Question
In reading respsones to several of the questions you answered I noticed you mentioned that your sugar regimen helped you get rid of johnsongrass. I have a beautiful lawn with the exception of the thick bladed johnsongrass spread throughout the lawn. I want to find a way to get rid of it other than killing everything and reseeding. How long could I expect it to take to get rid of the johnsongrass? If you have any suggestions to help me I would appreciate it.

Answer
Hi ason;
how long it takes depends on the condition of your soil.
I had fairly decent soil to begin with. It was loose enough, and drained well enough, and was rich enough to at least sustain growth. I had been working on this soil for over 30 years, but I was using chemical fertilizers, so all the beneficial microbes were, or course, dead, and I had to use no chemicals long enough for them to get a good hold again.
I put down the sugar, and my lawn was about 30 percent undesirable weeds.
I noticed half as many weeds in a couple of weeks, and in a few more weeks, I could see none.
I put down sugar again in the fall.
Some weeds came up the next year, but half or so as many as the year before. I again used sugar in the spring and fall.
About the third or fourty year, the weeds stopped even coming up.
I have continued to use sugar each spring and fall.
I have not used fertilizer in about 6 or 7 years.
So, it depends on how long it takes for your soil to reach this level of richness.
Meantime, if you can't stand the idea of the weeds there, use an asparagus cutter to cut the root below the soil level.
That is a little forked tool.Shaped something like this
====--------=<
Not a very accurate drawing, but all I can do with a keyboard.LOL
Johnson grass, as you have learned, does NOT want to be pulled up. You have to cut the root below the soil level, or dig it out.
The problem with weed killers is, the ones that will kill the grassy weeds will also kill all the grass you want to keep.
I once used a crabgrass killer that was supposed to be safe for St. Augustine lawns. I applied it to just the spot where the crabgrass root was. It killed the crabgrass alright, but it also spread out and killed all the St. augustine in a spot about 18 inches in diameter. It was late in the summer the next year before those spots filled in with grass, and then, of course, new crabgrass had blown in my wind or however the seeds traveled.
Roundup kills everything, broadleaf weed killers kill any broadleafed plant the come into contact with, and grass weed killers kill ALL grass.
Putting down the sugar, and switching to organics is not an overnight cure. It takes time to undo the damage done to the soil with the chemicals.
Before the lawn critters can live in your lawn and soil, all the chemicals have to be gone from it. and the ones that come there have to have time to reproduce, and grow.
After you apply the sugar, and have time with the waterings to get all the chemicals leeched out of your soil, it would speed things up if you bring in a load of earthworms. Probably after 3 or 4 deep waterings.
Those litle critters multiply pretty fast, but the more you add, the faster the benefits of what they do.
Plain old fishing worms will do. I am not sure if they are earthworms or not. I am NOT a worm person. I can't stand to even look at them, and I don't identify them very well, except the grub worms.But what tunnels through the soil (except grub worms and army worms) will benefit the soil by aerating it. cockroaches also aerate the soil, even better than earthworms, because they make bigger tunnels. Use fresh rosemary to keep them out of your house.
cockroaches naturally live in the soil. They come in the house to get food. If you keep them out if the house, they will multiply, live in the soil, and be a benefit, rather than a pest.
I hope this answers it for you.
If it is still not clear, or you need more information, write any time.
There are no stupid questions when it is something you don't have the answer for or not enough information on.
So if you need more clarification or more information just write me.
Charlotte