Dismiss® Turf Herbicide
Yellow nutsedge and green kyllinga start showing damage within 24 to 48 hours, and the lawn around them keeps going. Sulfentrazone moves in through roots and shoots and stays active in the soil, which is what gets at the tubers sitting below the surface waiting to send up the next flush.
Two Sizes, One Concentrate
Spot work and one lawn
6 fl oz
- About 0.5 acre at the maximum 12 fl oz per acre rate
- 0.75 acre at 8 fl oz per acre
- 1.5 acres at the 4 fl oz creeping bentgrass rate
- Enough for several seasons on a typical residential lawn
Repeat broadcast programs
0.5 gallon, 64 fl oz
- About 5.3 acres at 12 fl oz per acre
- 8 acres at 8 fl oz per acre
- 16 acres at the 4 fl oz creeping bentgrass rate
- Current label carries EPA Reg. No. 101563-284
| Active ingredient | Sulfentrazone |
|---|---|
| Concentration | 39.6% by weight |
| Loading | 4.0 lb of active ingredient per gallon |
| Herbicide group | Group 14, PPO inhibitor |
| Activity | Preemergence and postemergence, root and shoot uptake |
| Formulation | Suspension concentrate |
| Signal word | CAUTION |
| Maximum single rate | 0.275 fl oz per 1,000 sq ft, 12 fl oz per acre |
| Annual maximum | 0.375 lb sulfentrazone per acre |
| EPA Registration No. | 101563-284 (Envu), 279-3295 (earlier FMC packaging) |
| Produced for | Environmental Science U.S. LLC |
How Much Dismiss per 1,000 Square Feet
The label doses in hundredths of a fluid ounce. Almost nobody owns a cup that reads 0.092, so the same rates are below in teaspoons and millilitres.
| Established turfgrass | Per 1,000 sq ft | In teaspoons | In mL | Per acre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creeping bentgrass | 0.092 fl oz | about 1/2 tsp | 2.7 mL | 4 fl oz |
| Kentucky bluegrass, rough bluegrass, fine fescue, tall fescue, perennial ryegrass | up to 0.18 fl oz | about 1 tsp | 5.3 mL | up to 8 fl oz |
| Bahiagrass, bermudagrass and hybrids, buffalograss, carpetgrass, centipedegrass, kikuyugrass, seashore paspalum, St. Augustinegrass, zoysiagrass | up to 0.275 fl oz | about 1 2/3 tsp | 8.1 mL | up to 12 fl oz |
Water is the carrier, not the dose
Dismiss is measured against the ground you are treating, not against the gallons in the tank. If your sprayer empties one gallon over exactly 1,000 sq ft, then the per-1,000 figure and the per-gallon figure happen to be the same number. If that gallon only covers 500 sq ft, you need half as much product in it, because you are treating half the area.
Getting that backwards is how a lawn gets burned. A quarter of a fluid ounce in a gallon is around 1.4 times the maximum warm-season rate and roughly 2.7 times the cool-season rate if that gallon goes over 1,000 sq ft.
Dismiss needed = area in sq ft ÷ 1,000 × the labeled fl oz per 1,000 sq ft
Treating 2,000 sq ft of zoysia at 0.18 fl oz per 1,000 comes to 0.36 fl oz of product, a little over two teaspoons. Whether that goes out in one gallon of water or three is a separate question, answered by what your sprayer covers.
Find out what your sprayer covers
- 1.Fill the sprayer with plain water and mark the level.
- 2.Spray a measured strip of driveway or lawn the way you would treat it, walking at your normal pace, until you have covered 500 or 1,000 sq ft.
- 3.Refill to the mark, measuring what went back in. That is what your sprayer puts out over that area, and it is the number to divide the treatment area by.
How much water to put with it
The label allows 0.5 to 4.0 gallons of finished spray per 1,000 sq ft, roughly 20 to 175 gallons per acre, at 20 to 40 psi. A dense stand of sedge belongs at the higher end, because coverage is what postemergence control depends on.
For a couple of dozen scattered clumps, a small hand sprayer beats a full gallon tank. The product amount is still worked out from the square footage of the patches, and a smaller vessel gives you better aim at the sedge without wetting everything around it.
The teaspoon and millilitre figures convert the labeled fluid-ounce rate at 6 teaspoons to the fluid ounce. Measure in the labeled unit where you can, and follow the label on the container you bought, since state labels differ.
Mixing, Spraying and Cleanup
Fill the tank in this order
- 1.Start with a clean sprayer. Deposits from a previous product can react with the new mixture or injure turf that Dismiss on its own would not touch.
- 2.Fill the tank about halfway with clean water.
- 3.Start agitation, then add the measured Dismiss slowly.
- 4.Finish filling the tank and keep agitating through the application, so the suspension stays even from the first pass to the last.
- 5.Hold a flat-fan nozzle at a steady height and walk it across the area. Swinging the wand side to side lays down a heavy band under the arc and a thin one at the edges.
Leave the surfactant out
A surfactant is unnecessary with Dismiss and the standard label does not recommend one. Adding a surfactant or adjuvant raises the risk of temporary discoloration, and awkward weather raises it further on top of that.
Combining Dismiss with another labeled product calls for a compatibility test first: proportional amounts in a jar, mixed hard, left to stand 5 to 10 minutes. Precipitate that will not go back into suspension means the two do not belong in the same tank. Where two labels disagree, the more restrictive one governs the whole mixture.
Clean the sprayer before it sits
- 1.Drain the system and flush the tank, hoses, boom and nozzles with clean water.
- 2.Run a second cycle with water plus a detergent or ammonia cleaner at that cleaner's own rate, then rinse again.
- 3.Take the spray tips and screens off and clean them separately.
- 4.Dispose of the rinsate under the rules that apply locally, and never where it can reach desirable plants or surface water.
Residue left in a tank turns up later on whatever that sprayer is used for next. Sulfentrazone is soil active and damaging to non-target plants, so a flower bed sprayed from an uncleaned tank pays for the shortcut.
What Dismiss Turf Controls
Sedges
Yellow nutsedge is the most susceptible species on the label
- Yellow nutsedge
- Purple nutsedge
- Green kyllinga
- False green kyllinga
- Globe sedge
- Cylindric sedge
- Surinam sedge
- Texas sedge
Broadleaf weeds
Postemergence, and most effective shortly after they come up
- Dandelion
- Dollarweed
- Clover
- Common lespedeza
- Ground ivy
- Henbit
- Wild onion
- Wild garlic
- Buckhorn plantain
- Spotted spurge
- Prostrate spurge
- Common purslane
- Speedwell
- Wild violet
- Yellow woodsorrel
- Creeping woodsorrel
- Common chickweed
Summer annuals, before they germinate
Early spring, controlled or suppressed
- Large crabgrass
- Smooth crabgrass
- Goosegrass
- Barnyardgrass
- Green foxtail
- Yellow foxtail
- Prostrate knotweed
- Annual spurges
Winter annuals, before they germinate
Late summer to early fall
- Annual bluegrass
- Annual ryegrass
- Henbit
- Common chickweed
- Corn speedwell
- Hairy bittercress
- Spurweed
What one application actually delivers
At the maximum 0.275 fl oz per 1,000 sq ft, which is 12 fl oz per acre, sedge control runs to roughly 75% for at least 60 days. That is the labeled expectation, and it is worth knowing before the first pass rather than after it. Good spray coverage does more for postemergence sedge control than reaching for a stronger mix.
Purple nutsedge is the one that needs a program instead of a rate. An established underground population survives a single treatment, so the label sets out split applications 35 days apart:
| Cool-season turf other than creeping bentgrass | 4 fl oz per acre | then 4 fl oz at 35 days |
|---|---|---|
| Cool-season turf other than creeping bentgrass | 6 fl oz per acre | then 2 fl oz at 35 days |
| Warm-season turf | 8 fl oz per acre | then 4 fl oz at 35 days |
| Warm-season turf | 6 fl oz per acre | then 6 fl oz at 35 days |
Goosegrass is on the postemergence list too, and it responds best while the plants are small and actively growing, before tillering. Once a young grass starts throwing extra shoots from its base it gets considerably harder to take out.
Will Dismiss Hurt My Lawn?
Established turf tolerates a labeled Dismiss application, which is the entire reason a selective herbicide exists. Tolerance is not the same across every species and every cultivar, though, and the rate table above is the first line of defense: creeping bentgrass has the lowest ceiling on the label at 4 fl oz per acre, and treating it at a warm-season rate is asking for damage.
Ornamentals are a different matter entirely. Sulfentrazone is soil active, and iris, lilies, onions and plenty of other garden plants are susceptible to it. Dismiss belongs on turf, and around ornamentals only as a directed spray at the base under the separate ornamental directions.
Temporary discoloration
St. Augustinegrass discolors after treatment, and so do some cultivars of zoysiagrass, bahiagrass and rough bluegrass. The affected leaf tissue is replaced by new growth, and mowing takes most of it off in the meantime.
Fescue is the exception worth testing
Certain Chewings fescue, fine fescue and tall fescue cultivars sustain injury that goes past cosmetic. A new or unfamiliar variety earns a small test area and a couple of weeks before the rest of the lawn gets treated.
Stressed turf has no margin
Drought, disease, chemical stress and heat all shrink the gap between what the weed tolerates and what the grass tolerates. Turf with adequate moisture and fertility takes a selective herbicide far better than a stand already trying to recover from something else.
Keep Primo seven days away
Trinexapac-ethyl growth regulators such as Primo raise the risk of discoloration when they land too close to a Dismiss application. Seven days between the two is the labeled separation.
Seeding after a treatment
Leave about a month between a Dismiss application and reseeding, overseeding or sprigging. Seed put down sooner struggles to establish, and the thin patch you were trying to fill stays thin.
Bermudagrass overseeded with perennial ryegrass is the exception. That can go in 2 to 4 weeks after treatment where slight ryegrass injury is acceptable, and seed-to-soil contact still decides how much of it comes up. On sod farms, a stand needs three months of establishment before treatment and no application within three months of harvest.
When to Apply and How Fast It Works
Twenty-four to forty-eight hours
Yellow nutsedge and green kyllinga show visible symptoms that fast under decent growing conditions. That is visible activity, not the end of an established infestation. Sulfentrazone also works in the soil, and reaching the tubers that produce the next flush of shoots takes longer than the color change you can see.
Summer annuals go down early
Preemergence treatment for crabgrass, goosegrass and foxtail belongs in early spring, before the seed germinates. Once those plants are up, the preemergence window for that generation has closed.
Winter annuals go down in fall
Annual bluegrass, hairy bittercress, henbit and the rest of the winter annuals are prevented by a late-summer or early-fall application, on the same before-germination principle.
Soil moisture switches it on
The preemergence half of the product needs water to move it into the zone where seedlings germinate. Soil texture and organic matter change how much, which is why one universal irrigation figure does not exist for the standard label. California is specific: at least half an inch within seven days.
Postemergence work wants weeds that are actively growing and enough carrier volume to wet them properly. Broadleaf weeds treated soon after emergence come out far more reliably than mature plants treated in midsummer.
Where Dismiss Can and Cannot Go
Labeled sites
- Established residential and institutional lawns
- Athletic fields
- Golf course fairways and roughs
- Commercial sod farms
- Container-grown and field-grown ornamentals, sprayed toward the soil at the base
Off limits
- Golf course putting greens and tees
- Any turfgrass not named on the label
- Coarse soils classified as sand where organic matter is under 1%
- Over the top of actively growing ornamental foliage
- Dormant bulbs and non-woody perennials
- Food-producing trees, vines and plants
California runs on its own label
Dismiss CA Turf covers residential and institutional lawns, athletic fields, golf course fairways and roughs. The turfgrass rate structure carries over, with creeping bentgrass at 4 fl oz per acre, other listed cool-season grasses at 4 to 8, and listed warm-season grasses at 8 to 12, capped at 12 fl oz per acre across the applicable 12 months.
California is also more specific about activation: the best preemergence control follows at least half an inch of rainfall or irrigation within seven days of application and before the weed seed germinates. Designated runoff and leaching groundwater protection areas add requirements on top of that. The ornamental directions on the federal label do not carry over to California.
Handling Dismiss Safely
What CAUTION means here
Dismiss is harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin, and it causes moderate eye irritation. Keep it out of reach of children and store it in its original container.
What to wear
A long-sleeved shirt with long pants, waterproof gloves, shoes and socks. The Safety Data Sheet adds eye protection and face protection for handlers, and it is worth following that rather than the shorter list.
People and pets
Everyone except the applicator stays out of a non-agricultural treatment area while the spray is going down, pets included. They can come back once the spray has dried.
Water and soil
Sulfentrazone can reach groundwater on some soils, which is why sand with less than 1% organic matter is off the label. Dismiss is also toxic to non-target plants and aquatic invertebrates, so runoff and wash water have to be kept out of drains and surface water.
Drift
Spray only in a wind of 3 to 10 mph, using medium-to-coarse or larger droplets, with a ground boom no more than 30 inches above the soil. Ground application needs at least 10 gallons of finished spray per acre, and 15 when sulfentrazone rides along with a contact burndown herbicide.
Conditions to skip
Gusty wind and temperature inversions both move spray where it was not aimed. Hot dry air shrinks droplets in flight, so equipment set for medium-to-coarse in mild weather may not deliver it at 95 degrees.
Dismiss Herbicide Label and SDS
Registrations and permitted uses differ by state and change over time, so check the label that came with your container against these before an application.
Dismiss Turf Herbicide label
Federal, 0.5 gallon, EPA Reg. No. 101563-284
Complete directions for use: rates by turfgrass, the full weed list, preemergence and postemergence timing, tank mixing, drift management and storage.
Open PDFDismiss CA Turf Herbicide label
California, 6 fl oz
California runs on its own label. Different site list, a 12 fl oz per acre cap over the applicable 12 months, a half-inch activation requirement, and extra rules inside designated groundwater protection areas.
Open PDFSafety Data Sheet
OSHA format, revised April 2026
Hazard identification, first aid, personal protective equipment, spill handling, toxicology and the emergency telephone numbers for this product.
Open PDFCustomer Reviews
Our lawn had an infection of nut sedge and I had tried other chemical products - with some success - but did not fully eradicate. Dismiss does the job, at least I do not see any growing this season. Be sure to...
boboprf
worked really well. In previous summers my lawn has had some Yellow Nutsedge which I controlled by carefully weeding as much of it as possible. This year the Yellow Nutsedge grew like crazy along with big pa...
Joe Cool
Best Nut Sedge solution yet. While Sedge Hammer worked great on yellow nut sedge, I think it actually made the purple stronger. This stuff seems to be the most effective against this vile weed. I read online...
MB 007
The included measuring dispenser makes mixing very simple and accurate. Only use 1/4 oz. with a gallon of water. That much killed almost all the nut grass and some stubborn weeds in my lawn in one application....
Jim T
After paying the high price for lawn care, I decided to tackle it myself. One thing you must know is not one weed killer will work on all weeds. I use a variety of five different weed killers and pre-emergent t...
KC
My yard was infested with spurge! I mixed Dismiss with a surfactant and it dried up and killed the spurge in less than 24 hours! I highly recommend this product if you have a problem with spurge.
Lyle Brockwell
Mixing amounts quoted inside a review are that customer's own. The labeled rates are in the rate table above, and one of these reviews describes what happens when a stronger mix goes on cool-season grass.
Dismiss Turf, Dismiss NXT and Dismiss South
Three formulations share the name and none of the three is a drop-in replacement for another. Mixing directions written for one do not transfer.
Dismiss Turf
Sulfentrazone
The original single-active formulation and the broadest label of the three. Fast visible activity on yellow nutsedge and green kyllinga, plus a long list of broadleaf weeds and preemergence activity on summer and winter annuals. Labeled for cool-season and warm-season turf, with the rate set by species.
Dismiss NXT
Sulfentrazone + carfentrazone-ethyl
A selective postemergence treatment aimed at yellow nutsedge and green kyllinga with greater tuber mortality, and symptoms in around 24 hours. Its labeled sites cover residential, commercial and institutional lawns, athletic fields, sod farms and golf fairways or roughs. Its rates are its own and do not carry over from Dismiss Turf.
Dismiss South
Sulfentrazone + imazethapyr
Built for stronger purple nutsedge control in warm-season turf, and it handles yellow nutsedge and green kyllinga as well. One limitation matters in the South: it is not labeled for St. Augustinegrass.
Which container do you have
Bottles in circulation carry one of two registration numbers. EPA Reg. No. 279-3295 appears on the older FMC packaging, which is still the photo on plenty of listings. EPA Reg. No. 101563-284 appears on current Envu labeling for the 0.5 gallon. Same product line and same 39.6% sulfentrazone, with the registration moved across when the business changed hands in 2024. Read the directions on the container you actually received, since a state label can differ from the federal one.
About Dismiss
Sulfentrazone blocks protoporphyrinogen oxidase, the enzyme that gives Group 14 herbicides their shorthand name of PPO inhibitors. Interrupting that pathway wrecks cell membranes in susceptible plants, and the damage shows up quickly rather than over a fortnight. That is where the 24 to 48 hour figure on nutsedge comes from.
Speed on its own would not be worth much against sedges. Pulling the tops off yellow nutsedge does nothing to the tubers underground, which is exactly why the weed keeps coming back after a season of hand weeding. Dismiss is taken up through roots as well as shoots and stays active in the soil, so treatment reaches past the leaves you can see.
Dismiss spent years in professional turf under FMC Professional Solutions, and older product records and containers still carry that name. FMC completed the sale of its Global Specialty Solutions business to Environmental Science U.S. LLC, known as Envu, on 1 November 2024. Current labeling is produced for Envu in Cary, North Carolina, and DISMISS is a registered trademark owned by Environmental Science U.S. LLC or one of its affiliates.
The limits are worth knowing before the bottle arrives. Dismiss does not go on putting greens or tees. One pass will not finish established purple nutsedge. St. Augustinegrass and some warm-season cultivars discolor temporarily after treatment, and certain fescue cultivars can be injured for real. Most disappointing results trace back to one of those, or to a rate picked for a different grass than the one being sprayed.
Frequently Asked Questions
A selective preemergence and postemergence herbicide for established turf. The active ingredient is sulfentrazone at 39.6%, which works out to 4.0 lb of active ingredient per gallon. Sulfentrazone is a Group 14 herbicide taken up through weed roots and shoots, so Dismiss acts on emerged weeds and in the soil at the same time. Sedges are what it is known for, including yellow nutsedge and green kyllinga, but the label also covers a long list of broadleaf weeds and selected annual grasses.
Visible symptoms on yellow nutsedge and green kyllinga can show in 24 to 48 hours under suitable conditions. Fast discoloration is not the same as an eliminated infestation. Sulfentrazone also acts in the soil and helps control the susceptible tubers that would otherwise send up a new flush of shoots, and that part takes longer than the part you can see.
The sedge list runs to yellow nutsedge, purple nutsedge, green kyllinga, false green kyllinga, globe sedge, cylindric sedge, Surinam sedge and Texas sedge, with yellow nutsedge the most susceptible of them. On the broadleaf side: dandelion, dollarweed, clover, ground ivy, henbit, wild violet, wild onion, wild garlic, plantain, chickweed and several spurges among others. Applied before germination it also takes on crabgrass, goosegrass and foxtail.
Yes, but an established stand of purple nutsedge needs a split program rather than one pass. For cool-season grasses other than creeping bentgrass the labeled options are 4 fl oz per acre followed by another 4 fl oz 35 days later, or 6 fl oz followed by 2 fl oz. Warm-season turf allows 8 fl oz followed by 4 fl oz, or 6 fl oz followed by another 6 fl oz on the same interval. The maximum rate for the turf species still applies. Dismiss South is the formulation built specifically around purple nutsedge in labeled warm-season grasses, combining sulfentrazone with imazethapyr.
Established cool-season turf covers creeping bentgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, rough bluegrass, fine fescue, tall fescue and perennial ryegrass. Warm-season turf covers bermudagrass, bahiagrass, centipedegrass, St. Augustinegrass, zoysiagrass, buffalograss, carpetgrass, kikuyugrass and seashore paspalum. The rates are not the same across that list. Certain fescue cultivars can be injured, and temporary discoloration turns up on St. Augustinegrass and some cultivars of zoysiagrass, bahiagrass and rough bluegrass. A newly introduced variety deserves a small test area first.
Between 0.092 and 0.275 fl oz, depending on the turfgrass and the job. Creeping bentgrass is capped at 0.092 fl oz per 1,000 sq ft, which is roughly half a teaspoon. Other cool-season grasses go up to 0.18 fl oz, about a teaspoon. Warm-season grasses go up to 0.275 fl oz, about one and two-thirds teaspoons. Per acre those are 4, up to 8 and up to 12 fl oz. Pick the rate from the current label for both the turf species and the target weed rather than defaulting to the strongest one.
It depends which rate you are using. A 6 fl oz bottle treats about 1.5 acres at 4 fl oz per acre, 0.75 acre at 8 fl oz per acre, or 0.5 acre at the maximum 12 fl oz per acre. A 64 fl oz half-gallon scales that to roughly 16, 8 or 5.3 acres. On a residential lawn measured in thousands of square feet rather than acres, a 6 oz bottle lasts several seasons.
Work out the herbicide from the area you are treating, then use water to carry it. At 0.18 fl oz per 1,000 sq ft across 2,000 sq ft, that is 0.36 fl oz of Dismiss, roughly two teaspoons. Start with a clean sprayer, fill it about halfway with clean water, begin agitation, add the measured Dismiss slowly, then finish filling. Keep it agitated so the suspension stays even. The federal label allows roughly 0.5 to 4.0 gallons of carrier per 1,000 sq ft, and the higher volumes are there for dense vegetation that needs more coverage to get wet.
No, and the standard label does not recommend one. Surfactants and other adjuvants increase the chance of temporary turf discoloration, and unfavorable weather increases it further. If you are considering a tank mix, follow every label involved, test physical compatibility in a jar first, and go with the most restrictive direction among them.
Yes. Dismiss has both preemergence and postemergence uses. Summer annuals are treated before seed germination in early spring. Winter annual programs go down in late summer or early fall. Soil moisture is what activates the preemergence effect, and the California label puts a number on it: the most effective control follows at least half an inch of rainfall or irrigation within seven days of application and before the weed seed germinates.
Once the spray has dried. During the application itself, everyone except the applicator stays off the area, pets included. Applicators and handlers follow the protective equipment on the current label: long-sleeved shirt, long pants, waterproof gloves, shoes and socks.
Wait about a month. Reseeding, overseeding or sprigging inside that window interferes with the establishment of the grass you are trying to grow. Bermudagrass overseeded with perennial ryegrass is the one exception: that can go in 2 to 4 weeks after application if some temporary ryegrass injury is acceptable, and good seed-to-soil contact still matters.
Dismiss Turf is the single-active formulation with sulfentrazone, fast on yellow nutsedge and green kyllinga, and carrying the broadest label of the three across additional sedges, broadleaf weeds and certain grasses. Dismiss NXT adds carfentrazone-ethyl for increased tuber mortality and symptoms in around 24 hours, on both cool-season and warm-season turf. Dismiss South adds imazethapyr and is built around purple nutsedge in labeled warm-season turf. The three are not interchangeable. Each has its own label, rates, turf tolerances and restrictions.
Dismiss is part of the Envu environmental science portfolio. Current labeling names Environmental Science U.S. LLC as the company the product is produced for, and DISMISS is a registered trademark owned by Environmental Science U.S. LLC or one of its affiliates. Before that it belonged to FMC Professional Solutions, and FMC completed the sale of its Global Specialty Solutions business to Envu on 1 November 2024. That is why bottles still in circulation carry either EPA Reg. No. 279-3295 under the FMC marking or 101563-284 under the Envu one.
Yes, under a separate Dismiss CA Turf label with its own directions and restrictions. Labeled California sites are residential and institutional lawns, athletic fields, golf course fairways and roughs. California adds requirements inside designated groundwater protection areas, so the federal label is not a substitute for the California one. Registration can also differ by state and can change, which makes the current label the thing to check before buying or applying anywhere.
Name the Grass, Measure the Area
Those two answers set the rate before anything goes in the tank. Warm-season turf takes up to 0.275 fl oz per 1,000 sq ft, cool-season up to 0.18, creeping bentgrass 0.092 and no more. Everything else is carrier volume and coverage.
Shop Dismiss