought it (and a few sprigs sometimes for the next several years.

I have not had any appear for quite a while now, and never killed any desirable plants or lawn grass with it.
0
User
12 years ago
I don't know that Grass-B-Gone will work on the crabgrass. It's pretty specific.
0
candogal
12 years ago
I've been beating back crabgrass in some areas. Here's what I've done. I've put down as much cardboard as I can get my hands on, and then 4" of mulch. It's year two on this one patch, and so far the nasty buggers haven't come back. Of course, it looked like that last year at this time, too, so maybe I'll get some next spring again. So long as it's the right direction (less crab grass every year), it's OK if this takes a while.

I get my cardboard at a local appliance store. This year, the nasty crabgrass is topped by a triple layer of washer/dryer boxes and then mulch. Beat that, suckers!

It's pretty fast to lay down, and I think it works better than landscape fabric. Crabgrass jus laughs at landscape fabric in my yard. Good luck!
0
jolj
12 years ago
DO NOT let it go to seed.
Mulch the bed with leaves or straw, old bed sheets, anything that will make the grass rot.
Here is a link on how to care for & extend your harvest of
Asparagus.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clemson
0

Young crabgrass setting in asparagus patch

Comments (6)

User

denninmi

Related Discussions

tdscpa

User

candogal

jolj

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US