Other Names: Nutgrass, watergrass, chufa

Type: Weed

Appearance: Nutgrass might look like a grass, but it is actually a sedge. The leaves are bright green and have a waxy appearance. The stems are triangular in cross-section, and not round like your grass. Also, it grows faster than grass, so you might notice patches in your lawn that are taller than others. Once it has had the chance to grow freely, it creates feathery, umbrella-like flower clusters.

Risk: It thrives in low spots and high moisture areas that don’t drain properly. Sometimes, it is found in drier sites.

Timing: Plants appear in the late spring to early summer, though tubers may live dormant underground for up to three years.

Outlook: The longer you wait to treat for yellow nutsedge, the harder it will be to get rid of it.

How to Control Yellow Nutsedge

Prevention

A healthy lawn is able to better weed out a weed invasion, like yellow nutsedge. Use these tips to keep your lawn in tip-top, fighting shape:

• Water Well: Your grass needs adequate water to thrive. It prefers long soakings about two to three times weekly instead of daily watering, depending on the rain levels from the week.
• Reseed patchy spots: Grass roots go deep into the ground and take up a lot of space, taking away the valuable real estate weeds need to thrive.
• Aerate Your Soil: Soil compaction keeps air and water from reaching the deeper levels of soil where grass roots grow, so only plants that grow nearer to the surface, like weeds, can thrive.
• Check Your Lawn’s pH Level: If your soil’s pH level isn’t neutral (about 7.0), your grass doesn’t have the right environment to thrive, but weeds might. To balance the pH level, your soil may also need applications of lime.

Treatment

Pull the plants when they are young. While this is a quick fix, it will not remove the underground nutlets, so it is not a cure.

Herbicides can be used to spot-treat for nutsedge. Try to treat in the late spring to early summer to kill them before they begin forming new tubers. As always, refer to manufacturer’s instructions for proper herbicide use.

You can leave the weeds to Shades of Green Lawn & Landscape. We use science-based practices to prevent and treat lawn weeds and offer different lawn care packages so there is an option for everyone’s lawn and budget. Call us today at 765-771-9998 for more information and a free quote.

Need Help with Yellow Nutsedge?

Call Shades of Green Lawn & Landscape today at 765-771-9998 and let's talk about how we can help you with Yellow Nutsedge and other Indiana lawn weeds.

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