It's a struggle! Good luck with it!

Thanks! Expert is a bit of a stretch, but I appreciate the thought.

How many applications did it take to eradicate the Japanese stilt grass? And how long were your grass before cut? Thx.

Glad it was helpful!

Sounds like a solid plan. Thanks!

For the average homeowner, where does one rent a power dethacher? Or is this a professional job?

​@@Tricia_JoElle I'm sure there are much better professional-quality units but I bought an electric (120V) SunJoe dethatcher. It comes with a tiller/scarifier blade installed, for scraping the soil for seed preparation, and the wire-tined dethatcher bar, which is the one you would swap in. Since I'm not trying to dethatch all the way to the ground during a stiltgrass pulling session I set it at the maximum possible height so it is barely touching the grass, but is snagging the stiltgrass blades. During the Summer session I don't the bag the thatch as the bag is tiny and must be emptied often. Rather, I just do some raking afterward and compost the stiltgrass. By October the stiltgrass will be going to seed so you'll have to bag and dispose of the stiltgrass, lest it re-seed your lawn. For the remaining stiltgrass in the woods that i missed, that is also going to seed; time to try to pull every one of them. Just one plant produces an insane number of seeds so it pays to be thorough. That's how this invasive species is taking over!

@@paulh6591 I am about to buy the SunJoe dethatcher, also. Not because of the stiltgrass, but because the lawn was NEVER dethatched. Good idea to use the SunJoe to pull out the stiltgrass!

This has been the bane of my existence…i have 40 acres in NC and the neighboring property did a clear cut of hundreds of acres and im fighting this on every border….i had to go nuclear with imazapyr…and yes, i killed many trees in the process…ive got a commercial tank sprayer and brush trimmer that i have heavy string on…tried weed wacking before seed…it was fine until the next season…seedbank resprouted…plus all my neighbors property blowing seeds over…so i got permission from my neighbor to spray 40 feet into his property… The only thing that truly stops stilt grass is to kill the seedbank, that is a soil sterilizer….pramitol, ecomazapyr, imazapyr… I was like you and was trying to save native species but it became so counterproductive and expensive…on a large scale where your talking dozens of acres…did the whole acclaim route, 300 gallon sprayer takes 9000ml of acclaim, thats 2.5 gallons, thats $800 per treatment…and you need to do that twice….so…. Imazapyr is only $300 per 2.5 gallons and will kill the seed bank…kills everything I tried fighting the good fight but ran out of patience, money, time… Now i can replant the seedbank with native plants that can outcompete stiltgrass, annual grass/oats as a cover and i created a 40ft wide bare ground fire line between the property that i keep treating with imazapyr

My understanding is that blue violets are important larval food plants for several butterflies and other valuable insects. People in the know are encouraging violets in their lawns (along with some other flowering plants) for just this reason--and not mowing until the larvae have developed. See Xerces Society and other similar organizations for more info.

It's an annual, so it doesn't spread by roots. It certainly produces plenty of seeds, though!

We have another video coming soon!

I am fortunate that I haven't had to deal with Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica). I try to only address problems that I have personal experience with, although I fully appreciate how devastating it can be.

That's ambitious! I don't have any specific experience with Clethodim. I notice that Japanese Stiltgrass is not listed as a species controlled on the label, although it falls into the "annual and perennial grass" description. I would try some Acclaim Extra and see how it compares. Does your current approach not seem to be killing it, or it seems killed at the end of the season, but still comes back the next year? When are you treating it?

@@TheWoodlandSteward no, it does not seem to be killing it. Knocks it down then about this time of year we notice even larger patches than we did before. We spray starting around the first of July, what is the best time? I'm afraid to start too early because it's harder to spot.

You only spray on the leaves. Not soaking wet. Should be no problem. Round up works thru the leaves not the root system. But, you can pull a bunch with your hand. Can take out all the stilt grass in one or two minutes.

I sprayed June 29, 2022. I feel like if you spray earlier you miss all that germinate later. If you spray later, you risk there being cleistogamous (hidden) flowers that have already produced seed.

@@TheWoodlandSteward Thank you for the information.

I've noticed. Prices are all over the map.

It did not seem to kill the Kentucky Bluegrass.

I'm trying mechanical treatments, mowing and string trimming. As well as roundup in different places. The Acclaim Extra looks like something I should add to the arsenal too. I did read on a university ag extension website string trimming before seed really low is effective. I'll tell you next year - LOL.

You would think that mowing would keep it from going to seed, but it still comes up in lawns. Japanese Stiltgrass reportedly produces cleistogamous (hidden) flowers in the stem sheaths which produce seeds even if they never see the light of day.

I would love to hear what you find out!

@@TheWoodlandSteward Maybe I can share a video response next year. This is my first time attacking this species. I really need the marking dye, I miss a lot spraying by eye.

I saw somewhere that you can do that, but if you consistently cut it low it will seed underneath that height. So you have to weed wack it when its tall late in the season before it seeds so it won't grow back in time. I wonder if weed wacking it straight to bare ground would work though.

I believe The Woodland Steward explains he is trying to keep it out of his woodlands. He recognizes that standard lawn grass species are not native, but they are not super-invasive like the stiltgrass. If stiltgrass stayed in the lawn, it wouldn't be such a problem, but it spreads everywhere by seed. He mentions that his property has a relatively small amount of lawn that he wishes to keep.