Dallisgrass has started to rear its ugly head! I have talked about it before but it is certainly worth discussing again…
Dallisgrass is the most difficult weed to deal with in the North Texas. Dallisgrass is very invasive, and there are two reasons as to why it is so problematic.
First off, it is a perennial plant. That is why there is no way to prevent it it from coming up. Pre emergents kill weed seeds, but are not effective against plants that simply go dormant and come back to life the following season (and thank goodness for that, or else it would keep our turf from coming back as well!). Dallisgrass does seed every year, and a good pre emergent WILL keep those seeds from germinating…but once it has germinated it is there to stay.
Having said that…don’t let the presence of Dallisgrass disappoint you if you did get a pre emergent out. That pre emergent has, and will continue to prevent a LOT of different weeds…it just isn’t going to prevent this particular weed.
Secondly, there is no product on the market that will effectively kill Dallisgrass without damaging your existing turf. It takes a “round up” type product to do any damage, and as you probably know, those products kill just about anything they touch.
Unfortunately the best solution is not a very popular one…manual removal. Not just trying to pull it out by hand either…it is going to take a shovel to dig deep enough an wide enough to completely remove the plant. Once removed, fill in the void with some soil and use sod to patch in the areas.
It’s still early in the season, so its best to get out there now and get it removed, that way you don’t have to see it all year! Keep in mind, if it is no removed it is guaranteed to come back year after year!
