Nutgrass, Catching it Early
As our weather warms up, we start thinking a little more about caring for our yards. We are thrilled when we see green because it can be scarce in our part of the country, but it isn’t always a welcome sight. Nutgrass, also known as nutsedge, is a particularly unwelcome resident. This weed is pervasive in the valley and you need to know what to do to keep it from making an unsightly siege on your beautiful lawn.
Because nutgrass can spread quickly and overtake your yard, even growing into patches 10 feet in diameter, it is imperative to catch it early. Once you identify the weed, you can take steps to fight it. A few tips for preventing and eliminating nutgrass are:
Do not overwater
Nutgrass grows best in wet, poorly drained areas. While it is hard to think that any amount of water is too much for our parched desert foliage, an overabundance of water is the key ingredient for growing nutgrass. Make sure to water your yard an appropriate amount, usually up to about 10 inches in depth.
Aeration is a process wherein plugs of soil are pulled out of the lawn at regular intervals. This helps alleviate the soil compaction that can lead to poor drainage, which is the perfect breeding ground for nutgrass. By giving the yard a little room to breathe, the damp environment required for nutgrass to grow can dry out.
Adjust Mowing Height
Nutgrass quickly grows taller than regular grass. One way to fight this weed is to adjust your mower height to allow for taller grass blades. As the grass flourishes, it will begin to choke out the growth of nutgrass.
Apply Herbicide
Simply getting on your hands and knees and pulling nutgrass out of your lawn is largely ineffective; the roots of this weed grow particularly deep and have small tubers that can be left deep in the soil. These tubers will quickly germinate into yet more nutgrass. Green Keeper has a skilled horticulturist on our team who creates specific formulas to address the weeds that have already emerged as well as weeds in the pre-emergent stage.
Keep your yard beautiful this season by taking measures to eradicate nutgrass. And remember that Green Keeper AZ is your secret weapon for a weed-free summer lawn.
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