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Help needed with weed identification and remedies

6 years ago

Thanks for looking!

Recently moved into a home with a larger backyard. We're located in New England and have limited knowledge of lawn maintenance. From what I understand originally the owners had half the yard sodded and the other half existing lawn. The sod died off a couple years back and now that half looks horrible. We just had grass seed put down but in the past month this half has been absolutely inundated with some sort of weed. Can anyone identify this? Also, any recommendations on our best course of action to kill them?

thanks for any info!

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Comments (8)

danielj_2009
6 years ago
I recommend that you read this thread. It is pretty similar to your situation. In any case, I think you will learn a lot:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4663956/new-lawn-few-questions?n=58
beckyinrichmond
6 years ago
That thread is mostly a long discourse on Tenacity, which Matt can ignore. Gary's reply here is much more pertinent.
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thanks. pic #2 and #3 are actually of same grass in same area but lighting affected color. Both grasses send runners out underground very similar to bermuda grass that I experienced where I used to live but doesn't seem AS aggressive as bermuda grass but you can get long strands with "tentacles" on them as you dig into the soil and dig them up. The runners I've seen are usually short but I've seen as long as perhaps 6". Does that give further insight? The description for orchardgrass didn't make mention of runners so I wanted to provide this additional info.
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Nutsedge is what ya got . 'Ortho nutsedge killer' at Home depot , and it may need repeat sprays each year. If they don't have that particular Ortho product at your home depot , you can order it on-line and have it delivered to your store for free. Get the one with the hose end sprayer . Your probably going to have to re-seed again in the fall........depending on where you live, make sure you seed at least 6 weeks before the first average frost date.
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Carpet grass is a sod forming type of grass. The picture shows a clumping type of grass. Do you have a picture of the weed with a seed head on it? And wipe the fingerprints off the lens of your cell phone before taking pictures.
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danielj_2009
6 years ago
Gary has an interesting concept in saying he should just let all the weeds grow. If he has KBG or a blend with KBG I'm dubious as to how well his lawn will do with a canopy of probably 12" high weeds in his lawn.

I am not an expert on seeding new lawns so I hope the OP will post his progress if he chooses to follow Gary's advice.
beckyinrichmond
6 years ago
The weeds get cut at the same time the grass gets cut.
danielj_2009
6 years ago
My thought is that he could easily be 6 weeks before his first mow from the looks of it and those weeds are already several inches high. They could be 3' high by then depending on what they are. If he has KBG he will have bare spots for probably the next 2 years if he is going to wait for it to fill in.
beckyinrichmond
6 years ago
Daniel, whatever your height of cut, you mow when weeds or grass get a little higher than that. No one ever said don't mow the weeds. As for his bare spots, it is what it is. Like with any seeding, you can put more seed down later. In this case it would be better to wait until the fall.
danielj_2009
6 years ago
Becky: I think I see what the confusion is. The OP said he "just" had seed put down, and I had it in my head that this seed was still germinating, and in any case certainly is not long enough to mow. I reread his post and see that he said "in the last month" these weeds have been growing, which suggests the new grass is older than I thought. My bad.

So given the grass isn't quite so new, I'd just pull the weeds out. I could get the ones in the photo in 10 minutes.

I do hope the OP updates us on what happens. A little more on type of seed, etc. would be nice, too.
User
6 years ago
Looks like one of the "horsetail" weeds. If you mow them they will branch from the base and keep growing.

It might be time for a broad-leaf herbicide, if tghe grass is old enough to survive it.

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