I have a neglected area in my yard where a stand of Johnson Grass has invaded. There are a few older iris there which I am not concerned about so I have sprayed the area with Grass Be Gone, not avoiding the iris. I am curious to see what effect the spray has on the iris. I'll post pictures as I see results. I have used this product on lawn grass growing in clumps of Peony and Summer Phlox before successfully with no harm to the plants. Now I'll see with iris.

I'm curious, too. I just bought a Ferti-lome product ,"over the top" grass spray. I mixed according to directions, but instead of spraying "over the top, I just sprayed the grass ( what I call quack grass, but may NOT be, and some invading "lawn" grass, maybe a fescue?). So far it's done NOTHING! In fact, I think the "quack grass looks healthier! If that Grass Getter works, let us know! The stuff I bought was 29 bucks a bottle( makes 8 gallons of spray). For that kinda' money, I should have had Rita grubit out ! ...Arlyn

Arlyn....I think Grass Be Gone, Over The Top , and Post are similar products put out by different companies. How long ago did you spray? My sprayed grass actually looks greener but I'm confidant the GBG will work. I'm lazy and used a pre-mixed pump bottle. If it doesn't show results in a couple of weeks I'll get another bottle and respray. Did the OTT have a petroleum like smell. Keep us informed.

Yes, it smelled "oily". I sprayed Monday( I think) it was rain-free for about 10 hrs. Then I JUST resprayed some of the areas again! I guess we'll find out ! Maybe I'm expecting too fast a return on my money! I did use a "sticker' with it( not dish soap, but a regular "sticker/spraeder"). I hope it works, even if it's slow, it's better than getting on my knees to grub it out( I'd NEVER get Rita to do it! She does only broadleaf weeds, the grass is all mine!)....Arlyn

We use Roundup. It can take about a week or even longer in this cool weather to show the beginning of yellow grass. I'd figure your's will be aobout the same. It works way better in HOT HOT weather but it will work in the cooler weahter, it just takes longer. I will give one bit of advice, be sure to follow directions. It is not something to mix up stronger, stronger is not better, just harder on everythng else. This is one of those things that stuck with me from many years ago while taking a Master Gardener class. They had a sales rep from the chemical company come talk to us about using chems and that one thing was stressed, always mix according to directions.

Good luck with your spray, Mona

I use Round-up also but for different reasons. It is non-selective and will kill most everything. Grass Be Gone is selective and only kills the grasses. I have used it before with success. Hope it works.

Yah -- Mona? -- if you use Roundup around your Irises, be very careful not to accidentally *hit* the Irises. Roundup will kill them. (speaking from experience)

Just the fumes seem to affect them, with deformed blooms and short stalks....Arlyn

DH is usually real careful. The first couple of years he sprayed in the "general area" of my daylilies and I was panicking. I walked around with him with the water hose, just in case he got too close. THen I began to see areas on the daylilies where some of the over spray had landed on the plants, that I didn't catch, and saw such little bad effect on the daylilies, I just leave him to the task now. He's good about letting me know if he gets any directly on the plants, so I can go give them a quick bath.

I've not used any around my Iris. Thanks for the heads up about them. I have some older iris in a bed that has been taken over with weeds, huge weeds, bremuda grass and tree roots. I was thinking about doing a spray over on the whole lot. It doesn't bloom anymore and once I can get to the plants, get them out and rework the bed. SO, I guess I need to get "Grass be Gone"????

I'm dealing with the same situation along a fence-line -- weeds, bermuda, tree saplings. I sprayed a grass killer on it last summer to kill the bermuda (which did a pretty good job) -- now, when the Iris bloom this Spring and I can identify them, I'll dig them out and replant or rehome -- then spend the summer killing every inch of bermuda with a shovel and Round-Up. Maybe I can replant the the area next Fall. Maybe not until next year. Once bermuda gets entrenched in an area, you just play hell gettting it gone.

Your Irises in that older bed likely don't bloom anymore because of the crowding -- of their own rhizomes, and bermuda grass. Dividing and replanting in a different area will make all the difference in the world. You'll get to see your blooms again!

I have one area where I am going to dig the iris right after bloom and pot them up. Then for the next several weeks I will work on the weeds and improve the soil. Then in the fall I will replant the iris. Should be successful.

Good to know, and I hate that you have bermuda grass. That stuff is a devil in disguse. Makes a pretty lawn if pampered into good behavior with all sorts of fert and chems but it is truly H__l in a flower bed. I've dug down as much as 6" and still didn't get to the bottom of their roots. I also have another grass that looks alot like bermuda but it's so darned tuff, hard to break, and even harder to dig up. Not sure what it is, but it sure is b ad. AND through in some Johnson grass just for amusement and all sorts of big leaf weeds. It's a constent fight. And, if you really want a problem, plant some Maple trees within 100 foot of your beds. They grow their roots on top of the ground and will kill out anything in the general area. I have thousands of daylilies in pots and they invade the pot and will litterally eat up all the soil in the pot and leave nothing but a huge mass of their roots with a dead daylily if you don't rescue them soon enough.

I'm going to get those Iris out of that bed. They are some pretty ones, in a rainbow of colors. I'm ashamed I let them get in that shape. Now, to the task.

I sure have been enjoying everyones posts on here. Ya'll have beauties!!

Good luck with that, Paul. Seems like several of us have our work cut out for us!!

Work in the garden never seems to be done.......until winter sets in.

True dat!

I started this thread just a little over a month ago. How, you ask, did it work out? In my opinion it is a success in progress. The grass isn't growing and I'm going to spray it again. It is clearly weakened and the iris, which I also sprayed, shows no damage.......

I'd call that success, for sure.................keep us posted?

Good morning all. I use grass-be-gone. I spray every two weeks. It takes respraying to wipe out the grass. My question is will GBG kill irises? No doubt roundup will kill everything! I have had luck painting some roundup on grass that is close to other keeper plants, but I take the risk of drift. Roundup will travel thru the air. If it's windy at all, don't put any round up anyway near anything you want to live. Remember to mask up and wear googles always.

Protect all your skin against Roundup, too! I've read it can cause Parkinson's.

Even though I may complain about weeding, I never use Roundup for several reasons.