Romulea rosea is such a severe and awful noxious weed in Australia that to be certain that other weeds which are often confused with this particular nasty, do in fact not confuse us in this discussion so that I have used the botanical name for it purposefully. So if you yourself believe you have this weed, I would only recommend that you too use its botanical name whenever seeking advice about it whether online or in stores. Romulea rosea. Remember the name.
I have seen many instances of people calling many different weeds by the name of Onion Weed, which seems to be a rather generic term, and something different for whomever we may be speaking to. Romulea rosea is the Onion Weed I am speaking of in this article, and it is wise to never confuse this weed with any other.
Romulea rosea is a part of the Iridaceae Iris family.
Romulea rosea has a tough, dark green, grass type of leaf. The leaf is often very rounded in circumference growing straight up like a normal grass leaf, and the tip of the leaf is pointy. Flowers and flower stalks will occur regularly, usually in Winter, which will have often purple or pink or sometimes other colours, with pointed leaves.
From these flowers will seeds be produced which can easily spread this weed further into the already infected area, and yes I chose the word ‘infected’ purposefully to emphasise the noxiousness of this weed, just as the botanical name of Romulea rosea will also continue to be used for clarification by the reader when seeking help for this weed elsewhere.
Beneath the soil the weed is supported by corms, which will also aid in the spreading of Guildford Grass throughout any affected area.
Lawn mowing will in no way harm the weed other than to leave a very ugly appearance to the surface of the lawn. Lawn mowing may remove seed heads though the corms will also help spread the weed as already mentioned. Further on from that, in the cases of severe infestations the lawn owner will find their mower blades will quickly become blunt from mowing this weed.
Once an infestation of Romulea rosea has occurred in a lawn, it will only continue to spread over the years if left untreated and more so if regular lawn mowing is not maintained, and this is why the worst infected areas of Guildford Grass will often be found in lower quality rental accommodation where the grounds may only be slashed or mowed once or a few times per year.
Control and Killing of Guildford Grass or Onion Grass
Romulea rosea is exceedingly difficult to kill.
We can hire professional weed spraying contractors, though they too may struggle with this weed, and there is nothing at all that the homeowner can purchase as a weed killer for this weed. Now add to that its rapid spreading and we can soon see how our entire lawn could quickly and easily be overcome with this awful nuisance.
I’ve seen entire yards that have been completely overwhelmed by this weed, with the options of restoring such entire yards being extremely limited as to how to completely eradicate Guildford Grass from the soil.
The very best thing we can all do as lawn owners to control Romulea rosea is to destroy it on sight, the moment it’s seen for the first time.
Removing Guildford Grass By Hand
This is the most efficient and successful way for the homeowner to take control of Guildford Grass in their own lawns and is highly recommended.
We would do this with a small garden hand spade, by carefully digging the plant up and out of the soil and binning it. Being careful to remove all possible underground corms, roots and all. There’s no need to shake the dirt from the roots on removal from the soil, bin it all, and who cares if the lawn gets disturbed, let’s just get that weed out of it and let the lawn repair itself later.
If we already have a larger infestation, then we would continue to remove the rest of the weeds by hand in the same way until they are all gone. Even if we only put 30 minutes aside for this task every weekend, we would eventually conquer the problem.
A close eye would need to be kept on all garden areas and lawn areas of a property which has been infected with Romulea rosea, or if our neighbour’s yards are infected with it, as new growth can occur and already present seeds can sprout up in the future. And then at each and every sight of it appearing in our own lawn and garden again, we would remove it immediately.
Take this weed very seriously, otherwise it will take over our lawn, and the worse it gets, so too do our chances and options of permanently removing it.
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