I have been puzzled and horrified at the amount of nutsedge and bad grasses that came up after I used cedar mulch but I thought this year it was because of the rain. Opened a new bag this morning and found lots of nutsedge growing in what had been an unopened bag. I should have caught on sooner. Most of my flower garden is basically ruined because of this stuff. Bought this at Lowe's.
That is bad news! I always use cypress mulch or hardwood mulch and haven't had a problem with them. (half my family is allergic to cedar)
The good news though, is that the nut is in the top couple of inches and should be fairly easy to dig out, once it gets deeper your garden is truly ruined.
That's the worst of it. I bought the same brand a year ago and noticed an increase in nutsedge but thought it was because I had not tended to my gardens as I usually do because was caring for my mother-in-law's final illness and estate during summer of 2014. Should have caught on to the fact that in the areas where I didn't use the cedar mulch, didn't have nutsedge or weed/grass problem.
We have used this particular brand of mulch for years and never had nutsedge problems.
You can always not buy more, but today while it is not incredibly hot, if it was my garden I'd be digging the stuff out with a hand digger to be sure you get the nut, because not much else will kill it. Speaking of which I need to go to the garden
I'm a frequent flyer at Lowe's b/c I buy a lot of this same mulch. I only buy cedar or shredded hardwood. There's another brand they carry and sometimes I'll get that one. I have never had a problem with nutsedge from the mulch. (Yes, grrr, I do have nutsedge, but not from the bags of mulch.) In fact, I have 3 or 4 bags laying around my yard waiting for me to spread them. All of the bags are torn. Can't speak for other stores, but the Lowe's near me will sell torn bags of mulch at half price, and that's why I know the bags are somewhat torn.
As Gypsi said, carefully dig the nutsedge by hand and be sure to get the nut. Look closely to see if there's a fine thread or 2 or 3 sprouting from the nut vertically or horizontally. Those lead to more nuts. But the bags aren't that deep, so you might not have that problem.
If you have a bag that looks like the one you pictured (not totally opened), I'd take it back to Lowe's. They should replace it.
Dumb question how do i tell grass from nutsedge? I had a terrible time with grass last year, worst year ever. It didn't show up again, even with all the rain until I started planting my veggies. The beds that aren't planted but still getting watered don't have any grass (nutsedge) very mysterious.
Nutsedge looks more like lily straps than grass. There is also a little "nut" on the bottom of the root.
We also buy ripped bags of mulch! It's cheaper and the store is usually glad to get rid of it because they can recoup a bit of their cost. Even selling it at cost is a win for them.
To follow up on my original post about this problem. The mulch company representative called me and acknowledged the problem with nutsedge. Sent me a $50 Lowe's gift card. Bottom line is: It is a natural product and nutsedge or whatever is with the dead cedar trees that have been pushed into piles with a bulldozer will be ground up with the mulch. Some batches of the product will not have nutsedge and some may have lots of it. After using this brand cedar mulch for several years, I happened to get a very bad batch in 2015. I will never use mulch again without pouring it out in my storage bins, wetting it and giving it time to sprout the nutsedge so I can remove it before I put on my gardens.
That is really good to know DNP!
Well, now I know how I got so much nutsedge in the one area of my flowerbed! I use that same mulch from Lowes. I spent a LOT of time digging out nuts last summer. Ergh!!!
Carla in Rowlett
Wow, that place is close to me.
