I’m not sure who needs to hear this, but I hope it helps someone.
At the bottom of the root base, you’ll see “nutlets.” These nutlets are connected by weak roots, making them very easy to break off when pulled out. You might notice that there is often more than one nutlet. In this case, the second one broke off just from gently moving it in water to clean it. If you leave that nutlet in the ground, it will grow back.
@Lyle
It will grow back 3+ times and typically spread into multiple plants from simply pulling. How many more than three depends on how fast you pull it. When it’s regrowing, it’s also restoring some of the tuber’s stored energy.
@HolieMolie
It’s true that it grows back more than you would think, but it doesn’t replenish biomass that quickly. If you were really aggressive with it, you can meaningfully reduce the population over the course of a season. But that means repulling weekly or every time you see one. As a result, it’s not a very scalable task.
@Zara
You’re right in general, but I’m going to be pedantic for a minute. Biomass isn’t limiting, because plant biomass is mostly made from water and air. The limiting factor for nutsedge regrowth is tuber energy storage. The tuber contains a significant amount of complex carbohydrates which can be readily converted into a larger mass of new shoots (mostly water and cellulose) to regrow through the soil to reach light, at which point it’s almost immediately photosynthesizing and supplementing/replenishing the tuber energy. If you go a certain amount of time between pulls, the plant will regain all the energy it lost regrowing.