How to get rid of creeping weeds without breaking roots
Standard weed killers fail against creeping weeds, and pulling them by hand usually snaps the short stem while leaving long, deep roots behind to regenerate. This painstaking work causes backache and leaves tiny rooted fragments that can completely take over a patch of lawn within a year if any are left in the ground.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Pulling weeds by hand
- 2Pulling them out by hand
- 3Pulling the grass out manually by hand
- 4Pulling the vines and rooted nodes out by hand after a rain or when the soil is moist
- 5Using a gardening knife, 2-prong weeding implement, or cooking fork to pry the plant from the soil
- 6Applying herbicides containing dicamba or Weed-B-Gone via spot-spraying
- 7Painting individual leaves with neat glyphosate using a cotton bud or swab
- 8Scraping the driveway with a tractor blade and adding fresh gravel
- 9Applying home remedies like dish soap, water, vinegar, and salt
- 10Using chemical weed killers and soil sterilants like Ortho GroundClear or Pramitol
- 11Mowing the driveway weeds as if they are part of the lawn
- 12Installing driveway fabric beneath new gravel layers
- 13Using chemical treatments like triclopyr with MSO or T-Zone SE
- 14Spraying chemicals to kill the sprouts
- 15Applying heavy doses of pre-emergent
- 16Hand-pulling the seedlings manually
- 17Using Tenacity, which thinned the fine fescue but allowed it to come back
- 18Applying glyphosate directly to weed leaves
- 19Using targeted weed control products or DIY alternatives
- 20pulling each dandelion by hand
- 21Applying 2-4-D herbicide
- 22Digging out the patches manually
- 23Spot-treating with non-selective herbicide like Roundup
- 24cutting it shorter
- 25killing it
- 26digging up your entire front yard
- 27Applying glyphosate carefully using a sponge or spray bottle
- 28Using cardboard or plywood as a physical shield while spraying
- 29Digging a trench along the fence line and installing a physical barrier
- 30Killing the entire lawn and starting over with a full renovation
- 31Weedeat the area
- 32Spray a thin line of roundup next to the fence
- 33Keep the area cut so weeds die and grass spreads
- 34trying various weed killers from home improvement stores
- 35spraying Celsius and Sertay
- 36trying atrazine
- 37planning to overseed and fertilize
- 38Covering the area with non-woven geotextile fabric for a couple of months
- 39Treating surviving shoots with glyphosate before laying rock
- 40Scraping off the top 6 inches of soil entirely
- 41Using plastic sheeting in full sun to solarize and cook the grass
- 42Applying chemical herbicides
- 43Using herbicide
- 44Digging up and sifting through the topsoil over the entire yard area
- 45waiting until the grass matures before applying weed treatments
- 46hand-pulling or ignoring the weeds temporarily while focusing on watering and mowing the new grass
- 47using pre-emergent or post-emergent herbicides in late fall or early spring
- 48Using Google Lens to identify the plant
- 49Embracing the growth
- 50Applying quinclorac to kill the crabgrass
- 51Using a propane torch to burn off the crabgrass
- 52Dethatching and mowing dead material to start fresh
- 53Aerating and overseeding
- 54Pulling the weed up by the central taproot
- 55Applying post-emergent retail weed killers like Q4 or Celsius WG
- 56Applying pre-emergent to stop future growth
- 57Using broadleaf spray
- 58Painting with glyphosate or using precision gel
- 59Applying glyphosate to the weed leaves using a tool like a lawn liberator, a DIY version, or a paintbrush
- 60Checking the Cool Season Beginners Guide
- 61Using Ortho Weed B Gone from Walmart
- 62Spraying and digging out the roots
- 63Using overlapping cardboard to prevent thistle growth
- 64Applying a product called Thistledown after pulling existing weeds
- 65Waiting it out through fall to let the fescue establish, then hitting the lime green patches with glyphosate when actively growing.
- 66Doing spot treatments over time instead of a full reset.
- 67Paying a landscaping service between $500 and $1000 to maintain the yard
- 68Accepting shaded problem areas as mulch beds or planting different grass types like fescue
- 69Using a backpack sprayer with selective herbicide to spot-treat weeds
- 70Waiting until retirement to fully handle yard maintenance
- 71Pulling small patches by hand
- 72Trying over-the-counter products that only bleach the plant without killing it
- 73Considering canceling professional lawn care service
- 74Debating on calling someone to kill the area and lay new sod
- 75rake it really well
- 76put a nice topper soil on it
- 77scarify
- 78aerate first
- 79reapply roundup again before you seed
- 80Spraying Fusillade II herbicide at specific application rates and timing
- 81waiting for the moss to fully brown and crispy before power raking
- 82applying a second, lighter dose of moss killer
- 83Cutting down the plant and treating with Round-Up
- 84Drilling holes into tree suckers and pouring hardwood killer or Crossbow in them
- 85Using diesel as a weed killer
- 86Using Bonide Chickweed, Clover and Oxalis Killer concentrate
- 87Following the Cool Season Beginners Guide
- 88Dethatching (which pulls up the grass in clumps and looks terrible)
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Every year the weeds come up in my driveway like this in thick mats. No amount of weed killer or fire seems to make a difference.”source ↗
“What is this weed growing on my lawn? It has a strong almost woody stem. I have to rip them out. They're anchored well into the soil”source ↗
“The lawn started growing fine but then the weeds came back with vengeance.”source ↗
“What are my options now? Should I redo or use a weed killer? What did I do wrong here?”source ↗
“It’s been a battle for years to get rid of clumping fescue so I went completely away from any fescue.”source ↗
“We tried to pull this by hand lot of times. Still it comes back. How to get rid of this?”source ↗
“it’s completely taken over now into dense patches all across the lawn. I want to remove it and get grass back, For those who have cleared out heavy clover. What methods worked best for you”source ↗
“Normal weed killers don’t seem to effective.”source ↗
“Trying to pull them out without accidentally pulling out new grass is tedious.”source ↗
“Please help me identify this weed that has bren growing on my lawn.”source ↗
“When I saw all the bamboo, I was immediately concerned, since I've seen and read about all the horror stories.”source ↗
“The property I closed on back in mid July was overgrown with dandelions & other wild flowers. Large portions of the lawn are more dandelions than grass - quite literally.”source ↗
“I will not use an herbicide, so im guessing the only choice is to pull each dandelion by hand.”source ↗
“This Bermuda grass is taking over my garden bed coming in from my neighbors yard.”source ↗
“I’ve tried pulling it out but after hours, I’m no where near.”source ↗
“I’ve read the only real way is with glyphosate but am I worried since it’s in my beds there might be collateral damage to plants I want to keep.”source ↗
“Torpedo grass. It’s impossible tog get rid of”source ↗
“Good luck getting rid of it!!!”source ↗
“Want to remove the FF and leave the TTTF and PRG dominating this area. Question is, is there a chem option to remove it alone?”source ↗
“After mowing it grows faster than the rye, fescue, KBG blend. Anything to kill it without harming the other lawn grasses.”source ↗
“Unfortunately not all of the weeds died when I sprayed roundup up a couple weeks ago.”source ↗
“Should I wait longer, apply another round of moss killer, or is it ready to power rake now?”source ↗
“Honestly where do I begin?”source ↗
“I can't get rid of the clover and whatever these tall grass things are. Help!”source ↗
“Dude those sprouts are relentless, my neighbor has one and I swear I pull up a hundred babies every spring. It's like a zombie plant that refuses to die.”source ↗
“I have thousands. My back will not allow it.”source ↗
“I have a side area next to my house that’s roughly 10x35 that I’m eventually going to rock with 3/4” limestone. The area is a lot of torpedo grass and I also want to stop it from spreading into my grass areas.”source ↗
“Torpedo grass is stubborn as hell, smothering can weaken it but those rhizomes will probably just sit there waiting for light.”source ↗
“Do you uave any recommendations on what to use? I believe she wants the other plants to stay but wants to get rid of the bamboo”source ↗
“I cleared a back yard of bamboo years ago. It required digging up and sifting through the tip 6-8 inches of topsoil over the entire yard area.”source ↗
“I am building a quote to renovate this home owner's front landscaping. They said they have not done much to it in the past 2 (+?) years, and the thistles are out of control.”source ↗
“Has anybody used overlapping cardboard to prevent thistle growth, and did it work? If not, what do you recommend doing?”source ↗
“I've tried tackling things like nut sedge on my own, and the results are there but I'm definitely not efficient compared to the price, and thats not even the entire yard.”source ↗
“Deciding whether I wait to retire to handle it and just live with it, or if you fine folks can toss me some advice.”source ↗
“I've got the backpack and used that for the sedge, again it worked but I felt like the small area I covered cost too much, trying to be more efficient with it.”source ↗
“My driveway gets same weed mats every spring and i just gave up, now i just mow it like it's part of the lawn.”source ↗
“Wild violet for sure. Battling it for a few years in my yard.”source ↗
“Wild violet. My yard was covered with them a few years ago, and now I have a few which I normally just pull by hand rather than already chemicals.”source ↗
“Following as I’m curious on if you can really remove from a blend”source ↗
“You gotta get the roots out and stay consistent”source ↗
“is there anyway to get rid of it without a full lawn renovation.”source ↗
“There’s no good way to get rid of it other than digging it up or round up.”source ↗
“Could anyone help me figure out what it is and best way to get rid of it.”source ↗
“I want to get rid of this weed bed that I’ve neglected. And prevent the new ones from coming out. Later I want to mulch and plant small bushes.”source ↗
“It’s been very prominent this year.”source ↗
“This shit keeps popping up in my back yard.”source ↗
“Over the last few years the crabgrass has gotten uncontrollable.”source ↗
“In the past I’ve tried aerating/over seeding/fertilizing with zero success.”source ↗
“I then put seed down and watered and in the fall the crabgrass came back.”source ↗
“Bit too much to pull it all by hand.”source ↗
“I've got broadleaf spray but will be no good if this is crabgrass, there's a crabgrass/clover spray but not safe for bermuda.”source ↗
“This is growing about 10x the speed of everything else.”source ↗
“I have a bunch of poa triv mixed in with fescue that I wanted to try to get rid of. What i've done so far and failed.”source ↗
“every year it seems this strip between road and sidewalk continuously get worse.”source ↗
“Seems like since they did last year and this year it has gotten worse.”source ↗
“Just made me realize I’m going to cancel trugreen”source ↗
“How about a quarter acre and I have some patches of the stuff and I started with spraying fusillade 2. Am I doing this right? I'm trying to figure out which herbicide I can spray on my lawn to control and kill the Bermuda grass without harming my fescue lawn.”source ↗
“Following. Im also in LBC with a Marathon 2 lawn that is being taken over by Bermuda.”source ↗
“Both my neighbors do absolutely nothing for their lawn and landscape. So I’m fighting an uphill battle every year starting around late July/early August.”source ↗
“Clovers are my daily headache too.”source ↗
“They have basically taken over my lawn front any back.”source ↗
“half the back is fine the other half is this type of grass and it’s super annoying.”source ↗
“any help identifying it and how to get rid of it much appreciated”source ↗
“This seems to be some veiny weed that almost looks like grass. How do I get rid of it.”source ↗
“Back in February when we moved to this house, none of this was here. Within 6 months, it keeps spreading. Any recommendations for it?”source ↗
“Hello, I am trying to get rid off this one but it’s so stubborn… tried various weed killers from HD/Lowe’s that is safe on Saint Augustine grass(floratam) but doesn’t seem to do anything… how can I get rid off it safely?”source ↗
“How do I get rid of it and other standard weeds without totally destroying the yard? Never had a weed issue until this years drought.”source ↗
“How can I fix this lawn it’s driving me crazy, this is in northern Virginia, what product would be pet safe to fix the lawn and kill the weeds?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 6What is an effective pre-emergent herbicide for lawns?
- 6Overgrown nutsedge going to seed