Carpetgrass in St. Augustine – FL

kamoteq – posted 26 September 2008 16:59

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