Dallisgrass in St.Augustine

18 years ago

Yard Dr.

I live in souteast Tn and have St Augustine(I was told this by the former owner). Dallisgrass is becoming a big problem. Any suggetions?

Thanks

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Comments (5)

yarddoctor
18 years ago
Dear Scalelar,

Thank you very much for your inquiry. If you can find MSMA herbicide this will be a good option. There is a new herbicide, mesotrione, sold as Tenacity,that will also work on dallisgrass. It will take several applications and there may be some damage to the St Augustinegrass. Make sure your fertility is up to par.

Again, thanks for the question and let me know if you have more.

Respectfully

Trey Rogers, The Briggs & Stratton Yard Doctor, YardDoctor.com
mk87
18 years ago
Trey (and Scalelar): I have the same problem, but reduced it quite a bit this year from last year. I put out crabgrass preventer at the beginning of the season (when the forsythia was blooming) and I also went out and cut the seedpods off of it when it was really going wild out there last year. (Just tried to do it about once a week when I was out there deadheading anyway.) Don't know if it was one or the other thing that worked, but I do seem to have less of a problem this year. I still go out, between mowings, this season and cut off any seedpods I see...just in case. I have heard that it takes a couple of years to get rid of dallisgrass, goosegrass and etc. Is there any other pre-emergent that would help BEFORE there's a problem, rather than risking damage to the St. Augustine, trying to kill it after it's already coming up?
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yarddoctor
18 years ago
Dear MK

Thank you very much for your inquiry. For a post emergence strategy, you could try painting glyphosate on the stalks. Tedious work, but if you are deadheading already, why not?

Again, thanks for the question and let me know if you have more.

Respectfully

Trey Rogers, The Briggs & Stratton Yard Doctor, YardDoctor.com
scalelar
Original Author
18 years ago
Trey and mk87
Thanks for the replies. Trey I had already tried the MSMA and it killed the St.Augustine(quicker than the Dallisgrass)so now I am painting the stalks with glyphosate. The method I tried was to put a rubber glove on my left hand and a cotton glove over that and just dip my index finger in a strong solution and pull that over the stalks. It is tedious. If this doesn't work out I will just dig it up.Mk87 I'm glad to hear that you feel pulling the seed stalks helped as I am pulling those daily.
Thanks again
Scalelar
mk87
18 years ago
Trey and Scalelar -- Wow...painting the stalks...now THAT'S dedication. But, if it works, that's great!

Trey -- Thanks for the suggestion, but I was wondering if there was any other PRE-emergent that would be better than crabgrass preventer.

Scalelar -- I forgot to mention that I did dig some of it up last year, but it was a bigger pain to me than cutting the seed stalks, so I quit doing it. Also, when it is so hot (and the dallisgrass, goosegrass, etc) is coming up, I wanted to spend as little time out there as possible. Cutting the seed stalks seemed faster/easier. I would say that (for whatever reason...cutting seed stalks or crabgrass preventer or both) the dallisgrass is reduced to about 1/3 of what it was last year. So, YES, there is hope!