Rootless crabgrass

Rootless crabgrass. That’s what every home owner needs. Yep. That’s it. Just plane old rootless crabgrass. Something so simple, any horticulturalist could come up with it. In fact, this writer is very surprised it has not been done before now. Crabgrass spreads via the root. Take away the root and it will not spread. As I said, simple.

*Digitaria is a genus of about 300 species of grass native to tropical and warm temperate regions. Common names include crabgrass, finger-grass, and fonio. They are slender monocotyledonous annual and perennial lawn, pasture, and forage plants; some are often considered lawn pests. Digitus is the Latin word for "finger", and they are distinguished by the long, finger-like inflorescences they produce.

All crabgrass's have similar growth habits and flowering structures, but species are separated by minor differences in the flower structures and leaf pubescence. They typically have spreading stems with wide flat leaf blades that lie on the ground with the tips ascending. The inflorescence is a panicle in which the spike-like branches are arranged in digitate fashion. The spikelet's are arranged in two rows on an angled or winged rachis. Each spikelet has two florets, only one of which is fertile. The first bracts at the base of the spikelet's are either very minute or absent.

Crabgrass seed has a long germination period; if conditions are right, it can germinate throughout the growing season. Crabgrass's occur in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions of both hemispheres.

Crabgrass's have uses despite being classified by many as weeds. The seeds, most notably those of fonio, can be toasted and ground into a flour, which can be used to make porridge or fermented to make beer. Fonio has been widely used as a staple crop in parts of Africa. It also has decent nutrient qualities as a forage for cattle.

They are annual plants, and one plant is capable of producing 150,000 seeds per season. The seeds germinate in the late spring and early summer and outcompete the domesticated lawn grasses and expand outward in a circle up to 12 inches in diameter. In the fall when the plants die they leave large voids in the lawn. The voids then become prime areas for the crabgrass seeds to germinate the following season.

Biological control is preferable over toxin use on lawns as crabgrass emergence is not the cause of poor lawn health but a symptom, and crabgrass will return annually if the lawn health is not improved by fertilization and proper watering. Crabgrass is quickly outcompeted by healthy lawn permanently because as an annual plant, crabgrass dies off in fall and needs open soil without other vegetation for the germination of its seeds the next spring to survive.

Fertilizing and watering the lawn appears to this writer as a lot of work. Work is exactly what needs to be avoided. Same goes for the idea of keeping the lawn healthy. Work, work, work. It is much easier on the packet book, not to mention the back, to avoid work when it comes to the subject of yard work. If taking away the root is out of the question, at least make them sterile. That may work also. As long as they die out. Never to return. This writer disagrees with the above as to needing open soil to grow. Yes I have seen it grow in open areas but I have seen it grow in the existing grassy areas. Just look at the yard and the neighbors yard and you will become a believer.

So I’ll have an order of seedless crabgrass, please.

*from Wikipedia

Hey, Works for me.