[Sinclair]

Hello Everyone, I'm new here, but have been reading the forum for a while.

We moved into this house two years ago, and inherited the lawn which is a typical mix of KBG/PRG/Fescue. I am trying to identify this weedy grass in my lawn. It is light green, and grows faster than the rest of the lawn. I suspect it is Poa Annua, but want to confirm.

Also, As you can see from the photo, the Ash tree in the middle of my lawn is scheduled by the city to come down in the fall due to Ash bore, so I'm considering fully nuking and leveling the lawn and starting from seed with either KBG or TTTF. The lawn will receive full sun and irrigation. I'm in Canada, so my herbicide options are limited. I'm hand picking the creeping charlie coming from my neighbour's yard.

Located in zone 5a.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

 

[Redtenchu]

Welcome to TLF! Lawn looks really nice, gotta love the neighbor with a lawn of weeds!

 

[LIgrass]

Poa Annua grows more like a dense clump than the picture indicates. Also, it would've been putting out seeds all season long. Have you seen prolific seed head production in those areas? Are they growing in large patches? Where are the grassy weeds in relation to the wider shot in your post with the tree?

below is a typical looking poa annua clump

 

[Sinclair]

Welcome to TLF! Lawn looks really nice, gotta love the neighbor with a lawn of weeds!

Thanks!

On the bright side, it makes it easier for my lawn to look good. :lol:

 

[Sinclair]

Poa Annua grows more like a dense clump than the picture indicates. Also, it would've been putting out seeds all season long. Have you seen prolific seed head production in those areas? Are they growing in large patches? Where are the grassy weeds in relation to the wider shot in your post with the tree?

below is a typical looking poa annua clump

Thanks for your reply - I haven't seen any seeding activity, and the grass in the photo you shared is definitely not what I am dealing with. Maybe I have an undesirable tall fescue?

In my full sized photo above, the lighter patchy areas are all this type of grass.

I plucked a couple of the offenders and took a close up:

 

[g-man]

Could you take a picture of the point that the blade angles away from the center? I'm looking for clasping auricles. google it so you see better what I refer to.

 

[Sinclair]

Hi g-man,

Here's a pic, albeit a bit blurry - I couldn't get my phone to focus. I googled auricles, and looked at various examples, and what I see in this "weed" grass looks exactly like annual Rye.

It turns out that the Scott's overseeding mix I used this spring contained Annual Rye! Why would they put this trashy looking grass in? Oh well - Live and learn. Going to get better sources for my next seeding.

Now the question is what to do about it? We will be hosting a large gathering at our house mid-August, so until that time I am just on regular water and cutting. Early September I plan to scalp the lawn, aerate, level and seed.

I'd like to avoid doing a full glyphosate burn. Can I push this out by establishing a low-mown KBG lawn?

Thanks!

 

[g-man]

Yes it is blurry.

Compare it to quackgrass too. It does look like annual ryegrass. They use it because it is cheap for them. If it is annual ryegrass, then I recommend a prem now in August and keep mowing. The PreM will prevent it coming back next year..

 

[Budstl]

More than likely it's annual rye since it was in the seed. I had annual rye in my reno last fall and this spring since i used straw to topdress. A good way to tell is it will grow upright quick and the blade tears when mowed.