Yellow Nutsedge
Yellow nutsedge up close.
Yellow Nutsedge
Yellow nutsedge standing out in a lawn.

What to do about yellow nutsedge? It is a weed that starts to grow a little ways into summer. It looks terrible because it is yellowish to bright green in color and it stands above all of its surroundings in a lawn. Identifying the weed is easy. But what to do?

This is where things will start to get tough. There is not much that can be done. It cannot be killed by any herbicide. If you pull it out, the nutsedge will leave little bits (nutlets) behind that will grow a new nutsedge plant.

However, all hope should not be lost. If you pull it out, and pull it out, and pull it out, and repeat, the nutsedge will eventually slow down. Maybe not disappear completely, but be slowed. Also, there is a chemical called sulfentrazone that will burn the tops of the yellow nutsedge down. This doesn’t kill it, but it does harm the weed and slows its growth.

Yellow nutsedge is a weed that we are going to have to tolerate to some extent, and be patient and just try to outlast it when working against it. It is a bummer that not much can be done to eradicate yellow nutsedge. Just laboring to continually pull it out or burn it down, and wait for it to grow back to pull it out or burn it down again.

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