Regrettably Nathan, it'll be back. Sure you've smothered/covered it for now but the nuts are still in the ground and they are very patient.

Just curious, why did you let it get to the point it did before you decided to act?

Personally I can spot a 3" high individual sedge plant from 10'. I honestly will stop/drop what I'm doing at that moment and pull the damned thing.

Sedge is a bear to get rid of. I think it's why they invented roundup!

hello Cobalt Blue,
I have no delusions that I killed the nutgrass, but by doing this, I hope it will slow it down a little. In late winter/early spring, I actually went through the garden and dug out all the nuts I could, using a screen. During this time I noticed massive amounts of white starts of grass beggining to grow, no nuts attached (seedlings?). We are talking the thickness of toothpicks, filling the soil. Within a month of doing a spring weeding, the nutgrass was back as if I had done nothing. If I pulled the weeds one day they were right back the next, and pulling weeds next to baby pepper plants is not so good. It all started with 2-truck beds of municipal compost about 5-years ago.

If I'm lucky, I can grow my fruits and veg without poisons, in other spots, I might do some testing with Roundup or Sevin(?).

-Ethan

Hey Ethan,

Yeah sedge goes to seed and can propagate it self that way too. I just hate the stuff.

I had never knowingly seen the stuff until I bought some sod that had sedge in it. The first year I didn't notice it. But by July the next summer it was up and running! Like I said it's a bear to contend with and other than pulling I know of no organic method of getting rid of it.

If I had a big patch like your first picture did I'd use roundup on it. I know this is a organic forum and I respect that, but as I've said I know of no organic means of controlling sedge.

I did want to point out Nathan, that your garden looks good! Enjoy those veggies.

Rick

You can slow it down by your method I did the same thing as you years ago and it works fairly well for a period of time but it does find a way to come back. I will also say that roundup only slows it down as well. Over a three year period in an area around a bed the nutsedge still would come back and this is after 6 to 8 spray regimes with roundup. I would personally stick to your program it is safer and works as well as roundup from my experience. Image is the only chemical I am aware of that actually seems to do a real job of controlling it and it aint organic, but it has to be your call.
Good Luck and Happy Growing
P.S. If people would use this for a lawn and not all these silly grasses that takes effort to care for we would all be better off IMHO. I am a lawn grass is a waste of good resources kinda guy. So many better and safer ways to use this space. America's love affair with lawns defy's all LOGIC!!! to me.

Personally I'd rather have nutsedge over bermuda grass any day. Sadly I have both. Keeping the nutsedge under control has been a breeze compared to the bermuda grass.

I used the exact methods you are using. First 2 years of any new bed in my yard requires several repeats of paper and mulch. I am finally to the point of just putting chopped leaves down in the veggie bed and then keeping an open eye out for nutsedge and bermuda. This is the first year in 4 that I've had to do very little weeding in the edible garden area. I'm loving it!

I'm with hitex, I don't understand the American love affair with lawns either. Total waste of space and resources....give me a flower or veggie area over open lawn any day:)

I liked the pics, and anticipated through the progression that you were going to be successful!

Here is a maybe not so stupid question... Why not employ the techniques used for soil solarization? This link states that the top 6 inches of soil can heat up to 125 degrees.

Are the "nuts" buried deeper than 6" and/or can they survive temperatures in excess of 125 degrees?

Just wondering.

thanks to all for the responses,

as far as the lawn goes, I'm converting as much to edible plants as possible, I will leave a small patch of grass for my children (2&4 legged) to play on, other than that, edibles. Why grow ornamentals at all, isn't that a waste of space and water(though beautiful and wonderful smellng)?

Sugarmags, the nuts do go further than 6" and probably can handle 125F. After a nuclear blast, only cocaroaches, nutsedge, and telemarketers will survive.

-Ethan

I have tried solarizing nutsedge and didn't have the nuts die but slows it down quite well but it also kill too many good microbes so this doesn't seem to me to be a great option.
BTW Ethan I am not saying that no one should ever have grass. I am referring to the incredible amount of space the average American give to lawn and then because of that all the money, time, and commonly toxic substances applied maintaining it. There are good things in all life but in moderation is more what I am driving at.
Good Luck and Happy Growing David

Roundup won't kill nut grass; in truth it kills the other grass that keeps the nut grass from getting out of control!

manage herbacide(now named "SedgeHammer" -same stuff) kills nutsedge. It's bad stuff; cannot be used in or around veggies, fruits etc. at all.
Crabgrass killer(Weed-B-Gone) is more commonly used here. I bought some but cannot seem to bring myself to use it ... don't know if it works. It's bad stuff too: also not on or around fruits, veggies or ornamentals. I don't know why I bought it last year - a moment of weakness I guess.
Both are PAN Bad Actors - acutely toxic.

Whatever you do, do *not* pull nut grass. That makes it spread more as the nodules(plural) will repo even more plants - pull one get five. Yikes!

You have to dig it out, carefully, to get the entire root system. I've done that and it is, IMO, very hard to do because of the weak roots.

Cutting it short and starving it of water works good enough here. Solarization seemed to work but it might just be hiding and waiting to pop-up later. It grows thru all mulches I have used, including black plastic.

Has anyone tried a full vinegar spray on it?

Just saw the Sevin comment "?".
Sevin is Carbaryl a poisonous pesticide and a PAN Bad Actor; I would not rec' using it except in dire situation which, IMO, would not normally include a backyard garden.
(RE: http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Product.jsp?DIST_NR=002935&REG_NR=00293500320#Ingredients )

OTOH, neem oil extract is an approved "organic" pesticide, only "Slightly Toxic"(less than table salt ...). It kills and/or deters just as many pests.
It might require just a little more personal time for repeat applications. Of course, I would suggest not using it either unless/until it is really needed.

Neither is used for killing nut grass...