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greenblood10

Help identifying grass/weed

GreenBlood10
11 years ago

Good afternoon everyone,

I have had a 10x15ft patch of this stuff growing in my lawn for two years now. I can't seem to get rid of it. I would like to know what it is and how to get rid of it. I am in SE PA and the grass in question is light green and grows much faster than the rest of my fine tall fescue. I have been doing research for about a month and haven't been able to come up with an answer on what it is. Any help would be appreciated.

Comments (7)

  • Lawn_Hobby
    11 years ago

    Not an expert, but I'll ask some questions that might help the experts. :-)

    -Are the blades soft or stiff? Are they rough or smooth?

    -Does it kill naturally or go dormant at a certain time of the year? When does it usually first come up?

    -What do the seed heads look like when they form?

    -It appears to have a midrib on the blades, correct?

    -Does it appear to spread via rhizomes? What happens when you pull it up?

  • Lawn_Hobby
    11 years ago

    Also, when not cut, what do the blade tips look like?

  • ZoysiaSod
    11 years ago

    Lawn_Hobby asks some great questions.

    Without actually seeing your weed in person, I would have to guess what you have in the photo is quackgrass, a grassy weed that's a perennial. See this Quackgrass thread called "Need Help Identifying Grass" for more info.

  • Lawn_Hobby
    11 years ago

    I saw some of the same stuff (I think) today. I think Quackgrass is a reasonable possibility. Are there any hair-like structures on the stems or leaves? There were on what I saw.

    I just realized that I saw something similar in a crack in the curb on my street a few weeks ago (since srayed). Here's a picture:

  • ZoysiaSod
    11 years ago

    GreenBlood10, run your finger and thumb up and down some of the blades a few times. If the upper surfaces of the blades feel rough, you could be looking at quackgrass. Orchardgrass, on the other hand, has smooth-feeling leaves (aka "blades").

    Also, quackgrass has narrower leaves than orchardgrass whose leaves are wider.

    Orchardgrass is a coarse-textured bunchgrass. When it comes to grasses, coarse and fine texture refer to the width of the leaves/blades, not to their feel. It's a bit confusing because in most areas, "texture" refers to how something feels--the tactile sense. But for grasses, texture refers to the width of the blade: narrow or wide. For most grasses, narrower leaves/blades are usually spaced closer together, meaning the grass has a higher shoot density (more shoots per area). These grasses are said to have a "finer texture" than grasses with wider blades which have fewer shoots per area.

    Kentucky 31 tall fescue is a coarse-textured grass whereas creeeping red fescue is a fine fescue. Cultivars of K 31 have been bred to become less coarse, and so look more like Kentucky bluegrass than Kentucky 31 tall fescue. Gets confusing right? Both grasses have the word "Kentucky" in them. Lots of grass history has happened in Kentucky.

    Zoysia is somewhat of a beautiful oddity because its blades are moderately coarse yet the grass looks so good because zoysia blades are spaced so close together, considering zoysia's medium coarseness (or moderate sized blade width).

  • Lawn_Hobby
    11 years ago

    Just for reference...

    Orchardgrass - backside of leaf blades (it's not the same grass the OP has in their/your photos):

    {{gwi:82938}}