Print This Page
The best control for nutgrass appears to be molasses, believe it or not. Drench problem spots with liquid horticultural molasses at ¼ to ½ cup per gallon of water. Start with about a gallon of drench per 9 - 10 sq. ft. This simple technique fires up the microbes in the soil and the nutgrass simply fades away. It takes a while to work and requires at least 2 - 3 applications. As opposed to toxic chemicals, it makes the soil heathlier with every application.
You can spot spray with the Avenger product to speed up the process if turf and other good plants can be avoided. Physically removing the damaged weeds obviously also speeds up the process.
Read more on nutgrass.
Before and After
And finally here’s an interesting report on using this technique.
You suggested that we use molasses to stop nutgrass. We tried it and it did not kill the nut grass. Thought I had made a mistake until I dug it up and low and behold -- NO NUTS in the nutgrass. The molasses stopped the development of the nodes that stay in the ground when you pull up the plants. It worked! Just thought I would pass that discovery on! M.A., Rowlett
Thanks very much for the report. That explains why it takes more than one application of the molasses to kill the tops.
To discuss this newsletter or any other topic, tune in each Sunday 8am - 11am central time to the Dirt Doctor Radio Show.The call-in phone number is 1-866-444-3478. Listen on the internet or click here to find a station in your area.
Please share this newsletter with everyone in your address book and all your friends on Facebook and Twitter to help me spread the word on organics.
Nutgrass Control with Molasses
Liquid Molasses Controls Nutgrass
The best control for nutgrass appears to be molasses, believe it or not. Drench problem spots with liquid horticultural molasses at ¼ to ½ cup per gallon of water. Start with about a gallon of drench per 9 - 10 sq. ft. This simple technique fires up the microbes in the soil and the nutgrass simply fades away. It takes a while to work and requires at least 2 - 3 applications. As opposed to toxic chemicals, it makes the soil heathlier with every application.
You can spot spray with the Avenger product to speed up the process if turf and other good plants can be avoided. Physically removing the damaged weeds obviously also speeds up the process.
Read more on nutgrass.
Before and After
You suggested that we use molasses to stop nutgrass. We tried it and it did not kill the nut grass. Thought I had made a mistake until I dug it up and low and behold -- NO NUTS in the nutgrass. The molasses stopped the development of the nodes that stay in the ground when you pull up the plants. It worked! Just thought I would pass that discovery on! M.A., Rowlett
Thanks very much for the report. That explains why it takes more than one application of the molasses to kill the tops.
To discuss this newsletter or any other topic, tune in each Sunday 8am - 11am central time to the Dirt Doctor Radio Show.The call-in phone number is 1-866-444-3478. Listen on the internet or click here to find a station in your area.
Please share this newsletter with everyone in your address book and all your friends on Facebook and Twitter to help me spread the word on organics.
Naturally yours,
Howard Garrett
Search Library Topics Search Newspaper Columns
