September Is The Best Time To Remove Stiltgrass — Here's The Quick & Easy Way To Do It

By the time September comes along, a lot of people have had it with weeding. In the final weeks of the growing season, no one will blame you if you decide to let the last few weeds slide. You might even be thinking to yourself that if you take them out now you'll just have to deal with them again by springtime anyway. While that might be true with certain types of weeds, September is the best time to remove stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) by hand-pulling, because this is the only time of year when pulling this weed by hand doesn't make the problem worse.

An invasive grass from Asia, stiltgrass likes to grow in disturbed soils. To reproduce, it establishes and spreads throughout the growing season, then goes to seed. Each plant has about 100 to 1,000 seeds, which stay viable up to five years. They're the real enemy, and if you can pull stiltgrass before it goes to seed, there will be fewer seeds in the soil to worry about. However, the problem with this weed is that if you pull it too early, you just exacerbate the problem, since pulling disturbs the soil and creates the perfect growing conditions. That's why pulling it before July only makes things worse. Instead, if you wait until September and pull it before it flowers, the number of seeds in your soil actually shrinks.

Some strategies for removing weeds are good, and some aren't that great. Stiltgrass is one of the easier weeds to pull because it has a shallow root system and lifts out easily, and pulling it is even easier if the soil is moist. Using a sprinkler or waiting until after a rain are both good choices. By September, stiltgrass is tall enough to take in handfuls. Wear gloves and grab it at the base of the plant and you can pull it in big bunches. In large patches, raking first before hand-pulling can make the work go faster.

Flowering occurs in September through October, and depending on your timing, you may need to take extra care when removing Japanese stiltgrass weeds from your yard. If they've already started seeding, bag them as you pull and move slowly so you're not spreading the seeds around. Keep in mind that the seeds will stick to your clothing and shoes (and your pets' fur) so try to avoid tracking them into other parts of your yard.

You shouldn't compost any stiltgrass plants that have gone to seed. If they haven't flowered, you can leave them where they are, but this is another good reason to pull them in September before they go to seed. Also, since September is a good time to start planting perennials, you can fill the area with plants and use mulch to prevent further germination of the stiltgrass seed.