Hi Eric, Yes, any and everything growing near your ornamental grasses will come up in the grasses. The only way to keep them growing well and looking good, is to keep pulling out any small seedlings before they get.a chance to grow that large. Before they get a foothold. I think you have some big rooted seedlings that have been there awhile. The pliers were a good idea but if that doesn't work, there's not a lot you can do, except to lift the grass and pull it apart and throw away the seedlings and replant the grasses. It's a lot of work, I know. I don't have another idea. Maybe someone else does.

I would say, though, that the idea of weed whacking and using weed killer, isn't one I would use. Primarily because I garden organically and don't use weed killers, but even if I did, it would be hard to kill off the weeds without damaging the grasses. Or weed whack without hitting the grasses. I have no experience here though, with either of those methods.

In the areas where I grow ornamental grasses, I lay down mulch around them and I grow plants as companion plants that look good with them, so there is not a lot of room for weeds to come up between them and that makes it much easier to keep the area looking good with a lot less work.

Thanks for the advice, @prairiemoon2 z6b MA! In the early Spring before there was growth, I took a pick axe and got some of them out. It's just impossible to get them out without damaging the grasses. A friend suggested I cut the growing trees/shrubs down to a couple inches and then take black plastic and cover the remaining stump/stem and hold it together with a rubber band. It might prevent it from growing and hopefully kill it. However, it seems like it's much more likely that another stem will just shoot up next to it. Worth a shot I suppose.

Eric, in the beginning of the season when you have to cut the dead tops back on the grasses anyway, is the perfect time to try to get them done. It doesn't damage the grasses to dig them up and divide them into sections and pull away any seedlings that are growing in the rootball. It doesn't damage them at any time of the season, but of course you probably would end up cutting the grass into 2 or 3 pieces to get those roots out of there. Once. you had the grasses dug out and divided and cleaned up of weeds, then you could dig out any roots of the weeds that were still in the location where the grasses were growing. You could put one division back where it was and you'd have another to plant somewhere new.

I have Pennisetums and Carex and I can just put a shovel into the middle of mine for the most part. Looks like you might have a Misacanthus 'Morning Light' there? I haven't grown that, but I know some grasses need a pick axe. [g].

Miscanthus 'Morning Light' is a REAL job to dig and divide. But if you have woody plants growing in it , you have no choice. Do it next spring--and get help.

I really appreciate that you posted, Eric, because I was considering trying a 'Morning Light' and I didn't realize until now that they are that big of a deal to dig out. I'm sorry you have such a job ahead of you, but look at it this way, you can really increase your grasses and you might want to do something about the beds you are putting them back into to keep the weeds from becoming a problem again. I did lasagna beds in the fall for some of my beds, so they were ready to plant in the spring, then I put down a layer of cardboard boxes to mulch around all the plants and wet that, stuck it with a screwdriver to add some holes for drainage and covered that with about a 2 inch layer of bark mulch. That keeps the weeds down very well sometimes for a whole season. Then the next season you just top off the mulch with more mulch - maybe an inch if there is some mulch still left. I'm sure there are other ways to keep up with it, that's just the way I prefer to do it.

You still will get all the same seedlings in your grasses. Some of them look like tree seedlings. We have maples that drop 'helicopters' all over the yard and if you don't pull those out of the grasses they will sprout. So just keep up with it. As long as you notice them quickly and pull them out, you should be all set and your grasses will do very well.

As I understand you are trying to control these with a pair of pliers, I would get a pair of loppers so that you can cut the big stems. You can also use them to trim your trees and small bushes.

Using the lopper, cut of the offending plants. CAREFULLY CAREFULLY: Using a small brush and a few milliliters of the full strength weed killed in a cup, CAREFULLY apply the weed killer to the fresh cut. Make sure the entire cut is covered. I use glue brushes that are about a half inch wide and 3/8 inch thick. It takes a couple of days but they do die.

Don't get it on your skin, and immediately when you are through wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. Wash the cup and brush or toss them.

Obviously you have to repeat as necessary. Once you have them gone, any new ones can be controlled by pulling them up when you see them.

I have used this technique on trumpet vine that grows in the shade garden near the house foundation. It has killed the vine and not damaged the flowers and other plants in the area.

I have also used it successfully on persistent tree seedlings.

I'm glad to see you have some alternatives to consider. Actually trying to judiciously use the weed killer to just kill the remainder of the weeds in your grasses, might allow you to use less than killing all your mounds of grasses. But, if you do use weed killer at all, please do it on a day with no wind and use a mask and gloves! :-)

Hi all, sorry for a delayed response. A few unexpected things around the house came up that required me attention. I appreciate the responses! @krnuttle would you recommend a weed killer like weed-b-gone or roundup to be brushed on the stems of the tree seedlings? Or should i use something like stump/brush killer?

Bonide makes a product called Sucker Punch that you paint on suckers growing up from trees etc. I just tried it on crabapple suckers and it kills the sprouting new growth. it's white and thick like glue and comes with a brush in the lid.I don't see why it wouldn't work on the resprouted weeds in your grasses. Less likely to be an issue for the grasses than Glyphosate. Brush killer that uses Triclopyr and/or 2 4-D doesn't hurt grasses so I'd use that over Glyphosate. They are going to need to be dug up and divided at some point too, they do generally experience die off in the centers and that can lead to weeds having a nice place to grow. I have Miscanthus 'Morning Light' and don't find it to be any more difficult than any other big grass.

Eric Any of those weed killers you mentioned would probably work. I used Bayer Poison Ivy killer because I had it.

Hi all, thanks for the replies. I cut the seedlings and applied weed-b-gon on them with a brush. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do much. Perhaps weed-b-gon is too week and something stronger should be used?

I like the idea of just splitting the grasses and removing the seedlings, but there are about 30 grasses and I'm worried that I'll damage them too much when I go to split them. I'll probably have to use a pickaxe (after I split the grasses) on the seedling themselves to remove them as I can't do it by hand or with pliers.

On a similar note, is there any sort of weed killer that will not kill the grasses? If I were to spray weed-b-gon, will it kill the grasses too? Reason I ask is because the previous owner claims that they would spray the center of the grasses with weed-b-gon. The grasses looked so much healthier when we bought the house 2 years ago then they do now.