Nutsedge – Removal

Q: I’ve inherited a small farm. I want an income-generating crop that we can plant and harvest. I’m thinking about growing garlic. However, there is lots of nutgrass there. What should I do?

A: You have a tough situation. Nutsedge is almost impossible to eliminate without using herbicide. But if you use a herbicide, you can’t sell the garlic as “organic” which means you won’t get a good price. I’ve used a water-powered weeder (http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=10418&cat=2,2160,40706&ap=1) to control nutsedge in a small area. Perhaps the tool would be useful for you. As far as raising and selling garlic, contact my friends at Georgia Organics, georgiaorganics.org, for help in growing and marketing your crop.