Get rid of torpedograss
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- From the bottom of my heart I am so sorry for anyone that has to deal with torpedograss in their lawn or landscape beds. I have been dealing with this mess since I moved into this house and it has caused me great heartache to the point I have even considered giving up on the garden.
There maybe other ways at eradicating torpedograss, but this is what I have found to be the most effective. I even got to the point of seriously considering using some chemical methods, but my research led me to believe that those are not even 100% effective and can't get down and kill off the rhizomes.
I wish nothing more than you having success in your battle against torpedograss no matter what your plan of attack is. I hope this video was able to help you in some way.
Check out this video that shows what I was talking about when I had the entire front and side yard mulched and looking good when the torpedograss started poking thru:
• March 2019 Garden Tour...
Thank you for sharing. It really helps knowing I'm not the only one. I can only clear about 8-10 sq/ft per day, but at least I know there is no other choice.
Thanks for this video. I moved into a home in Florida in October of 2022 and have been in a constant battle trying to eradicate this crap. I'm glad I know I'm not alone in my quest to do this and while it appears tough, you have given me hope to keep fighting. My neighbors must think I'm nuts though. Of course, most of their lawns is nothing but weeds (torpedo grass would be better than what they have) so they can balk all they want. :)
Keep up the good fight mate. You will get it with enough persistence! God bless you.
Thank you for this very informative video. I am new to gardening and kept trying to yank it out but now its spreading like crazy in my flower bed. I plan on digging it out with my hands this weekend- like you suggested. THANK YOU!!
Kimmie, how did it go trying to tackle the TG? I can't stress enough to make sure you protect the edges of your flower bed at least 6inches below the surface so it can't shoot back into your bed, because it will and you will be back to square one again. Look into a product on Amazon called "grass barrier" it is something I have started using recently with good results so far.
quinclorac and spot treat with glyphosate. No it isn't 100%. It reduces the problem from "welp I have a torpedo grass lawn" to minor annoyance. I had a small isolated patch near sidewalk surrounded by concrete with torpedo grass. Tried chemical free for a resod and burned it with weed torch. burned new sprouts after a month. Prepared the soil with compost and burned again. None of that stopped it. Herbicides keep it at bay
I just found this in my lawn. I'm thinking about pulling some runner but not breaking it off. Then I want to curl it up to insert into a plastic bag and treat it with Roundup and seal the bag to prevent from leaking. The idea being to only treat the torpedo but not the good grass hopefully killing the roots.
Disappointing to say the least. Unfortunately the torpedo grass I have in my yard was from Mississippi River spillway sand. I didn't know that's where torpedo grass grew. The LSU agcenter indicated that this has been around our area since the late 80s. I'm just surprised in the 30 plus years there isn't a herbicide that kills it to eradicate it
Thanks for the video... Like some other viewers said, we have a 1/2 acre lot covered in this stuff, hand digging isn't realistic. I spoke with a horticulturist after doing some research and I am going to be doing a trial with a chemical called Sethoxydim. It is the active ingredient in Fertilome Grass Killer II. I will post an update in a few weeks, but it is said to be able to treat it while not completely damaging the lawn to beyond repair, (going to test a small area to be safe though!).... To be continued
Best of luck to you. I would be interested to know the results!
Please let us know.
I found the video below from The University of Florida which led me Sethoxydim, too.
ua-cam.com/video/1N-_2FKhDUA/v-deo.html
What happened with the Sethoxydim?
Ive used it. Doesnt completely kill the Torpedo Grass, but it does make it turn a little brown. I used it on St. Augustine grass and although it took a while it killed the St. Augustine where I sprayed it
@@christopherpakietur2262 what I have resorted to doing is, I took a normal hand soap foam dispenser and I filled it about half way with "round up", about 14 way with liquid foam soap and 1/4 way with liquid KY jelly lubricant. And I just pump a tiny amount of the mixture directly onto the grass blades. Without a "barrier", even applying it like that will still kill St. Augustine about 6 to 8 inches around the directly applied spot, for some reason. So what I start doing is I took a plastic lid (like a coffee can lid) and made one cut from the center out to the edge. Then I find a Torpedo Grass blade and put the lid over the blade and pull the blade of grass through the cut in the lid. Then I apply my concoction. I've just recently started doing that, but it seems to be killing only the Torpedo Grass so far. Then after it dies I'll dig up the root. Pretty labor intensive process but I hate that grass.
Great infomative video man. Big help.
Hell I thought the vines in my azaleas were going to be a pain. I have about 6500 sq. ft. of "lawn" that has been neglected for years. The only reason the torpedo did not get entirely out of control is the previous owner never once watered. Now I fixed the sprinklers and started watering and slowly the grass is coming back, but the torpedo is coming in also. There has to be a better way.
I spent untold hours hand removing torpedo grass from my yard even going down 2-3 feet to get out the runners that I found down deep. I laid down cardboard and a thick layer of mulch afterwards and my yard looked great for about 4-6 months during the winter growing season but once the summer kicked in, it was absolutely unstoppable. I am now looking at gardening in metal water troughs or elevated raised beds to avoid the problems I have found so far. I just can't bring myself to spray an herbicide in my yard and from my research, it isn't effective anyway.
I feel your pain Andrea Andersen. It can feel so defeating and like it is a lost cause. If you feel like you got at least 90% of it out, the key is to create an impenetrable boarder to keep it from running back in around the edges and also to get out anything that might pop back up as soon as you see it. I have also found that cardboard is not a good idea against torpedo. It gives it time to run and grow under the cardboard and will eventually poke right thru it anyway. I have some new videos I have been posting at my new house of how I am tackling it this time around. Good luck and keep with it you can eventually get the upper hand, I know from experience.
I've tried several herbicides. They kill the grass but not what's underneath. So no, they don't work.
Does the torpedo grass pierce what you are growing in the garden? TG can go down to 14 inches deep ….
Came here looking to see if there was a better way to get rid of this stuff than what I was already doing. Turns out, you're doing exactly what I was already doing. That makes me sad. This stuff just laughs at glyphosate.
I know it is the most frustrating thing on the face of the earth for trying to have a clean garden.
Try TIGR (sethoxydim). It is specifically formulated for torpedo grass. I'm not big into the use of chemicals, but as far as torpedo grass...YES...NUKE IT!
I've found that glyphosate does kill it above the ground and in some cases, helps with the under surface stuff.
@@melissaharrison6547 Does this chemical harm shrubs? My torpedo grass is under my very thick viburnum bushes and under my juniper beds. Thanks.
Asked a farmer years ago what I could do about torpedo grass. He said "Watch it grow." Gotta yard full of it. Makes me sick. Migrated from the neighbor's yard so there's no sense in destroying my yard to get rid of it. It'll just come back.
Where you able to eradicate it? Didn't ever came back?
You need to invest in a sprayer and treat 4 times with herbicide. I had an acre so the hand work wasn't possible and you may eventually resort to it as small stuff can lay dormant deep and haunt you forever.
what kind of herbicide did you use?
@@williamsizemore1189 generic gyphosate 40% diluted as directed. It may return a couple of times from the roots because the glyphosate only works if it coats the leaves it does nothing in the soil. If a piece of root has no leaves it won't get sprayed.So spray, wait 2 weeks for it to do the work, repeat if needed. It doesn't work well in drought so get the grass actively growing before use.
How long do you wait before sodding/seeding for grass?
@@the-octagon I don't grow any grass, removal was for farming/orchard.
@@thechief762 thank you so much for this info. I have roundup pro max and I'm going to go spray it all again soon.
I had no idea what this stuff was. I just had sod webworms that ate my new grass (12 pallets) from 2019 when I built my home. I re sodded in October for about 5 pallets. Now I have this torpedo grass spreading like wild fire from the empty lots behind me.Since my sod is so new from October I can go digging plus it’s in 5-6 pallets worth. Question? Will it kill off my st Augustine grass ? Or kinda just live with it ? It seems my neighborhood are all just living with this grass in their backyards help 😭
It won't kill your st Aug. They will live together, but it will keep spreading thru the st Aug to other areas
Thanks for sharing. Great info
Got some out of the river yesterday. Looked like bamboo. I added 4 to my pond. Hope it wasn't a bad idea. I see sassafras grows the same way. How should I dig a sassafras up?
Only a bad idea if you don't want it running through your yard in a couple years.
Thanks... I feel that we have met "The Borg" and its torpedo grass; I have a ton of that stuff. Where are your Fire Ants; don't see any in this video? We have tons of those too.
I was very blessed to not have much issue with fire ants at that property.
I just learned yesterday that spinosad kills fire ants, its cheap and organic, wont hurt bees which is why I use it to kill pest in my garden. Anyway look up on Amazon Southern Ag Naturalyte, cost 17 bucks for a quart of concentrate.
Great video. My torpedo grass is growing up through my dense shrubs so it’s almost impossible to remove it due to limited exposure. Any suggestions?
Thank you for watching!
I am so sorry to hear about your torpedo. Once it gets in the root system of your shrubs, it is almost impossible to remove it without ripping out all the shrubs too and overhaul the whole bed (making sure to protect the edges from future invasion). I have spent hours at a customer’s house manually try to pull out the torpedo runners amongst a hedge of arboricolas. What a pain that was hand digging around all those roots. And the stuff still came back because I physically couldn’t get to all the runners in the shrub root balls without pulling the entire shrub out.
@@ajourneysustainable913 Thank you for your speedy reply. You’ve confirmed what I thought I needed to do, and I think it is the only way to be totally sure I get rid of it. I have no idea how I even got it in the first place. Having it run under bushes is the worst. That makes it so difficult to eradicate it without pulling up all my well established shrubs (20 years old). Oh well, better things than people. Thanks so much again.
@@carolebersole4025 best of luck to you. I am sorry I can’t provide you with a silver bullet answer. Just know that you are not alone.
Agree 100% ... the stuff is a plague of biblical proportions.
Do you notice if it make a difference what time of the year you pull it out? And have you ever tried solarizing the soil?
This stuff grows very fast in the hot summer and not much at all in the summer. It would be a much better project to do for the winter. But my advice is to just attack it as soon as possible and not delay.
I have tried solarizing on a limited basis. I wasn't thrilled with the results. Maybe if you used a material that the runners couldn't poke through and left it down for a LONG time. It just seems like it never killed the rhizome part and kept coming back up.
Error in that reply. Doesn't grow much at all in the winter
@@ajourneysustainable913 Yes, I have seen people say that they have seen torpedo invade a neighbors yard across the street, having sent out runners that went all the way under the pavement. Some claim it can send runners as far as 100 feet.
interesting video , subscribed!
"10 Feet long root" >>> I'm screwed.
Gawd I hate torpedograss. Eradicating it basically means removing a foot or two of your soil, and that your neighbors do the same.
Exactly. What a pain it is.
@@ajourneysustainable913 If someone could create a safe, patent-able solution they'd become very rich, very quickly. I'd be standing in line to buy it.
Is there any way to save the St Augustine when digging up the torpedoes?
Unfortunately not. If you catch it soon enough and just have an isolated case, you can dig it out with minimal damage to the turf grass and just let it grow back in over time.
Oh bummer. Planted 15 pallets of SA plugs which were doing so well until those damn torpedoes.
I have seen Pallets of fresh cut SA sod with torpedo roots imbedded in the squares of sod. So it is like infested the sod farms and they just keep spreading it around to whoever buys the sod. Major issue
In a mulched area, quinclorac will kill this stuff.
Yeah, aggressive. If I weedwack or mow torpedo grass, you ever hear of the blades or any other part of this weed re-growing from cutting it? Thanks.
No, it will regrow and propagate itself from any part of the root system. Maybe if you weed whack it when it has gone to seed it could spread that way.
So no amount nor brand of liquid weed killer will kill torpedo grass??
I have not heard from a reputable source about a product guaranteed to eliminate torpedo. Glyphosate will knock it back, but it always seems to regrow.
Any herbacides tto counteract it.
Not really anything 100% effective. Glyphosate will knock it back and is somewhat effective. But, I don’t really want to be messing around with that stuff plus it is not guaranteed to get rid of it.
This is not a recommended solution for a FL lawn. Trust me. You will die in the heat to try and manually remove this terribly aggressive grass and with our sandy soils, i swear, this grass has horizontal shoots more than a foot deep. Its nasty beyond belief. Best thing for central FL, where I live, is deliver super concentrated Relian (systemic - so you will need to wait about 12 weeks before re-sod) or round up (usually after three applications is dead AND THAT TAKES ABOUT 8 WEEKS). Just NUKE the whole area. The grass leaves will absorb the chemical all the way down to the rhizome. But will take repeated applications. Do not attempt to dig out the soil in an effort to get the rhizomes. Trust the chemical. Then re sod with St. Augustine Provista. It is a St. Augustine grass developed between Scotts and that is resistant to Roundup. So when (not if) the torpedo returns, you just paint the entire Provista lawn with roundup. Problem solved.
Caution - be aware that Provista is a joint development between Scotts and the makers of Roundup - Monsanto (AKA Bayer) and yes the same company as Bayer aspirin.
I say this because I have found Torpedo rhizomes in Provista that I have ordered for my clients. Naturally I fire those providers on the spot and make them take back the grass.
I believe that Monsato and Scotts are in bed with one another. Wat better way to capitalize? Promote grass that is round up resistant, and punch a couple rhizomes in every pallet.
whallah - you have a life long customer needing to buy roundup.
Truth exposed.....
That shit is taking over my whole lawn. It started from a load of dirt my neighbor got to fill a planter. A true nightmare. I had a beautiful St Augustine lawn before this crap. Spray Roundup on that stuff. Who in the world would dig that out with their fingers.
Did you ever complete this project?
No, I just keep doing little chunks at a time when my schedule permits which hasn't been much lately. My plan is to eventually get rid of all the grass on my property.
Would love an update too!
I have like 20000 square feet of this stuff. Where do I even begin
I am so sorry Chris. We moved to a new property that is like 2.5 acre of all torpedo grass. So I feel your pain. I am hopefully going to be clearing some of it soon for garden space and will make a video of that. The method I have in mind involves the use of a sod cutter to get the bulk of the work done.
Do a total kill and start with new sod.
Sometimes I felt like setting fire to everything in hopes that would kill it off. Probably not 😕
The problem with that is unless your next door neighbors all do the same, their torpedo grass will simply travel to your new yard.
@@kenlong5664 this is true. This is why you have to set an impenetrable edge. I will have a video coming on this with an affordable product that is not horrible work to install.
I've have luck keeping it out of a flower bed by first manually removing it and then surrounding the area I want to keep free of torpedo grass with 18 in deep corrugated metal.
In areas too large to protect with a physical barrier, I've had luck with fusillade. It is a selective herbicide, so you can hit New growth of torpedo grass without killing ornamentals and shrubs.
Torpedo grass is basically satan grass, Quinclorac will kill it if you have a zoysia lawn. This stuff is the reason I tore out my st augustine lawn.
Hand pulled an ungodly amount of this crap.
Yeah this stuff sucks.