Question
I live in the upper midwest, Milwaukee WI and understand the process in removal of undesirable bentgrass from my exisitng lawn. I have done the Roundup spraying 2 years ago and reseeded in the fall with great success. The problem I have is that the bentgrass continues to come back in different areas of my lawn. I can certainly go through the entire burn-out process again but what cause the grass to return, how do I prevent this from occurring again? What conditions are causing the bentgrass to reappear? This year the spot are much larger and many more of them. Avoiding doing something means it will engulf my entire backyard in a short time. Any direction or information you can provide is greatly appreciated. Thank you

Answer
Let me see if I understand you here, Leary.

You ROUND-UPPED YOUR ENTIRE PROPERTY?

Keep that up and we'll be like those villages in China, like those Eastern European cities where you can only visit for a few hours because of all the toxic waste.

Boy, do I have a headache now.  I think I need a drink.

Had you applied an Organic pre-emergent weedkiller twice a year after eliminating the Creeping Bentgrass originally, you would not have this problem.

'Greenhouse Screening of Corn Gluten Meal as a Natural Control Product for Broadleaf and Grass Weeds'
(http://www.gluten.iastate.edu/pdf/grnhsechr.pdf) was a test conducted in 1995 at Iowa State University of how well Corn Gluten Meal keeps 22 weeds from sprouting.

Researchers observed: "The efficacy of CGM for control of a particular weed ... depends on the amount of CGM applied.  Broadleaf species were generally more susceptible to CGM than grasses ..."  I can just see you now, Leary -- I can tell you have never heard of this.

I hate to be harsh about this, but Round-Up was completely unnecessary.  You could have solarized your soil and you would have baked all the weed seeds near the surface that had not germinated, and cooked the ones that had.

I'll skip the rest of my Round-Up speech.  As you see, it does not work all the time on everything everywhere.  In addition it's an ecological disaster.

Now that the old Bentgrass is re-established, you're back to the drawing board.  Here's a good one:  Monsanto wants to introduce a Frankengrass with Roundup-Ready properties -- and you know what I just read about?  BENTGRASS!  They want to sell Roundup-Ready BENTGRASS!  Do you know what that is?  Bentgrass that is UNAFFECTED by Round-Up!  I can hardly wait.  This stuff gets seeded on a golf course near you, and next thing you know, it will be EVERYWHERE!

No problem.  Cut out patches where it's growing and throw them in the compost pile.  You DO have a compost pile, don't you, Leary?   And if it's too big to cut out, just Solarize.  And watch the USDA -- they're the minds Monsanto is trying to change to get a reversal of their February ruling that Monsanto can't do that.  Trust me, Monsanto is not going to give up on this one.

Back to your Bentgrass seeds, sprouting everywhere.  Do you know how to Solarize, Leary?

Solarizing kills everything underground.  You wait 'til maybe July.  Soak the section you hate the most (to get all seeds germinating), put down some clear painter's plastic, secure it with rocks or whatever to seal the edges, and let the sun bake and heat and bake for a month.  The temps underneath soar.  Any Earthworms there just move deeper or to the left or right.  In early August, remove the plastic, put down some annual Alfalfa or another Nitrogen fixer, add some nice organic stuff (compost, humus, peat) and in the fall put down some state of the art seed.  No more Crabgrass!  No fuss, no muss.  And 8 to 10 weeks before the first frost, you till under and seed your Grass.  AGAIN.

Piece of cake.

You can do this now in places you see Bentgrass.  Meantime, you should give serious consideration to getting up close and personal with your Lawn and hand weeding areas that are not too bad.  A dose of a Corn Gluten Meal Weedkiller will stop anything else from sprouting in areas you are not solarizing.  You need a full sun Lawn for this to work best.  Do you have that?

Leary, Round-Up is bad for the Earthworms.  It's bad for the Squirrels and the Birds. It's bad for the pets in the neighborhood that go running around your Lawn in the morning.  The kids across the street.  The mailman.  The UPS guy.  Your friends.  It's bad for YOU, Leary.  And it's TOTALLY NOT NEEDED.

Give your Earthworms a break.  Solarize.  Get with the program.  The Earth is Round.  There are other tactics in the war on weeds, but this will get you started.

Now for that drink.