[Gravedigger]

OK while on the new pen today I carried out a walk-over survey and there is a patch about half-way down the gently sloping site that appears waterlogged.  It is very squelchy and quite springy and there are clumps of very stiff upright grass growing in it.

I'm sure I've seen this grass round water.  It is dark green and grows in hollow spears - similar to chives but stiffer.

Does anyone know what it is, and if so how best to get rid of it?

We plan to dig a pond just down-slope of it anyway but where it is raised beds are planned.

Many thanks 

[TheSpartacat]

We called them rush grass or rushes growing up... the kind used in ireland for making brigids day crosses.... definitely a lot like chives, only spikey and stiff.

They are not easy to get rid of.

[hamstergbert]

probably one of the cotton grasses (sedges Eriophorum or Cyperaceae) - very like a coarse chive, but produces a little lumpy 'flower' followed by a cotton wool tuft.  Dig, dig and dig to get out if you are not keen on agent orange.

It is however hinting that your ground is probably somewhat acidic so worthy bearing that in mind when deciding what to try first when you have got as rid of it as you wish - and consider going a bit heavy handed with the lime too!

[TheSpartacat]

I went looking for an old rhyme that i vaguely remembered reading somewhere, "sedges have edges...."
http://www.suite101.com/blog/cercis/grass_rush_or_sedge

Here's a link to the different types and how to get rid:
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicweeds/weed_information/weed.php?id=65

I'm afraid the only route may be digging. I have an impression that they may be as unpursuaded by glyphosate treatment as horsetail is- they have very tough skins! But I may be wrong- perhaps someone else has tried?
And they prolifically self seed

Sorry its not better news. I've dealt with them before and I comiserate!  

[Gravedigger]

Thankyou both

I don't mind a bit of digging but was half-hoping I could just build raised beds over the top of them 

What's the link with agent orange?  I came off a site I was working on because it was contaminated with agent orange and we were given inadequate ppe - the one size doesn't fit all variety

[TheSpartacat]

Thankyou both

I don't mind a bit of digging but was half-hoping I could just build raised beds over the top of them  

What's the link with agent orange?  I came off a site I was working on because it was contaminated with agent orange and we were given inadequate ppe - the one size doesn't fit all variety

The link i think you mean is Monsanto, who invented glyphosate also invented Agent Orange  and DDT

That what you mean?

[Gravedigger]

Ahh I see ...

too much fresh air today I think 

[JayG]

Given what a thug it is to kill or dig out I'd also be tempted to build the raised beds over it as well, and hope that by also dealing with the drainage problem I might get lucky!

(Please note: that is the least confident suggestion I have ever made on here!) 

[savbo]

rushes quickly die out if the conditions aren't suitable. Install drains and break up the soil. Dig out what you can and the rest will go eventually. I think some test pits are needed to find out what's happening to the soil in that patch...

[Gravedigger]

thanks everyone

We are going to dig a drain in that area, dig out most of it then build a raised bed over the top....finger's crossed

[ex-cavator]

Hamstergbert's reference to agent orange simply sounds to me like a perfectly innocent and jokey reference to the alternative to lots of digging, being the use of some serious weedkillers. Not to be taken literally 

I had a few clumps of Rush (either Hard Rush Juncus Inflexus or Soft Rush Juncus Effusus - I'm not sure which) on one small section of my plot, but although they look pretty hard core I dug them out in clumps quite easliy. The texts say they reproduce by seed & any roots left behind won't be a problem. I'm assuming that by deep digging and incorporating lots of muck to break down the underlying clay, the waterlogging will go away & so they'll not be in too much of a rush (excuse the pun  ) to grow back.

[hamstergbert]

It was indeed a sort of metaphoric reference to the heavier handed side of chemical warfare rather than a suggestion that you should follow the example of the USAF 309th Air Commando Squadron (Squadron motto : "Only we can prevent forests").

I promise I'll be more literal in futurennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn (sorry, that was the keyboard being bashed by the end of my nose as it grew rapidly.......)