GRM Home/Lawn thread #183

I'm slowly losing the fight Johnson Grass in my backyard. (I feel like this was asked before, but it didn't turn up in a few searches). It was professionally sprayed multiple times last year, and twice this year.

I'll be completely honest when I say, that I'm willing to sacrifice the back 1/4-1/3 of the yard/grass to kill it. In other words, I'm willing to lose the Bermuda and reseed this fall if that will get rid of it.

I've read tons of stuff, including sprinkling the yard with sugar, heavily around the plants, because it helps the goop in the soil more effectively use the nutrients and starve the Johnson, sounds crazy. But I'm willing to try about anything.

I've been seriously considering taking a torch and going Scorched Earth on the affected areas.

Johnson Grass? Is that a euphimism for pubic hair?

I have nothing useful to add...

" It is considered to be one of the ten worst weeds in the world"

-from the Johnson grass wikipedia page.

Never heard of it either. In my yard I pretty much let anything grow as long as it is green. It all looks ok when freshly mowed.

The Johnson grass is unsightly and grows insanely quick. Like 2-4x as fast as the Bermuda in the yard.

I mowed the backyard Friday night, came home Monday morning and it was already a few inches taller than the Bermuda around it.

Honestly... at this point in the drought I'm just happy there is something green. I'm leaving my weeds since its the only thing green.

Scott wrote: Johnson Grass? Is that a euphimism for pubic hair?

PUT DOWN THE TORCH!

Unless you control your neighbor's yards, you aren't going to win.

Unless something happened in the past 20 years, Roundup kicks its butt. You can let it grow taller than the bermuda (which shouldn't grow very tall anyway) and use a wick bar to wipe the J-grass with Roundup. It will kill just the J-grass and leave the bermuda. No need to have a professional spray the yard either. Get a small hand sprayer and the highest concentrate Roundup. If you lived there very long and continued to cut the grass, I'm surprised the rhizomes haven't used up all their stored food and the J-grass died out. Unless it sprouting from seeds.

They make sprays that will kill it and not kill the bermuda. We use them all the time and they work. We began on a country lot with lots of it and 3 years later we have very little. Sometimes it will yellow the bermuda, like in the middle of the summer, but it doesn't kill the bermuda.

Look for a selective herbacide at your local hardware store. I prefer hose end sprayers since you can get a much broader coverage a lot quicker and you miss fewer sprigs.

It looks like healthy grass that chokes out other plants and weeds. All the negatives are from farmers because some of the things it chokes are cash crops and cattle.

I would welcome it as a hearty green grass-like thing that can help choke out the spiney things that grow in my yard now.

curtis73 wrote: Honestly... at this point in the drought I'm just happy there is something green. I'm leaving my weeds since its the only thing green.

My back yard is so wet this year that the mower spins its wheels going downhill. Even after five days of sun.

z31maniac wrote: The Johnson grass is unsightly and grows insanely quick. Like 2-4x as fast as the Bermuda in the yard. I mowed the backyard Friday night, came home Monday morning and it was already a few inches taller than the Bermuda around it.

Sounds like the stuff the water company contractors seeded when they dug up sections of the yard for new mains and branches. Mow it and 2 days later it's 4" taller...

I'm sure the weeds that make up the rest of my yard will choke it out soon enough...

Now the onion grass that has invaded much of my g/f's yard... that stuff is annoying... although it's the first green thing to sprout in the Spring, fortunately it seems to die out after a month or so and the rest of the lawn takes over. SOB to mow, though...

Took a couple of pics to help you guys understand, just got through spraying it with whatever it was at Lowes they told me to use.

That's from Friday night to just now, so 4 days.

Is it something that Weed-n-Feed would take care of? I know they make that stuff for specific grass families.

I'd be happy to have a nice green lawn, even if I have to mow it every 3 days. I enjoy getting out there on the tractor. I've thought about planting bahiagrass, even though it needs cutting every other day. I have erosion problems, so I need SOMETHING to grow.

Goats

Grtechguy wrote: Goats

a cow.

Derick Freese wrote: Is it something that Weed-n-Feed would take care of? I know they make that stuff for specific grass families.

We are about to find out!

I went through 1.5 gallons yesterday in the sprayer tank, so I'll see how they look when I get home today.

novaderrik wrote:

Grtechguy wrote: Goats

a cow.

careful, if you let it turn on you then you will have to bury said cow.

a fast growing non-invasive species?

Lawns suck.

Oh I am pretty sure my whole yard consists of that johnson grass stuff. Its green though and looks nice when cut.

Truth be told my yard is E36 M3 and the grass is patchy at best and there is quite a bit of exposed dirt. I need to do something about it. I would say only about half of my yard consists of grass, the rest is dirt.

^I'll let you know how the Scotts Tall Fescue stuff works. It's meant for bare patches, which my front yard has in abundance. I just put down another 10lbs yesterday.

But I doubt it's Johnson grass, because this stuff doesn't look good ever, freshly cut or not.

Never realized until last week when I was mowing, my backyard and my neighbors backyard all drain between the houses, to my front yard right underneath my two big trees.