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Help ID grass/weed in my lawn

15 years ago

Within the last month, my lawn has developed many patches of grass that grow tall and quick. I just mowed two days ago, and already these areas have grown to 2-3 times the size of the other blades. We just moved in a few years ago and I didn't notice this problem last summer. I have been told Bermudagrass and Crabgrass by extreme amateurs. Can anybody tell me what they think it is, how to treat it, and how to avoid the problem in the future?

Here is a link that might be useful: picture of problem

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Comments (10)

bpgreen
15 years ago
The picture isn't detailed enough to be sure, but it looks like it could be tall fescue or nutsedge.

Crabgrass usually staye pretty low to the ground. Bermuda can grow fairly tall, but I don't think it has that distinct blade type look to it.
hsvcara
15 years ago
Definitely not bermuda or crabgrass.

Maybe some kind of sedge?
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soccer_dad
15 years ago
Is it a lighter green than the other grass - kind of lime color?

Does it have a boat shape to the blade with a crease running lengthwise along the center of the blade?

Have you recently overseeded?

Did you have a wet Spring and Summer?

If yes to these, it could be either rough bluegrass or orchardgrass. I believe orchardgrass responds to a herbicide, rough bluegrass is either dig it out, roundup or wait for it to burn out this summer if you can eliminate water from it.

There is a lot of the same stuff all over northern virginia.
formicburn
15 years ago
As long as your lawn is entirely kbg an application of Certainty would rid you of your problem.
ted123
15 years ago
I would have to say that it is some sort of sedge grass I have the same kind in my lawn it just showed up from one week to an other.

Here is a link that might be useful: yellow nut sedge
paulinct
15 years ago
I think sedge too. Pull one and look at the main stem. Is is triangular? Growing leaves in roughly three different directions? (grasses grow leaves opposite one another, sedges grow them roughly 120 degrees from each other, hence the triangular stems.) Are the leaves shiny and waxy? If so it is almost without a doubt nutsedge.

Put more simply, if the stem is triangular it is a sedge, and not a grass, and the only thing you need to figure out is what sedge, exactly, it is. But still if the stem is triangular and it is growing in your lawn it is probably some variety of nutsedge.

Which is a problem, because these weeds grow underground storage systems (nuts - hence the name) to help them rejuvenate after you pull them. So to get rid of them you have to either pull them like every other day for a year, or apply a product like Sedgehammer. MSMA also has an effect on them, but it is relatively mild and not nearly as effective as the more expensive and harder to find sedgehammer.
jtcm05
15 years ago
Definitely nutsedge.
jcosgrove
15 years ago
As a fellow Ohio resident I'll also tell you that it is definitely nutsedge. It is rampant this time of year in the Cincinnati area. Get some Sedgehammer on ebay. That's the only thing I've seen really knock it down. Even Roundup where I can apply it on this stuff just makes it kind of yellow for a week.

In addition, you do not have Bermuda in Ohio. Looks like bluegrass or rye to me.
buy_25
15 years ago
bingo guys...nutsedge...LIke $15 to kill..
gardenfanatic2003
15 years ago
And the winner goes to......nutsedge!! Don't pull it - it has root tubers that don't come up when you pull it, and for each one you pull, you'll get 10 more to replace it! I found this out the hard way. I got really ambitious last fall, and pulled up lots of it. Boy, do I have a bumper crop this year. Just got done spraying it with Sedgehammer today. Get rid of it now, because it's an excellent reproducer.

Deanna

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