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Name That Plant!Lawn Care

What weedy grass is this?

davidrt28 (zone 7)

12 months ago

I mostly completed the massive drainage project I started in the spring of 2022. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6262024/crazy-idea-for-trenching-excavation

However after digging over 500 ft. of trenches, for another part of the garden, I decided to hire an excavator for another 200 ft. I just didn't feel like bothering with. He did a pretty good job, but to 'help me out', he spread hay in a section where a large section of lawn was left bare. Some small sprouts were noticed in the fall - I just assumed it was an annual grass I wouldn't need to worry about.

Nope. It was definitely something perennial. In the spring some kind of weedy grass or crop started growing VERY fast, rocketing above the rough mix of tall fescue, fine fescue, and Poa trivialis that makes up my lawn. Can anybody ID it for sure? My googling isn't giving me anything definitive. Wheat?

Once I know what it is, I can figure out how to control it. I have a bad feeling I might need to zap the entire area and start over with sod.

(I include the top and bottom of a stem. It grows at least 3 times faster than my lawn so is already 12-14" high. I cut my lawn at the highest setting and infrequently...as people should. Leave the putting greens to the golf courses, people!)

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Comments (3)

davidrt28 (zone 7)
Original Author
12 months ago
After some more research, I'm pretty sure it's 'Italian' Ryegrass. Sometimes called annual ryegrass, but it can be a short lived perennials.
bengz6westmd
12 months ago
last modified: 12 months ago
Good thing it's not Japanese stiltgrass, the bane of my flowerbeds, and even colonizing large areas of understory in the woods around my brother's house.
davidrt28 (zone 7) thanked bengz6westmd
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Thanks - I think I should get rid of them afterall, as there's just too much of them and other weeds there. So it makes more sense to clean the whole place up. I was also uncertain at first because there is a nice high grass patch in my garden edge (from neighbour's weeds) which I pluck occasionally to feed by guinea pigs. It could be seeds from that too, so I might have to get rid of all grasses anyway. Or...with the large grass clump, if I remove seed stalks when they occur, is it relatively safe to contain? But grasses also spread via roots don't they? I guess if I want grass, I should allocate an area for that :)
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It is foxtail. Its an annual weed grass so it ought to be shallow rooted at least. Annual grasses seed like crazy. Pre-emergence in early spring or late winter works but pulling them before they drop seed would be good. Spot spray won't help with the seeds so thats a waste of time, I'd keep pulling.
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won't let me post to the original post, so changed the subject here, I just saw a post on dallis grass, did a google image search, and it's possible that could be it too, at least in my yard. would explain why I can't seem to kill it anyway. now, oxalis anyone? HOW do you kill that stuff??? sally - my yard looks like it's 6 inches deep in snow with oxalis in the spring.
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davidrt28 (zone 7)
Original Author
12 months ago
last modified: 12 months ago
oh, been there, had that...the shady parts of my garden were totally overrun with it when I bought this house

at least there's a way to selectively control it...Acclaim. Although you don't even need to do that when it's 100% of the grass in an area, you can just kill it with glyphosate.

It's almost completely gone. Of course with most of my neighbors having it in their shady areas, I will be forever fighting it

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