How to Kill Nutsedge Grass

Nutsedge grass, also called nut grass, is a thick, dark green grass that can take over your beautifully cultivated lawn. In fact, nutsedge is a real threat to a lawn both because it will overrun your current vegetation and because it is very difficult to kill without killing your own grass. However, you can "hire" a bunch of microbes to do the work for you by giving them dinner "on the lawn."

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sugar Sifter Garden hose

1. Measure your lawn. You will need 4 lbs. of sugar for every 1,000 square feet of grass. If your lawn is 20 feet by 40 feet, then multiply the dimensions together to get the square footage (800 feet). Then divide by 1000 (0.8) and multiply by 4 (3.2). For this example, you will need 3.2 pounds of sugar.

2. Wet the lawn with the garden hose. Spray the lawn lightly with water. You want the soil to be moist but not muddy.

3. Sift the sugar onto the lawn. The microbes in the lawn will eat the sugar and multiply. Next, they will start on weeds and insect pests, including your nutsedge grass. Walk the lawn in straight, even lines to make sure that you cover every inch with a dusting of sugar. Turn the handle on the sifter as you go to distribute the sugar evenly.

4. Spray the lawn again. You still do not want mud, but you want to be sure that the sugar is in the lawn and dissolved. Do not create runoff or you will rinse your sugar off.

5. Do this three times during the growing season. You can do it once when you would normally seed and fertilize, once in the middle of the season and again near the end. By the end of your growing season, your nutsedge grass should be long gone.

References

• AllExperts: Killing Nutsedge