carpetgrass

bill – posted 20 August 2001 09:33

is ther any way to get rid of carpetgrass in st. augustine lawn in florida?(short of roundup)

greenman – posted 27 January 2003 05:59

Sprinkle with 20 Mule Team Boax

demas863 – posted 26 February 2003 13:19

quote:Originally posted by greenman:Sprinkle with 20 Mule Team Boax

Does it really work? Can you apply as solution? Thanks John

percussiveone – posted 14 March 2003 09:48

another suggestion would be to try sprinkling a handful of oxyclean on it, then water it in. ive tried a couple of experiments with it, and its worked for me on regular crabgrass….. worth a shot, and wont harm the st augustine.

Cape Coral, FL – posted 16 May 2005 10:58

Thanks guys. After reading this, I tried borax.

I purchased a house in Southwest florida in 2001. The owner had become senile and what was once (I am told) the most beautiful bahaia lawn in the community had deteriorated into scrub and weeds. The sprinkler pump broke sometime in the late 80’s or 90’s and the ederly woman just let the lawn go.18 months ago a local comapany installed a sprinkler system. They advised me that the yard was too large to sod without extreme expense and strip sodded. Chemlawn has been doing monthly service including atrazine and manor. But large patches of weeds remained beligerant and effectively blocked the floritam from invading their domain.

Not any longer. I tried the borax in a test area in late January (approx 250 SQ feet in and around the orchid stands). I broadcast a box of 20 mule team from the grocery store over the area. Within a week the carpetgrass was turning yellow. The goosegrass was more resitant, but the underlying network of roots and stems was clearly compromised. The floritam actually appeared healthier, but this could have just beed a result of weaker competition. Within 2 months the floritam has completely pushed out the carpetgrass, goosegrass, nutsedge, beggar weed, and all others. Other areas where chemlawn has been applying atrazine and manor still had an ongoing battle.

Now that the formal “growing season” has started. I again broadcast borax in another area. Within days the carpetgrass was yellowing and the goosegrass was turning purplish. It is now two weeks and the floritam is clearly having little trouble pushing the weeds out.

Borax rocks. It accomplished in one month what atrazine/manor couldn’t do in a year. Now where can I buy 50Lbs of borax??

tscott – posted 13 July 2005 18:28

DID YOU HAVE TO WATER THE BORAX IN?

kamoteq – posted 26 September 2008 17:00

After some research of my own on how to get rid of carpetgrass in St. Augustine or Floratam here in Florida, I have come to use the best and safest way I know possible. I have read about some other means to kill it like borax, some use arm & hammer soap, etc. or chemicals. I do not want to use this since I have kids and they play a lot in my lawn.

The best I have tried is saltwater. Carpetgrass is known to have poor salt tolerance which is the opposite for St. Augustine or Floratam. I used the water discharge from my water softener by rerouting the small hose to a 7 gallon tub. If this is not possible, just use tap or rain water. Put about 2 cups of salt in the tub and make sure it’s all dissolved. It may take 2 days to dissolve it. I used the salt from my water softener which is the Morton Salt brand (can be bought at Home Depot, Wal-Mart or Sams Club – but any brand will do). A 40lb bag is about $4.00. This is more than enough salt but depends on how much Carpetgrass you have. Since Carpetgrass have shallow roots, you don’t have to use much saltwater in an area. I bought a 2 Gal. water can at Home Depot for $5.00 and used it to water the Carpetgrass every other day. Water in dry conditions only. In a about 2 or 3 days, you will notice the Carpetgrass turning brown without harming your lawn. Be very carefull on your mix. Do not put too much salt as this will kill both Carpetgrass and your lawn. Tasting the water may be necessary for best judgement. The water must taste like seawater or a little less saltier.

Once the Carpetgrass are all dried up and brown, use a shallow rake to remove them. You will need to be diligent in watering the carpetgrass for a few days. It took me just 1 week to kill about 100 sq/ft of carpetgrass.

There is no weed killer for Carpetgrass. My lawn is serviced by TrueGreen and they will only kill it using grass killer with my permission. I will then have to remove the dead grass myself and re-sod.

Here is a link to see what carpetgrass looks like.

http://www.american-lawns.com/grasses/carpet.html

MrsG – posted 11 May 2015 12:34

I order online from Vons/Safeway. Regularly use it for clothes and cleaning. Thanks, knowing it won’t harm the grass gives me another use for something I already buy.

quote:Originally posted by Cape Coral, FL:Thanks guys. After reading this, I tried borax.

I purchased a house in Southwest florida in 2001. The owner had become senile and what was once (I am told) the most beautiful bahaia lawn in the community had deteriorated into scrub and weeds. The sprinkler pump broke sometime in the late 80’s or 90’s and the ederly woman just let the lawn go.18 months ago a local comapany installed a sprinkler system. They advised me that the yard was too large to sod without extreme expense and strip sodded. Chemlawn has been doing monthly service including atrazine and manor. But large patches of weeds remained beligerant and effectively blocked the floritam from invading their domain.

Not any longer. I tried the borax in a test area in late January (approx 250 SQ feet in and around the orchid stands). I broadcast a box of 20 mule team from the grocery store over the area. Within a week the carpetgrass was turning yellow. The goosegrass was more resitant, but the underlying network of roots and stems was clearly compromised. The floritam actually appeared healthier, but this could have just beed a result of weaker competition. Within 2 months the floritam has completely pushed out the carpetgrass, goosegrass, nutsedge, beggar weed, and all others. Other areas where chemlawn has been applying atrazine and manor still had an ongoing battle.

Now that the formal “growing season” has started. I again broadcast borax in another area. Within days the carpetgrass was yellowing and the goosegrass was turning purplish. It is now two weeks and the floritam is clearly having little trouble pushing the weeds out.

Borax rocks. It accomplished in one month what atrazine/manor couldn’t do in a year. Now where can I buy 50Lbs of borax??

Phil Busey – posted 13 May 2015 07:26

Be careful. Borax at high rates is toxic to plants.

jimmyg – posted 30 August 2015 10:14

I have a Typical Florida lawn mostly Bermuda and Floritam. I have tried all the above mentioned formulas for ridding my lawn of carpet grass with very little success. And I do mean little.What I have found though, what really works well is Image “Kills Nutsedge”. I mix 3 oz per gallon and spray liberally on the Carpet Grass and surrounding areas, then wait till I see some results. Usually about a week or two, then I spray it again. Wait another week or so and spray it again. There is one large area in my side yard I have probably treated 5 times, but guess what no d— crab grass and no damage to my good grasses. This also works well on crab Grass to keep it under control. The crab Grass I have treated doesn’t always die out but it’s feeling bad and doesn’t go to seed. I personally haven’t come up with exact plan of spraying. When I notice that the crab Grass looks like it might be recovering I hit it.I would strongly recommend testing a small area with this recipe first.Good LuckJimmyg

seed – posted 30 August 2015 10:26

If it really is carpetgrass (later I’ll post some pictures) the herbicide Celsius has been reported to be fairly effective for control and is labelled for St. Augustinegrass.