You just may win the horrible weed award! I can't even wrap my brain around having to do that much weeding of grass in a seedling bed!

I can't imagine weeding that much either . I have over 600 seedlings. Soon I have to weed them for the third time since planting in June. The bed was sod last summer so I know I must keep on top of it now or I'll be sorry. If I had as many seedlings as you do...I know it wouldn't all get done. You must have had a great feeling of accomplishment when it was done and the seedlings could "see the light". They were probably all singing "I can see clearly now the weeds have gone".

Barbalee said:Mulch didn't get 'em, so Preen or Treflan will be first thing next spring. The weeds are actually crabgrass, so what I miss will die very soon, but it's prepared to come back next year... we shall see about that! I'm crabbier than you are, crabgrass!

Mulch doesn't kill many weeds unless it is more than 4" thick. But it does make it much easier to remove them. Do nit let the weeds go to seed.

But if you put cardboard down between your plantings so you only have to pull weeds close to the daylily, it suppresses weeds. With a light mulch or leaves on top the cardboard isn't noticeable. But the cardboard usually needs to be a double layer. eg. get a box from a store that packaged products for their shelves. Undo and flatten it but don't open it out making it a single layer. Also walking on it when wet, or covering with grass clippings, heavy mulch or branches will soon rot holes into the cardboard and allow light to the weed seeds. Also it must overlap enough so light to the ground is excluded. The cardboard breaks down after 2 yrs and improves the soil.

It is also makes it easier to pull out weeds from near the edge of the cardboard. But best is when you can allow weeds to grow green and almost mature then cover with cardboard. If you can do this when the leaves are actively growing it turns them into nice green manure. But killing grass that is dormant in winter takes a long time in great contrast with summer when they want to grow grow grow.

Termites don't eat it like they do layers of newspaper. unless there is a log or layers of paper nearby in which case they may be under it to keep cool and moist. Here we must watch out for snakes if lifting it. Also cane toads keep moist under it.

Larry, I'm sorry to say you win!

Ashton & Terry, sounds like a great idea if I had organized beds planted in rows as you do. Mine is a total hodgepodge with plants far too close to one another.

I would say it is definitely nutsedge................... I have a yard and every flower bed full of it! I have one bed that I have dug completely up twice trying to remove every single nut from the soil with no luck. I have finally learned that sedgehammer or another product whose name escapes me can kill it - but no one can tell me what it will do to my dayliles. I have thinned the population over the years at times, but never eradicated it. I searched all spring at the box stores for the sedgehammer with no luck, but recently found access to place where I can order it. Not sure whether to spray it this late in the season, or just start on it next spring. I will have to spray my entire yard and then probably try to "paint" each new growth in the beds. Best I can tell it might possibly kill the DLs too if I got it on them.

Unfortunately, last year for the first time ever I also discovered a patch of Johnson grass. Johnson grass will get extremely tall 4-5' if left to its on devices and spreads under ground with runners that resembles cane! I attempted to dig that entire area up last year because "it was just a small plot of it" and this year it is 4 X larger. So, I have recently sprayed it with Arsenal (that can be used to kill cane) and that didn't seem to completely get it and since that was all the arsenal I had available at the moment, I sprayed it with an additional spraying of strong RU. Not sure if it is going to actually KILL it............. but, I will hit it early in the spring with arsenal if it raises its head again! I had to purchase 2.5 gals of arsenal in order to obtain any of it - and I only used about 1/2 cup to kill the cane in half of my son's yard. I still have to get the other half done, so I have left the arsenal and his house and just brought home a small amount in a spray bottle to use on the Johnson grass.

I have fought the nutsedge battle for several years without knowing their was something that would kill it - RU only partially kills it......... so my suggestion would be to try to find some sedge killer and have it on hand to attempt to win the long term battle. And I have nutsedge ALL in my lawn.........so it didn't come in from a plant - it is just there. My soil is very sandy which apparently it likes.

Lawdy, Gen, I sure hope not! I have lots of trouble with crabgrass, but no nutsedge or johnson grass that I know of. Is it possible to get either of those in bags of purchased soil?? This particular problem was in one bed that had purchased soil tilled with local clay and a raised bed that had just purchased soil plus amendments.

Gen,
Sedgehammer was so pricey for years when it first came out. I remember 4 oz of concentrate was over $100. I don't recall the amout to mix in a gallon but even an ounce would be over $25 per gallon. There are two or three products for sedge control on the market today and priced reasonable. Our club display garden is in a city park and the park service uses a sedge killer. They spray it in the daylily bed and at best it makes the plants look brown and sick and at worst it may kill one on ocassion. They think it should be specific control of the pest plants and safe to use around other types of plants.
I have horrible sedge problems and crabgrass and bermuda grass and johnson grass. Every kind of pesky weed and grass including what we call goose grass. I buy the generic glyphosphate 41% concentrate 5 gallons at a time. I wish I could buy high yield grass killer concentrate in larger containers. I buy Snap Shot in 50 lb bags. We still have so much weed and grass control problems. My dad will tell you that if you want to make a new garden around here, you spray the area continually for about 3 years and then use it for gardening. I get my new gardens in use after two rounds of spray a few weeks apart. Bermuda grass is very hard to kill out. After all roundup was made to spray over the top of bermuda grasses and kill everything else.
Barbalee, yes it is possible. If you buy a potted plant you can bring in weed and grass and unwanted seeds also. I have seen nursery plants, even at the most reputable greenhouses with various weeds, trees, and even found poison ivy growing in potted plants for sale.
I have had different kinds of weed seed that were not found in my garden, spout up after adding packaged soil, compost, or peat.

The only way that I have found to avoid the weeds is to build raised beds using thick cardboard as the bottom of the bed before filling it with soil, pine fines, and compost. Of course weed seeds do blow into the raised beds and try to take off in those beds, but I check every few days and pull, pull, pull those pesky weeds out. Using pine fines, the weeds come out very easily,

I had used a lot of cardboard in my beds........... it won't stop sedge.

@kidfishing what is Snap Shot? And do you happen to know the name of the other sedge killers? The guy that I was talking with actually thinks I have "False Sedge" instead of true nutsedge because he says normally nutsedge prefers damp soils. Mine if very sandy and definitely not damp so he is pretty sure it is false sedge, although I just took a picture for him the other day to send to him for him to look at the "bloom" on it and verify that. I just haven't gotten it to him.

The gentleman that I am dealing with works for a company called Crop Production Services - and they sell large volumes to farmers, timber companies, and even the company that I work for. Where I work, they have to use specialty weed killers because we are close to the river so it has to be something that won't harm the fish or contaminate the water supply. You might do some googling and see if there are any specialty chemical suppliers near you. But they can also sell small quantities - like my 2.5 gals of arsenal. Way more than I needed, but I will eventually use it for other things. I haven't priced any sedgehammer since I never located it...... I need to get back with him to check his prices and to let him see that picture.

I live in a rural area with open fields that have BAD weed problems and my yard is full of all types of weeds and various grasses as well. I have Bermuda, Johnson grass now, lots of sedge, lots of sandburs, and bahai grass, plus tons of other things that I can't even identify......I pulled weeds recently that were close to 6' tall because I have been gone most of the summer and I had a few areas that really got away from me. I have this dream of having a nice "lawn" without weeds and sedge but I think if I killed all that out I might have bare soil! I am not sure that I will ever be able to afford to get rid of all the weeds and grasses that I don't want....................

I'm getting more and more worried...this all sounds dreadful!!!

Gen, Snapshot is a pre-emergent, similar to Preen. I've looked into it, but haven't bought it. Some people say it works better, but I think it really depends on the weeds that you have. Preen won't kill all seeds, and there are a lot of different Preen formulas, so you have to read the labels on all of them to see what it kills in relation to what you have. It's confusing!

I'm dreaming of having a nice lawn someday too. I think there is only one real lawn on my road! The rest of us have green stuff, which is mostly weeds! It's very rural here though, and I don't think that anyone actually cares about having a real lawn. Like you, we're afraid to try and kill off anything cause we'd end up with bare soil!

I'm not a fan of lawns and think they are highly overrated. They demand a lot of water and maintenance in the form of mowing, fertilizing, and weed control.

@Natalie .............. I can totally relate

@edible ....... true, but it our case our "yard" of weeds and various grasses requires a LOT of mowing as well. I was thinking that if I could ever get solid Bermuda (although not my favorite but probably the easiest and cheapest to establish here) or zoysia (expensive here) that at least we could save money and time without having to constantly mow! But, that might be just a fairy tale...................

We have a couple of large lawns at our house, but the term lawn is probably pushing it! We almost never water because it does no good. The lawn goes dormant in the summer anyway because it's drought tolerant grass to begin with. It looks fantastic in the Spring though. We also never fertilize it, since it does no good. If I was in the city, it would be awful, but we're in the middle of nowhere and no one can see it but us, so it really doesn't matter. Our dogs need some lawn though!

Gen you don't want Bermuda trust me. It's as bad if not worse than nutgrass. It will climb up and over raised beds and choke out everything it spreads into. even planting new trees in bermuda grass can be a challenge because of all the competition. I hate it and once you have it you can't get rid of it. If you do end up planting it say goodbye to all your perennial beds.

ediblelandscapingsc said:I'm not a fan of lawns and think they highly are overrated. They demand a lot of water and maintenance in the form of mowing, fertilizing, and weed control.

Hi guys, let's remember why we have weeds and thorns and all that other aggravating stuff. It was part of Adam and Eves punishment for disobeying God, so really could we ever get rid of it. I kind of like pulling weeds, after you look back at your hard work kinda makes you proud of what you done. At least for me anyway.

There is truth in the feeling of accomplishment, David! However, it also makes me go back and re-inspect a couple of times a day!