How to Tell if It`s Nutsedge Growing in Your Yard

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Yellow nutsedge plants start with a smooth, ball-shaped underground tuber out of which the plant`s leaves grow. The leaves start at the base and gradually taper off into a sharp tip. In contrast, purple nutsedge plants have oblong-shaped tubers that are covered in hair, and the leaves` tips abruptly go from wide to narrow with none of the gradual tapering seen in yellow nutsedge. When mature, purple nutsedge generally reaches a height of approximately 1 1/3 feet, while yellow nutsedge can grow more than double that, reaching a height of approximately 3 feet.

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Yellow nutsedge has a pale, yellow-green appearance, while purple nutsedge has dark green foliage. Although nutsedge is easily confused with grass, inspecting the stems on its leaves reveals a V shape while true grass plants have hollow, cylinderlike stems. When these weeds produce flowers, purple nutsedge blossoms have a purple or red hue while yellow nutsedge has gold or brown flowers, resulting in seeds with respectively similar colors.

The foliage on nutsedge weeds generally dies off every fall, leaving behind dormant tubers in the top 14 inches of your garden`s soil that resprout every spring. Yellow nutsedge typically appears earliest, sprouting once the outdoor soil has reached a temperature of approximately 43 degrees Fahrenheit. In contrast, purple nutsedge doesn`t appear until soil temperatures have hit approximately 59 degrees. The plants initially prefer moist areas, although once established, the weeds can spread to all locations of your garden.

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Once you have reviewed the weeds in your garden and determined that some or all of them are actually nutsedge, take immediate control of the situation to kill and control these weeds before they invade new parts of your landscape. Because nutsedge tubers require moisture to thrive, tilling the top eight to 14 inches of soil to dig up the weeds and expose the tubers to the sun`s heat can help dry out and kill this weed. However, this method only works for purple nutsedge. For more successful control of both yellow and purple nutsedge, spray them with a ready-to-use glyphosate herbicide, such as Roundup`s ready-to-use sprays. Mist the product evenly over all surfaces of the weed, wait two to three weeks and reapply if weed growth persists. Be careful not to get glyphosate-based products on any desirable vegetation, as this chemical is nonselective and will kill all plants, not just nutsedge.