- Author: Belinda Messenger-Sikes
Nutsedges are aggressive and persistent weeds that commonly infest lawns, vegetable and flower gardens, and landscapes. These perennial sedges are a problem in lawns because they grow faster than turfgrasses and result in non-uniform turf. In landscape beds, nutsedge can grow up through mulches–even plastic mulches!
Yellow nutsedge grows throughout California while purple nutsedge can be found mostly in the south of the state and the Central Valley. Once established, nutsedge is difficult to control because it forms tubers in the soil that can live up to three years. The best approach is to prevent the weed's spread.
To help you identify and better manage this troublesome weed, UC IPM has updated the
Nutgrass, also called nutsedge, could easily be one of the top 5 nuisance weeds gardeners deal with in the garden and landscape. While we don't know that for sure, we do know that nutsedge is a very challenging weed to control.
Yellow and purple nutsedge are the two species most often found in California. Yellow nutsedge grows throughout the state, while purple nutsedge is found mostly in southern California.
Nutsedge is difficult to control because the plants form small underground tubers and rhizomes. Most of these tubers are found in the top six inches of the soil but can also be found even deeper. Removing the tubers by hand is the best way to remove small plants but may require continued monitoring and hand...