By garden standards, one of the worst problems a homeowner could ever encounter is to find nimblewill (alias wiregrass. wirestem muhly and muhlenbergia) invading the lawn and garden. No matter what you do to rid the grassy weed, it really never works. This “data sheet” explains how to go about killing this so-called “wiregrass” and installing a new lawn in its place.

Now, in spite of the late hour, don’t give up hope if you have the problem. You may not be able to eliminate it now, but there’s a good chance you can put muhlenbergia away in time for winter overseeding. Now, let’s explain how to go about it!

Nimblewill is just another name for the real problem. It’s muhlenbergia, often called “wirestem muhly.” On a problem scale of 1-to-10, muhlenbergia comes out a 9.9, so you’re up to your neck in problems.

Even before today’s publication, we have sent you this scenario so you can get onto the program of eliminating the muhlenbergia as soon as possible.

Starting now, do not cut the lawn for any reason.

Fertilize ASAP. Dissolve two tablespoons of Miracle-Gro in the jar of the hose-end sprayer, water to the 3-gallon mark, then spray 1,000 sq. ft. of the lawn where muhlenbergia has invaded. Treat the entire lawn this way because wirestem muhly may have spread to other parts of the lawn where you don’t find evidence of the weed right now. If it rains after the treatment, it’s OK. Remember, if muhly isn’t making sugar, you can’t kill it!

After the initial application of Miracle-Gro, wait 48 hours and do it again. No exceptions!

Wait two days after the second application, then attack the muhlenbergia with two consecutive sprays.

First, spray with 41 percent liquid concentrate Roundup (2 ounces in 3 gallons of water in the hose-end sprayer over 1,000 sq. ft.).

A day later, treat the same area with liquid Vantage, but this time you should use a hand-pump plastic-tank sprayer reserved for weeds.

Most nurseries do not carry Vantage, so we suggest you check Lowe’s to see if they are now stocking pint containers of Vantage. Check where they display garden chemicals. On a special shelf in that area, look for pint containers of Vantage (lime-green label, the distributor being Southern Agriculturals).

Fill the tank half-way, pour 2½ ounces of Vantage into the tank, then fill to the one-gallon mark. Pour one or two ounces of a spreader-sticker into the tank, but do not shake. Secure the cover, pump up, then spray Vantage wherever you find muhlenbergia shoots atop the soil. Make sure the spray is diffused (scattered). Spray the grassy weed thoroughly. Make sure NO RAIN is in the forecast after you spray muhly.

Even with all these accelerated applications, it’s too much to expect miracles as soon as you’d like. It’s safe to say that muhlenbergia will die a slow death because the problem isn’t the top growth (shoots), but rather the rhizomes (horizontal-growing roots) in the top inch of soil. In a way of thinking, muhly behaves like poison ivy. It will take weeks (several, many) for the rhizomes to be destroyed by the combination Roundup-Vantage spray. If you had started the treatment back in early July, all muhly rhizomes would have been killed before now.

As far as overseeding is concerned, you should gamble because the overall cost to you is in peanuts. You can seed or overseed in the first week of January, this is called “winter overseeding.”

Buy good quality seed as early as possible in the fall, storing it indoors until you scatter seed after the Christmas holidays. Overseed at two pounds per thousand square feet if you use tall fescue, one pound per thousand square feet for bluegrass. In bare spots, hand-sprinkle peat humus only over seed in the bare spots only, otherwise rain or snow will wash seed to the soil surface between existing grass plants.

Wait 10 days or so after applying Roundup-Vantage berfore you get around to cutting the good grass on the lawn. Adjust the wheel levers to cut at one-inch, using a grass-catcher if you have one to gather the clippings.

Then, look forward to the “winter overseeding” of the lawn in the first week of the New Year.

For the moment, you can consider applying granular Portrait to the sunny lawn )only before a thunderstorm) to prevent over 100 broadleaf weed seeds from germinating. If you apply Portrait in the next two weeks, you should coast through the next 15 months without weeds.

If, if you ever see muhlenbergia again, DON’T KEEP IT A SECRET. Get back ASAP so we can help you before wirestem muhly goes haywire again!