We try and encourage the few patches we have in our "lawns" - it is really
pretty, but tends to not last. My wife even avoids cutting it when we get
a patch. Looks like I need to make an acid section, to encourage it :-)


Derek Carver wrote:
: I am posting this message just in case you are suffering this weed on your
: lawns.

: We had at our house when we arrived an old Edwardian Tennis Lawn. This has
: been used as a play area for many years but when the kids left home we decided
: to work on it and turn it into a croquet lawn. But there were large areas of
: field woodrush.

: Experts who came in to help said there was nothing on the market that would
: kill this weed.

: But my old gardening books recommended nitro-chalk in order to create
: conditions disliked by this plant. I duly applied it. There was no instant
: effect, of course, but two or three years later I was suddenly aware that there
: was no field woodrush anywhere to be seen and, as yet, it hasn't returned
: although it is in other parts of the garden that I didn't treat.

: Frankly I can't think what the purpose of the 'nitro' was other than to
: encourage the grass to re-colonise the area. Its disadvantage was that the
: only form in which I could buy this was pelleted, which meant that the
: fertiliser tended to burn the grass for a while where it was concentrated. It
: didn't show up, that much, of course, but in order to keep up with the
: treatment (and not let the lawn return to its acid state again) I think I will
: just add the chalk - assuming one can buy chalk in its powdered form.

: Derek Carver
: Oxshott, Surrey