Quack Grass Cure Anybody?

[Charlie]

I have problems with quack grass in my perennial veggies and herbs. We have a bunch of chive clumps and most of them have quack grass mingled in the roots. Same with the asparagus patch. We can keep it under control around the plants, but the darn stuff grows right in the middle of the clumps. This makes it a pain to sort out when drying for storage.

My dad......gone now for a long time (he died at 87) had a famous cure for quack grass. I asked him what to do about it and he just laughed....... "Die and leave it!" was his answer. I am beginning to think he was right.

Does any one know of any cures or selective herbicides that will kill this stuff and leave the good plants. I will use radioactive waste and left over goo from the chemical weapons industry if it will work? Any and all suggestions welcomed!

 

[Todd]

Charlie,

There are a number of herbcides:

Avail
Carson4G
KerbWSP
Ornamec
Take Away
Vantage

I don't have time to look at the product sheets to see how selective they are (I need to get out and irrigate.).

They probably won't be available at your local nursery but would be found at a farm supply/production ag chemical store. You'd likely have to buy way more then you really need since the products would be sized for commercial application.

Check out the yellow pages for suppliers.

Todd

 

[Susan4]

Asparagus is salt tolerant, I don't know if quack grass is or not. My great aunt in law would salt her asparagus to get rid of poison ivy...apparently it worked so well she decided to salt the PI whereever she found it. The front flower bed still won't grow anything..so do be careful.

Susan4

 

[Pogonip]

When I need to spray weeds mixed in with good stuff, I cut a 2-liter plastic bottle in half, plonk the top half over the weeds, and put the sprayer nozzle over the bottle opening and let fly--no spray hits the good stuff. Even if the weed is spread into the middle of plants, a systemic poison will kill all of it if you've been able to get a good portion of the weed sprayed.

I've also blocked off good plants with sections of cardboard boxes, then sprayed.

With (infinite) patience, you can also take a brush and dab weedkiller on intermingled weeds.

Plan B is the scorched earth policy--kill -everything and start over (sigh).....

Seems to me I read that quack grass has some medicinal uses--if that's any comfort....

 

[snaffle]

Actually I don't mind quackgrass at all - if it's in a pasture. But it can be a pain in hayfields and gardens.

How big are your perennial beds?
Short of digging up all your perennials, removing the entangled quackgraass roots (good luck), cooking the plot under black plastic to kill the remaining quackgrass and then replanting your perinneals and hoping for the best, Pogonip's suggestion might be your best bet ( I don't know of any herbicide that is selective for quackgrass only).

Whatever you do, don't try to get rid of quackgrass by tilling it under - the stuff spreads by underground rhizomes and if you till the area you will spread the rhizomes and end up with quackgrass EVERYWHERE!

In the days before herbicides, farmers would often control large patches of quackgrass in their fields by tilling the patch several times in HOT SUNNY WEATHER to expose and kill the rhizomes, always tilling towards the center of the infested area and being very careful not to till completely through the patch and out the other side (which would spread rhizome fragments into "clean" areas). But tilling in this manner could still backfire if the weather turned cool, cloudy or damp, since it takes the heat of the sun to dry out and kill the exposed rhizomes.