Any decent way to nix out quackgrass?

[Eigenvector]

My front yard is infested with this stuff, used to think it was all other kinds of noxious weed, but finally pulled some of it, did the identification via examining the stems and leafs, and zeroed it to quackgrass.

Am I just basically screwed and resigned to pulling it out with my hands? This stuff is super highly aggressive - and it looks uglier than hell to boot! I might mention, I don't want to destroy my lawn in the process of eliminating it. If said task isn't going to be possible, that too is fine as it narrows down my options.

[Kay Lancaster]

There used to be a thing called a "quack machine" for trying to get quackgrass out of fields. My agrostology prof grew up running one -- over, and over, and over again. And it's absolutely pestilential when you get it in your gardens. Lots of nice stolons, lots of photosynthetic reserve packed away.

My two weapons of choice on the homeowner scale are wiped applications of glyphosate or solarizing.

Either way, you're probably in for several repeats before you're out of quackgrass.

Kay

[raycruzer]

Your favorite twisting weeder hand tool may reduce the labor involved in removing quackgrass. The twisting action works better than most other tools for removing grasses of this type, including crabgrass and bermudagrass.

Best of luck!

_____________________________ At peace with weeds!

[Eigenvector]

I can give that a try, anything is better than pulling, snapping the root off - then watching the root spawn 100 more.

[Ann]

"Eigenvector" expounded:

I always use a fork and get beneath the main plant (if I can find it, otherwise any end will do) and gently pull it. If you get a good grip on the stolons you can get quite a few of them at once. Tedious but worth it to get every last bit. Each year there are fewer and fewer sprouts.

[Kay Lancaster]

That sort of thing usually fragments the stolons so you wind up with

8 million new little independent quackgrass plants instead of one big one

Crabgrass is a cinch to control.

Kay

[raycruzer]

A weed twister, like the Ergonica product, grabs a big chunck of roots, stolons and stems, and quickly lifts up these chuncks for easy disposal. I've used it on many different types of grasses and it works very well. Many others have claimed its effectiveness, as well. Whatever stolons or roots that may be fragmented can also be easily combed out of the soil with this tool.

Other tools may also help like forks or shovels, as suggested here

"Your best choice for long term removal of grass: Weeding by hand: while the soil is still nice and moist (i.e. early spring) turn over a shovel-full of soil, break it up, and pull out all the quack roots. Repeat. Try to find the Zen of it. This can be very time consuming. Try to do a small area each time you work in your plot."

Either way, pick your weapon and get to work, before the job gets even bigger!

___________________________ At peace with weeds!

[Andrew Ostrander]

If you've got time, then water, fertillizer, and frequent use of the lawnmower will take care of it for you. Quack grass is not competitive in a well cared for lawn (but it is competitive along the fences and edges and everywhere that doesn't get mowed every time).

Time = years and years. :(

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