Dollar grass

I can't seem to get rid of the Dollar grass that keeps making it's way into my hummingbird and butterfly garden. I patiently pull up the long runner pieces of root, but that just seems to make them mad and they return with a vengance. I don't want to kill the other plants in the area, so I'm hesitant to put any chemicals down. It's taking over my yard grass, too, and I'd like to get rid of it, my my garden is most important.
Any ideas?

Ragley, that's a problem if you don't want to use chemicals. Mostly because it seems dollar grass isn't that common to 'take over' a garden, unless you mean 'weed' - there is not that much information about it available.

I agree with Sakura here. I'm wondering if you are meaning quack grass or crab grass. I've had a problem with winter wheat encroaching in my garden after the farmer behind us planted the stuff. That was miserable! And I ended up digging up some of my perennials to get rid of it.

I'm seeing as billion-dollar grass is a millet of wetlands, eaten by the wild fowl of the east coast especially. I've planted it already and it's never become invasive.

If you want to try chemicals, there is now weed killers that are brushed on with a brush. Be aware that flower that grow up against the brushed plant can be affected as well.

Good luck!

I've only ever heard this called "dollar grass." It's round, about the size of a silver dollar and each blade sits on a single stem. It's got runners that creep under bricks and show up 2 feet away from the original (I know, I've followed the runner back!). The runners/roots have hairs, which I think that if I don't pull up each little one, will just get angry and reproduce in the zillions. It started in our yard and spread to my flower garden. When I lived in Florida, we had an entire yard of dollar grass (sandy soil). But where we are now in SW Louisiana's piney woods, the soil is much richer, with cattle manure to fertilize. I've been pulling up as much as I can and spraying the new ones with Round-up, but it's quite tedious. I'm looking for a more long term solution.
Thanks for any help.

Ragley, a 'folktale' says that dollar grass will stop growing and invading if you plant turnips in your garden (who knows?)

anyways, the long term solution seems to be, as I have read, to indeed brush them but..... repeatedly. to use round up is only effective when repeated and repeated. Or, at least, so I gather from all the stories I'm reading about this.

Sigh...repeated applications must be the only way. I might just try the turnips as my husband loves them.
Momentarily, we may have bigger problems with a possible hurricane headed in our general direction, again.
Thanks for the help.

Wow, Ragley that sounds frightening for a person (me) never having witnessed one. Do take care and stay safe!

Hi. I have Dollarweed too. There's a photo of it on my 'other plants' page in my butterfly web site, and it's page is: http://butterflies.heuristron.net/plants/ dollarWeed.html
I've noticed that if the yard is dry the vile stuff goes away, but where it stays moist, no matter how much I pull it out, roots and all, it just keep coming back. I liked the idea of painting the vegitation killer on it! Thanks. I'll give that a try too.

Yes yes yes! Looking at the photo, that's it - but you call it "dollar WEED" which is certainly a much more apt name for it. And since you live in Florida, the climate is much the same as here. Hope you're not hit too much by the drought. We've had dry conditions but it didn't even enter my mind to compare the growth in dry/wet conditions. Now with a cool snap, the dollar weed might get back under control - so I'll start fighting it again in the spring.

did the hurricane pass without leaving too much devastation, ragley?

It didn't even come this way. False alarm. We "jumped the snake" as they say around here. Thanks for asking.

I'm glad it was the right plant Ragley. I posted Julie's paint on herbicide idea on my page, and linked to this page so anyone who finds my site can come here to see how we all do with getting rid of our Dollar weed/grass. We had rain for a wee bit, but it's crispy again and they're talking about tightening the watering restrictions again (gurr grump). Pretty soon, the only garden I'll have left will be my virtual garden on my site!

Oh well, all the better Ragley