Nutsedge, also known as nut grass, is a weed commonly found in lawns during the summer. These weeds stand taller than the grass in your lawn and are notoriously hard to get rid of given their immersive root systems. Nutsedge is a perennial sedge, meaning it is a grasslike plant that will live for at least two years and will come back year after year.

How to Identify Nutsedge

Nutsedge is easily identifiable from grass because it is taller than grass. Nutsedge grows much quicker than grass, even after being mowed. Nutsedge weeds have a triangular stem that can be felt in your hands. The stem of the sedge feels like it has 3 sides or 3 points, much like a triangle.  It thrives in low spots and high moisture areas that drain poorly, but can occur in drier sites as well. Nutsedge looks like long grass blades. At the end of a nutsedge stem, you will commonly find 3 leaves and flowers. The flowers can be different colors but are most commonly yellow or purple (dark red).
Yellow nutsedge, or nutsedge with yellow flowers, often grows in the middle of the summer while purple nutsedge (nutsedge with deep red or purple flowers) grows in the late summer

How to Control Nutsedge

Utilize herbicides when large patches of nutsedge are present in the turf. Regardless of herbicide selection, nutsedge is a difficult-to-control weed that may require multiple herbicide applications. Late spring/early summer (when it is young and actively growing) is the ideal time to control nutsedge. During its early growth stages, nutsedge has not started producing tubers and is most susceptible to control with herbicides. As the summer progresses, nutsedge plants form seedheads and tubers. Since the tubers are the plants’ primary survival structure, it is critical to control nutsedge early in the summer before it produces tubers. Two to three years of control using herbicides will be needed to reduce viable tubers in the soil by 90 percent.

Article provided by Crabapple Landscapexperts