I have lots of nice, pretty Irish Moss (Sagina Subulata) growing
around my water garden but there is a bit of lawn grass sprouting in
the moss. There's too much grass to pull by hand. I'm looking for some
kind of effective process or chemical/grass killer that will kill the
grass without harming the moss.

Greetings alias...

I finally got hold of the
very knowledgable staff at
the local Green Thumb store.

The gentleman I spoke with
suggested a chemical I had
found info on already. His
suggestion was a confirmation
of the herbicide:
Fluazifop-P-Butyl
[ http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/products/handbook/fluazif.pdf ]

He said browning may occur with use.
Test in a small inconspicuous area. It
will spring back very readily though.
It is best to spot apply to avoid any
problems. You can apply by dripping on
grassy outcroppings, spraying with
a low mist sprayer or painting on the
leaves with a brush. If you really
must broadcast the herbicide, it
might be prudent to dilute.



-Search Techniques-
Googled:
annual perennial grass control postemergent
[ ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=annual+perennial+grass+control+postemergent
]
Called:
Green Thumb Nursuries

Good luck with your Sagina Subulata  ;o)
-AI

---

Clarification of Answer by alienintelligence-ga on 06 Aug 2002 15:26 PDT

Hi again alias...

I thought I would add the
common off the shelf names 
for this chemical.

Fluazifop-p-Butyl can be found as
Fertilome Over-the-Top Weed & Grass Killer,
Fusilade DX®, Fusion®, and Tornado

Here are some references:
[ http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/products/handbook/htable.pdf ]
[ http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/nathis/exotic/vegman/three.htm ]
[ http://www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/hcs/webgarden/Land/LAND_Aug97 ]

-AI

Thank you so much for the answers!  I neglected to mention that all
this irish moss surrounds my koi pond - I'm going to have to be super
careful to avoid getting any of this chemical or runoff into the
water. I will probably apply some of it by spraying from an inch or
two away, and by painting the tops of the grass with a paint brush
soaked in the chemical. Or maybe I'll soak paper towels and lay the
towels onto the grass/irish moss- I think then most of the chemicals
will only get to the tops of the grass leaves. The moss is actually
transplanted from my yard- I realized I had patches of it growing
everywhere, at a price much better than the local nursery. Of course I
should have herbicided the grass out of the moss BEFORE moved I cut up
the patches and moved them next to my fish pond...!

Right away I thought of Grass-B-Gone from ortho, but after extensive
research I cannot confirm that it is safe for moss.  They say "test"
on unlisted plants.  Iris moss (Chonfurs Crispus) is not listed.  No
mention of moss at all, in fact.

Hi alias...

I was awaiting a call back, regarding
using dilute broadleaf killer or
dilute RoundUp (glyphosate), from my
local garden place. It was referenced
on the net.

Since I cannot corroborate this with 
them, maybe another reasearcher can
use this?

-AI

To add to my prior comment, here's a tip I picked up a few years ago
from a professional landscaper, which works for reasonably small
areas, or for a dedicated gardener:

Apply Roundup with a paintbrush to the offending grass.  He also
sometimes used to apply the product directly with his hands, using
rubber gloves of course!