[Schaef]

I've been recently doing some research on quack grass and how much of a pain it is. After doing some reading and how to identify it properly, I went into my yard and realized I have quack grass (not a ridiculous amount, just here and there) :evil: :evil:
I read the best way to get rid of it is using round-up and basically "painting" the big leaves, but before I buy round-up and starting going to town I have a few questions.

1. One video I watched said you need a high rate of round-up, which I'm guessing means a higher concentrated dilution?
2. Will the round-up penetrate into the rhizome and kill off the entire branch of quack grass?
2a. Will painting the leaves have less effect of this occurring than say spraying the quack grass?
3 How fast would I see results of killing of the entire rhizome chain?
4. Is this a winnable battle without nuking the entire lawn and doing reno (not really an option at this point lol)

 

[g-man]

1) not really. I think I saw a version that was more of a paste than liquid. I be also read of mixing it with corn starch. I just use the liquid stuff and it worked for me.
2)yes
3)if quack is actively growing, within days you should see quack dieing. I can't see the rhizome, but it kills it too.
4) very winanble. You will be amazed how many folks battle it after a Reno. Just don't give it any chance for a year. The lawn might not look perfect that year, but you will win the war.

 

[Schaef]

Awesome, that's good to hear. So, if I paint leaves on one stem of quack grass, I should see the other grass stems/leaves die if they are connected underground?
Also, will the round-up we have in Ontario (I believe its 7g/L glyphosate) be strong enough to kill it properly?

 

[GrassDaddy]

It's a pain but winnable. I need to get started on my patch, it's pretty small though so I keep putting it off.

 

[TLFU]

I just painted a bunch of quack a couple weeks ago (a complete reno last fall) and sprayed a lot of quack around the perimeter. I got lazy with painting and made big strokes around the quack. It's yellow now (though I see some younglings popping up..round 2?!). Can't really see any green grass below it. Advice: use smaller brush. Be precise with painting. Be patient. Use glyph 41% or w/e that high concentrate is and use blue marking die when painting to help you see where you've already painted. Best of luck.

 

[Grasshopper]

Just bought the 7g/l and will be painting this week.
I think gman tried using it before and said it works.

Didn't know what quack was until recently and I core aerated heavily last fall so its coming up everywhere....
Found a few tips of the rhizomes in the sod while digging for a garden bed. Pretty sharp end, no wonder it spreads like crazy.

 

[jimmy]

I just painted a bunch of quack a couple weeks ago (a complete reno last fall) and sprayed a lot of quack around the perimeter.

Same here. I used a small cheap foam paintbrush and was pretty liberal with my painting. I killed a bit more of the surrounding grass than I intended, but mostly knocked out the quack. I'll probably go for round two this week if I have time. Not much left, but I want to be thorough so it doesn't come back...though this is the yard on the side of the driveway and my neighbor's yard has a lot of quack, so I'll probably be fighting from his yard. Hopefully the KBG can get thick enough to keep it out.

 

[jessehurlburt]

If you have the 41% glyph, would you dilute it at all? I need to get after my patch. The fact that painting one leaf could take out several other connected leaves makes this seem more doable.

 

[GrassDaddy]

I wouldn't just because it's more of a hassle to mix it for such a small amount

 

[jimmy]

I diluted it, but maybe wouldn't per the label in the future, since I had so much left over and not really a great place to store it. Diluting a quick pour of the stuff with however much water you need would work. It'll probably be stronger than needed, but you are only painting a tiny bit on the leaves.

Either way, make sure you are wearing gloves.

 

[Delmarva Keith]

If you have the 41% glyph, would you dilute it at all? I need to get after my patch. The fact that painting one leaf could take out several other connected leaves makes this seem more doable.

I've seen it suggested to dilute it down to 30% AI. Basically you are doing an experiment with two things going on. One: you need to have the plant transport enough gly to all of its growing points to kill the plant. Since you will just paint part of a leaf or two, you need a high rate. But two: if you apply too high of a rate, plants with intertwined roots (like the turf right next to it) will also get a dose and may also die.

I've never gone higher than 13 oz. of 53.8% gly per gallon of water (5.5% AI). At that rate, covering just part of a plant leaf is still very effective. Interpreting the label a little bit,, directly brushing even undiluted onto an undesired plant is still legal. You might run some trials real quick and see what rate based on your painting technique results in weed kill but no or minimal turf damage.

 

[TLFU]

I just painted a bunch of quack a couple weeks ago (a complete reno last fall) and sprayed a lot of quack around the perimeter.

Same here. I used a small cheap foam paintbrush and was pretty liberal with my painting. I killed a bit more of the surrounding grass than I intended, but mostly knocked out the quack. I'll probably go for round two this week if I have time. Not much left, but I want to be thorough so it doesn't come back...though this is the yard on the side of the driveway and my neighbor's yard has a lot of quack, so I'll probably be fighting from his yard. Hopefully the KBG can get thick enough to keep it out.

Yea, quack is the worst!! they spread like crazy. best of luck. I'll go for a round 2 too. :thumbup:

Also, I didn't dilute it when using.

 

[jessehurlburt]

I wonder now how many leaves are apart of a single plant. Since they grow via rhizomes how many leaves could potentially be connected? So if you paint one leaf and there are 20 other shoots off that rhizome you can kill them all with painting one leaf?

 

[Schaef]

I wonder now how many leaves are apart of a single plant. Since they grow via rhizomes how many leaves could potentially be connected? So if you paint one leaf and there are 20 other shoots off that rhizome you can kill them all with painting one leaf?

This is kind of what I was wondering, I'm curious to know how far it would travel.

 

[beastcivic]

Not sure the full strength (41%) is needed. I diluted mine down to 2 oz per gallon (I wasn't super accurate, it might have been more like 2.25oz per gallon), and lightly sprayed the orchard and quack in my in-laws yard. It took a full 7 days to really look like it was dying, by 10 days it was totally brown, definitely dead.

But if you're buying a small bottle and don't want any left over, go for full strength if you want to. Just seems like over kill (no pun intended).

 

[Alan]

Found this during a Google Image search...yuck:

 

[ABC123]

If your concerned with quack light N apps will help battle quack over several years. I've done it to a large property, but if you ever let off the N and have mostly poa it will convert back in about 18 months. It's a very aggressive plant and it can regenerate from roots 3x over.

 

[Schaef]

Now, to find a way to do this without my neighbors thinking that I've lost my mind because I'm painting blades of grass with a paint brush. :lol: :lol:

 

[chrisben]

Wear dark clothes and do it in the dark? =)

 

[gene_stl]

I was just at Home Depot looking at what they stock and there is a Roundup branded gel applier intended for "painting" type jobs. It was $10. I didn't buy one but I was tempted.