Hi! Just moved to this lil condo. I’m a hobby gardener of 20 years. I’ve never had to break apart this type of grass at this size. What is the best way to do it without killing it? Should I just cut a path between the leaves ? Do I try to dig part of it out? If so how?
by Southern-Hat8195
24 Comments
You can trim back plants, christ
Tie them up with rope
You can just seriously trim them back. They’ll be fine and come back nicely very soon. You’ll probably want to trim them up a few times a year.
I’ve trimmed up the sides with a power trimmer and it hasn’t been a problem. Maybe some tear marks but not bad.
I also split mine when they get too big / wide, using a straight bladed shovel. Takes a bit of effort to do.
Just say excuse me
Just shear off what you need to to open the walkway, then cut them down near the ground either in the fall or spring. They will be totally fine!
Trim with hedge clippers. The blades of these can be sharp, so be a little cautious. Wait till it dies back for winter and trim the rest off. Then dig it up. They have shallow roots but they’re wide and can be tough to get out.
I doubt you could kill them even if you wanted to.
Grab a bungee cord and wrap around a single bulk stocks and trim it with a hedge clipper. Rinse and repeat until you get your desire walk way back.
Bite the bullet. They are in the wrong place and will look awful trimmed (ignore anyone that advises that solution). It’s a shame but they have to go.
well you can struggle with this perpetually or you can put the right plants in. all of this about cutting the grasses back weirdly ignores the bizarre appearance that will result. it’s not a shrub. grasses aren’t woody. cutting them as recommended is not the best approach.
I trim mine to the ground every other year and they always grow back.
Good news is, they’re impossible to kill!
Easily dug up and replanted elsewhere. Even if you trim them or reduce the size of the root ball after cut down, they will grow back to this size.
Bungee cord or rope and tie them up semi close to the base. Itll control them and you can trim them off in winter (they’ll grow back)
Tie them up and trim them with hedge clipper or saws-all, then I cut the base in half and dig up 1/2 and plant somewhere else or gift to a neighbor
Proper pruning should be done every few years.
Dig them, separate into smaller specimens then re plant. Yes it is work, won’t kill though
Braid the grass into a swirl
Im a landscaper. In fact do this. Straight lights up on both sides. Itll look emo. No permanent damage done to plants
Hey…. We have large grasses like this planted around our property, not next to steps though. Not sure where you live, but fall is here and this is the time of year they start to spread out and they’re ready to trimmed down for winter and they come back hard in the spring. That said… your safe cutting them to make it walkable, but they’ll need to be cut to like to like 5” otherwise they turn brown and the new blades will grow through the old blades and they look terrible.
Trim down in fall dig them up and divide it using a sawzall then plant further away from steps. You can also either get ride of the divided part or plant it if you like that look.
You can cut it very low to the ground and it’s coming back
Not necessarily making recommendations here. A pampas grass grower told me that big grasses that have globs of dead mass at the base are good candidates for doing a quick burn on / including smaller ornamental grasses. Anyone ever tried that?
We trim ours back every year so that the center thatch doesn’t die out and the bush becomes thin .