Any apocalyptic way to kill nutgrass?

[strantor]

I'm installing a 24ft above ground pool in my yard and I'm paranoid about the nutgrass. I have lots of it. I've already excavated a flat spot for it; at the deepest about 8" and at the shallowest about at grade, maybe 1" below. The internet says you need to dig 14" below nutgrass to ensure you get it all. I really don't want to dig that deep. First off, my tractor doesn't dig like a bobcat. I can't get down into a tight hole and scoot around digging. Second, I don't want the pool sitting in a hole that's going to stay full of water for 4 months a year, rusting it out from the bottom. So the depth I dug, I think is best for the pool. But the nutgrass... it will grow right up through a pool.

I've already doused the ground with 10gal of diesel and 10 gal of gasoline and torched the crap out of it. Then I sprayed 10gal of super-concentrated mixture of roundup and Image. The instructions for both products said they need to be sprayed on emerged plants to be effective but I sprayed the bare dirt anyway. It was supposed to make me feel better but it didn't. I'm not sure the soil burning did anything either, but I still felt like I was accomplishing something.

Before I put the pool in, I will spread several bags of salt and then lay down at least two layers of geotextile road fabric, and some plastic sheeting too. I've seen nutgrass grow through road fabric before so I'm not sure how much good it will do.

Is there anything else I can do to definitively eradicate the nutgrass tubers subgrade before I proceed? I really, really don't want to have a nutgrass problem, ever, after I install this pool. Is there somewhere I can get recycled uranium or something to spread over the area? I'm usually opposed to harsh chemicals but I will absolutely make an exception for this.

 

[Buxus]

Sedgehammer herbicide. It's not cheap, but it works incredibly well.

 

[boomer1025]

First thing you should have done was sprayed the area with the roundup and waited till it was dead. Then maybe sprayed the area with ground clear bbefore you even done and digging. Might spray the area with the ground clear before you do much else. then wait and see if anything comes up, then installed the pool.

 

[suburbanfarmer]

How to kill nutsedge in 72 hours or less. (Step-by-step process with pictures of the results) - YouTube

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

nutsedge.

Did you get the ground level? I like soft sand under my tarp. The pool still mashes it down and hardens it.

 

[strantor]

Sedgehammer herbicide. It's not cheap, but it works incredibly well.

First thing you should have done was sprayed the area with the roundup and waited till it was dead. Then maybe sprayed the area with ground clear bbefore you even done and digging. Might spray the area with the ground clear before you do much else. then wait and see if anything comes up, then installed the pool.

How to kill nutsedge in 72 hours or less. (Step-by-step process with pictures of the results) - YouTube

Ok I've researched the quoted suggestions (sedge hammer, ground clear, sedge ender) and it seems they all share the same caveats as the roundup and the Image that I've already sprayed: they only kill the emerged nutsege, and in most cases there is a narrow window of time when they are most effective; in early spring after the nutseges have 3 blades but before they grow 5 blades. They recommend repeat treatments, every spring, for a few years. Because the nutgrass "nuts" abound beneath the soil and can lay dormant for several years before spontaneously deciding to sprout up, and these products don't permeate the ground to kill the nuts. I appreciate the suggestions but I'm not convinced there is a solution just yet.

I heard an older gentleman in town a while back (I wish I had listened more closely) talking about a method they used to use to kill nutgrass, where the area to be treated would have several dishes of a particularly nasty chemical laid out, and then covered with black plastic sheet, sealed tight to the ground around the edges. During the heat of the day, the chemical would turn to a gas, which would slightly inflate the plastic sheet, and then at night would condense back to a liquid. He said this trapped chemical gas (wish I could remember what it was) would permeate the soil over a foot deep and kill every single living thing that existed in the ground there. Grass, nutgrass, weeds, ants, worms, rhizomes, everything. Total apocalyptic death across the board. If this sounds familiar at all, please tell me what you know about it. This sounds like what I need. I suspect however that, if there was any truth to it, as effective as it was, probably something like that would be illegal these days.

 

[tjkubota93]

I would think you could soak the ground with a pre-emerge like simazine or something. There are alot of pre emerge chemicals, some are stronger than others.

 

[tjkubota93]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw2rRcaDNmQsrhINMnOQQAW8

Sounds like you want metolachlor

 

[s219]

Sedgehammer herbicide. It's not cheap, but it works incredibly well.

Yep, it works great (and will kill the nuts attached to treated plants). But it needs to be applied to growing plants. I take it the firebombing has eliminated those.

Nutsedge "nuts" can remain dormant in the soil for many years (10-15 years, I was told) and then sprout a plant. It's a tough cookie and very hard to eliminate -- can outlast some of us.

 

[radios1]

Ok I've researched the quoted suggestions (sedge hammer, ground clear, sedge ender) and it seems they all share the same caveats as the roundup and the Image that I've already sprayed: they only kill the emerged nutsege, and in most cases there is a narrow window of time when they are most effective; in early spring after the nutseges have 3 blades but before they grow 5 blades. They recommend repeat treatments, every spring, for a few years. Because the nutgrass "nuts" abound beneath the soil and can lay dormant for several years before spontaneously deciding to sprout up, and these products don't permeate the ground to kill the nuts. I appreciate the suggestions but I'm not convinced there is a solution just yet.

I heard an older gentleman in town a while back (I wish I had listened more closely) talking about a method they used to use to kill nutgrass, where the area to be treated would have several dishes of a particularly nasty chemical laid out, and then covered with black plastic sheet, sealed tight to the ground around the edges. During the heat of the day, the chemical would turn to a gas, which would slightly inflate the plastic sheet, and then at night would condense back to a liquid. He said this trapped chemical gas (wish I could remember what it was) would permeate the soil over a foot deep and kill every single living thing that existed in the ground there. Grass, nutgrass, weeds, ants, worms, rhizomes, everything. Total apocalyptic death across the board. If this sounds familiar at all, please tell me what you know about it. This sounds like what I need. I suspect however that, if there was any truth to it, as effective as it was, probably something like that would be illegal these days.

it looks like you are describing Granular Chlorine, which would do as you describe..