Join Us Sign In

Powered by California Local

Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Is this the worst weed in Sacramento?

Nutsedge sprouts as weather warms

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED MAR 9, 2021

Nutsedge next to a sprinkler

The sharp-edged leaves in the center of the photo belong to fast-growing

nutsedge plants near a sprinkler head. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

What’s the worst weed in Sacramento? It depends on who you ask and what season.

Right now, one fast-growing candidate tops the list: Nutsedge.

Also called nutgrass, this tough perennial is sprouting like crazy, pulling energy from its underground tubers or “nuts.” Those tubers, which lurk about 4 to 6 inches below the surface, push out fresh growth once soil temperatures start to warm each spring.

That early growth looks like wide-bladed ornamental grass, but nutsedge is a true sedge, with thicker and sturdier leaves than grass. It spreads via equally tough rhizomes, or underground stems.

According to UC Cooperative Extension master gardeners, the most common variety in Sacramento is yellow nutsedge. Its close cousin, purple nutsedge, needs warmer temperatures to sprout and is more prevalent in Southern California, but can show up in Sacramento, too.

Once established, nutsedge is nearly impossible to eradicate due to those resilient rhizomes and tubers. The tubers can stay dormant three years and still sprout.

Like most perennials, nutsedge dies back in late fall or early winter, but never actually disappears. When it resurfaces with fresh spring growth, take action. Otherwise, the clumps will just continue to spread – up to 10 feet across.

“The best approach for avoiding nutsedge problems is to prevent establishment of the weed in the first place,” say the master gardeners. “Once established, nutsedge plants are difficult to control.”

Nutsedge particularly likes damp spots in the garden where water tends to collect.

“They thrive in waterlogged soil, and their presence often indicates drainage is poor, irrigation is too frequent, or sprinklers are leaky,” say the master gardeners. “Once established, however, they will tolerate normal irrigation conditions or drought.”

To fight nutsedge, grab a hoe. On the first pass, whack the young plants, aiming the hoe to hit about an inch below the soil line. Young plants also can be pulled by hand.

“If you hoe, be sure to dig down at least 8 to 14 inches to remove the entire plant,” adds the master gardeners. “Using a tiller to destroy mature plants only will spread the infestation, because it will move the tubers around in the soil. However, repeated tillings of small areas before the plants have six leaves will reduce populations. If you find nutsedge in small patches in your turf, dig out the patch down to at least 8 inches deep, refill, and then seed or sod the patch.”

Landscape fabric can be used under wood chip mulch to try and block nutsedge from emerging. But don’t use plastic mulch; the nutsedge’s pointy leaves will poke right through.

“Prevent establishment by removing small plants before they develop tubers, eliminating the wet conditions that favor nutsedge growth, using certain fabric mulches in landscape beds, and making sure nutsedge tubers aren’t brought in with topsoil or other materials,” say the master gardeners.

Herbicides are mostly ineffective against nutsedge because of those tubers.

Another approach: Take away what nutsedge needs most – water and sun. An area constantly plagued by nutsedge can be dried out over summer; but that also eliminates irrigation to anything else growing in that area. Or shade out the nutsedge by growing taller plants that hog the sunlight.

“Nutsedges don’t grow well in shade, so changing landscape plantings might reduce their growth,” say the master gardeners. “For example, a highly infested, annually planted flower bed might be better off if you replant it with a tall, dense ground cover or shrub. Low-growing ground covers won’t shade out nutsedge.”

If you can’t beat it, eat it. That’s a suggestion by Los Angeles garden writer Joshua Siskin, a UC Davis alumnus.

“Nutsedge may be the worst weed but it’s also the most palatable, owing to its tubers,” Siskin wrote. “The tubers may be boiled or roasted, eaten raw, dried, or ground and used for flavoring drinks and cookies. The taste will remind you of almonds. In Spain, ground tubers are combined with sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, water and ice to make a drink they call horchata de chufa.”

Remember, it’s only a weed if you haven’t figured out how to use it.

For more on nutsedge: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7432.html and http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/WEEDS/nutsedge.html .

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

UCCE master gardeners gardening rhizomes Sacramento integrated pest management spring chores nutsedge wet conditions irrigation warm weather weeds

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

Local News

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Sites We Like

Garden checklist for week of Aug. 2

Get out early in the morning and monitor your garden’s moisture needs. Deep water and add temporary shade structures for plants that are feeling a little burned. In particular, protect developing peppers and eggplant.

* Put off fertilization until this heat passes; plants need to concentrate on hydration instead of growth.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don’t let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Pinch off dead flowers from perennials and annuals to lengthen their summer bloom.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips. Make sure to keep seeds and seedlings consistently moist.

* Plant potatoes.

Contact Us

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Find our winter recipes here!

Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening

WINTER

Is edible gardening possible indoors?

Hints for choosing tomato seeds

Starting in seed starting

Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees

When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

How to squeeze more food into less space

Potatoes from the garden

Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Win the weed war by tackling them in winter

Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables

Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

Ways to win the fight against weeds

FALL

Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden

Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it

Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come

Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying

Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?

Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air

Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets

Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty

Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest

SUMMER

Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?

Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning

Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you

Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water

Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers

July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

July 15: Does this plant need water?

July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

July 1: How to grow summer salad greens

June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

June 17: Help pollinators help your garden

June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests

June 3: Make your own compost

May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?

May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth