It seems to me that the nut grass sprout is very narrow, more narrow than rain lilies, is also very shiny and has a very definite rib. Rain lily is more fleshy and has a more mat finish on its leaf and does not have a rib. Not sure about spiderwort. All I have is the wild spiderwort and it's sprout is wider and thinner and there are more of them.

One other way is that if you pull it out and it came up easily it was not a weed. That's a joke I picked up from the conversations forum :-)

Haha. Exactly.

Howard Garrett had some information in a recent newsletter about how to get rid of the nutgrass. He cited some studies done on applying dried molasses (or a molasses drench) to areas where nutgrass grows. It causes the "nut" beneath the soil to stop multiplying and die. Eventually the plant dies. I have been using an organic fertilizer for the past couple years that has dried molasses. I have noticed that the patches of nutgrass in my backyard have diminished dramatically over this time. I think I have pulled three or four from my backyard where there used to be dozens of them. Here is a link to his website where you can do a search for this information for more details. Finally - an organic way to eradicate that ugly nutgrass!

Here is a link that might be useful: Dirt Doctor - Howard Garrett

Seems to me that nut grass has quite a few leaves on each stem and the rain lilies each have a seperate stem, and are thicker. I kill nut grass, with purple cap roundup, just need to spray a few of the weeds. They are all connected thru the nodes, underneath the ground. I try not to spray anything close to my plants, just the ones on the outside. In 7 days, all the nut grass is dead, and my plants are not effected. Barbra

Seems to me that nut grass has quite a few leaves on each stem and the rain lilies each have a seperate stem, and are thicker. I kill nut grass, with purple cap roundup, just need to spray a few of the weeds. They are all connected thru the nodes, underneath the ground. I try not to spray anything close to my plants, just the ones on the outside. In 7 days, all the nut grass is dead, and my plants are not effected. Barbra

Denise, have you had more problems with fire ants or other ants with the molasses fertilizer? We tried it a couple of years ago and it was drawing ants like crazy.

Fire ants are one of the few things I'm really okay with using chemicals on, but I hate to encourage them and then have to use more chemicals than I would have otherwise.

agricultural molasses is a component in organic fire ant control. I'll link you patriotizm. The recipe is down toward the bottom if you are interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: Beneficials in the Garden...aggie horticulture

I think the nutgrass is very distinct from spiderwort and rain lilies in color, texture and leaf shape. Nutgrass is very bright green, shiney and stiff. Spiderwort is a bluegreen leaf, softer texture and normally will grow to be about 18" tall. Nutgrass tops out at about 8". Rain lilies have a smaller, curlier leaf that sprouts in a whorl and then sends up the delicate flower stalk about the size of a pencil lead. Nut grass has no stalk, and spiderworts have thick, fleshy stalks of the same blue-green color. Also, rain lilies will bloom within a day or so of sprouting, nutgrass just sends up new grass shoots.

I'm glad I caught this thread, I've had nutgrass multiplying in my rose beds now for about two years and it's driving me crazy trying to keep it pulled out. I'm going to try the molasses on it.

Patriotizm, try mixing a 1 TBSP of liquid molasses with 1/4 C. orange oil, three drops of dishwashing liquid in a gallon of water. Pour that on your fire ants and then sit back and watch them suffer. They are attracted to the molasses and the orange oil will kill them. For a very large mound I will use 2-3 gallons. If you're wondering how orange oil works, try putting a drop on the back of your hand and count to 50. Smells wonderful as it burns the hide off!

I recently heard that pouring club soda on the mound would kill them too. I haven't tried it yet, but a good friend said that's what he does and it's even less damaging than orange oil to the environment. We'll see.

Hi Patriotizm,

I've been raising Rain Lilies for several years and live in Temple. Where are you and how many bulbs do you have? I was surprised to see mine blooming this late in the year. So, I'm collecting seeds now.

First, you need a place to raise them. I've used wooden ammo boxes that are filled with good potting soil because I had too many seeds to put in a pot.

Next Spring, collect your seeds before the seed head pops open and scatter. You'll notice it turning dark - which means the seeds are ripe (black). I gather mine and put them in a bowl for a couple weeks till they are thoroughly dry.

Then, scatter them onto the top of the soil. After all, in nature, they lay on top where they fall. Then I scratch them in and water. In a couple+ weeks or so, you'll see some THIN green threads standing straight up. They become drought tolerant very quickly. But, I do try to keep that soil somewhat moist.

E-me and I'll show you some pics of my rain lilies in various stages of maturity. By now, I must have a couple thousand white ones. If you've got pink, we should trade seeds/bulbs.

Xtal

Hi, Xtal...I wish I had as many as you do! I just have two or three plain white ones I dug out of the yard and put in a flowerbed. But with the recent rain there are thousands in the medians close to our neighborhood.

I got the seeds from mine last week, like you said...only because the seed heads were dry and splitting already, I went ahead and scattered them. I wish I had thought to walk down to the medians and gather seeds from those. Next time.

Pkponder and Seamommy, it sure sounds like you're saying the molasses is used to attract fireants--which is the problem my husband and I ran into, as I mentioned. We have our little city lot and then six acres in the hill country. The super-organic fertilizer that contained molasses was just making more work for us. =( Last year we switched to a more mainline but still organic one without molasses and haven't noticed more fireants than normal.

Nut sedge has a triangular shaped leaf (info compliments of Neil Sperry). You can feel it when you know what to expect. I've had it in my monkey grass, and have been trying to keep it pulled out.

bkay

Once it starts getting cold, spiderwort takes on a lovely purple hue - I remember standing in Sylvia's garden last year and marveling at its foliage.

I will say that nutgrass will grow as tall as it takes to get into the sun - in my hellstrip I have Chi Chi ruellia, which is about 14-18 inches, and just this morning I pulled up 6 - 8 nutsedges whose leaves were a good 4" taller than the ruellia.

Now don't get me started on rain lilies - I love 'em! I probably have a dozen or more varieties, but my two favories are zephyranthes candida (the white-blooming evergreen one) and sunset strain (orangey-pink that comes true from seed).

Here is a link that might be useful: Zephyranthes Rain Lilies (p 3)

Bkay, that was exactly what I needed. Thanks. And barkingdogwoods, the purple hue thing is very good to know. But I am enamored by that page you linked to! I had no idea there were so many different kinds of rain lilies. I had just been hoping to get a good-sized stand of the plain white ones.

Last night I went out and pulled up everything that looked like it could be nutgrass. Turned out that everything I pulled was exactly the same, so I'm going to assume I avoided the good stuff. =)

I appreciate all the help! =)