Hi Guys!
I have a question about Kikuyu grass... yuk!
We have recently bought a 20 yr old house in the Perth Hills. The front lawn was two huge rectangles of thick, deep kikuyu - thicker and deeper over the leech drain, of course. I have killed it off (99.9%) with a systemic spray (3 applications). Now it looks awful and I have discovered how difficult it is to dig it up. (My poor back!)
I want to cover this area with low growing, colourful, aromatic, varying texture, natives or hardy ground covers. I can see it in my minds eye. The problem is the dead grass - and you know what kikuyu is like, 12" roots and more, quite likely to rise up from the dead at any time.
What can I do instead of digging it all up ?
Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Thank you.
Suey Perth,
Western Australia
Hey Sue, if you have sprayed 3 applications of systemic weedkiller (glyphosate) and waited to see if any still sprout, then you can safely assume you have killed it off.
My suggestion is to get a rotavator in which are not expensive to hire for a day and will save your back and arms big time. This will break up any dead roots and encourage them to breakdown in the soil while your new natives are growing.
Then in the coming months and years just watch out for any grass re-sprouting and spray it carefully with a strong mix of Glyphosate again. Some folks think this is very un-organic, and yes it is, but it works and glyphosate does bio degrade within a few weeks leaving no residue.
Its not as awful as some people think and the end result is that waterwise natives take the place of kikuyu grass, attracting native birds and insects, making your garden a positive contributor to the local environment