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black grass

TonyWalton's picture

black grass (post #16131)

TonyWalton on Fri, 01/15/2010 - 10:58
in

I recently moved into a new property with a beautiful garden. One of the highlights is a border of specimen grasses. Every second one is the Ornamental Black Grass "Ophiopogon planiscarpus Nigrescens. I now have a problem however. Many of these specimens now have weed grasses growing through them. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how to remove these green invaders without harming the black grass itself.

Many thanks

Tony

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southernsoil's picture

Hand pulling the weed grass (post #16131, reply #1 of 3)

by southernsoil in reply to TonyWalton [original] on Fri, 01/15/2010 - 11:12

Hand pulling the weed grass will work best. If the weed is persistent then I would try plan B-dig the clump and divide pulling the weed out from the root. Ophiopogon planiscarpus Nigrescens is very slow growing so I would try hand pulling as plan A.

KimmI's picture

The only way I have found to (post #16131, reply #2 of 3)

by KimmI in reply to TonyWalton [original] on Sat, 01/16/2010 - 04:56

The only way I have found to really remove these "weed" grasses from a planting is to dig up the plant I want and clean off all the soil from the roots and then work the roots of the invader out of the root mass. Most often just pulling at them will result in a bit of root coming out but enough remianing to grow back.

The sign of a good gardener is brown knees, not a green thumb.

southernsoil's picture

Black mondo grass is slow (post #16131, reply #3 of 3)

by southernsoil in reply to KimmI [original] on Sat, 01/16/2010 - 19:00

Black mondo grass is slow growing and I would think by digging it and pulling the weed out of the root mass it would hinder the growth. So that is why I thought trying to hand pull first. I have had success with both methods, though the least disturbance to the root the better.