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Help identifying this grass like weed

ScottcosworthScottcosworth Posts: 2
edited August 2019 in Problem solving
Hello, i'm brand new to the forum and looking for some help identifying a grass like weed which seems to be taking over our lawn please? We moved in around 5 months ago and I'm trying to turn the lawn around after reading a lot of info about lawn care and maintenance recently. I've recently raked over the whole lawn - what a job that was! - and removed bagfulls of light springy pale green moss. I've been watering and trying to help the lawn recover which it seemed to be doing. However I've now noticed that what I mistook for dry/scorched grass is actually some sort of grass weed with green leaves shooting out the top, and there are huge patches of it. I've been trying to identify it looking at pictures online but haven't found anything that matches yet. Can anyone help please? 

Posts

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I think it's couch grass. Horrid stuff, roots can go right through a potato or an iris.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I don't see the long white roots of couch grass in the picture.  I thought maybe one of the meadow grasses or yorkshire fog.  Couch grass isn't too much of a problem in a lawn because it doesn't like being mown. 

    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307
    JennyJ said:
      Couch grass isn't too much of a problem in a lawn because it doesn't like being mown. 


    So why did it survive 25 years of being regularly mown in our last garden?
    Agree though, that grass does not look like Couch to me either.

  • ScottcosworthScottcosworth Posts: 2
    Thank you for the suggestions, much appreciated. I did initially wonder about couch but the roots didn't seem to match. Flattened meadow grass seems to be about the closest match I can find looking at the meadow grasses. If the lawn is made up of around 50% of this grass, is it salvageable or would it be better to look at digging it all out and starting the lawn from scratch and seeding?
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    @JennyJ mentioned Yorkshire fog,  which was my first thought.
    https://cropscience.bayer.co.uk/threats/grass-weeds/yorkshire-fog/
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Palustris said:
    JennyJ said:
      Couch grass isn't too much of a problem in a lawn because it doesn't like being mown. 


    So why did it survive 25 years of being regularly mown in our last garden?
    Agree though, that grass does not look like Couch to me either.

    You've hit the nail on the head when you say "survived" :). Without regular mowing it would have completely taken over in 25 years.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Scottcosworth said:
    Thank you for the suggestions, much appreciated. I did initially wonder about couch but the roots didn't seem to match. Flattened meadow grass seems to be about the closest match I can find looking at the meadow grasses. If the lawn is made up of around 50% of this grass, is it salvageable or would it be better to look at digging it all out and starting the lawn from scratch and seeding?
    If you want a perfect fine bowling-green lawn it might be better to start again.  A long slow approach would be to keep slashing or forking out the weed grass to weaken it and overseed with the grass of your choice. My "lawns" contain lots of different kinds of grass but I don't much care as long as it's green and reasonably level. I occasionally go at the biggest clumps of yorkshire fog with one of those hook-shaped weeding knives, because they tend to turn brown in the middle.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • pr1mr0sepr1mr0se Posts: 1,193
    I have a similar problem - coarse grass clumps in the lawn, probably from the bird seed feeders.  I have sown some turves in seed trays, and will shortly be cutting out the worst offenders and replacing with lawn grass (dwarf rye, I think it is - it was recommended by a lawnsman.  The packet is down at the end of the garden right now!).  I have done this before successfully.  It is cheaper than buying turf - and is quite manageable.  It was a tip I picked up a few years ago from Monty on GW.  
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It can look quite unsightly in a lawn when the rest looks relatively 'normal'.
    Mine has several clumps which appeared last year during the long dry spell, and I'll probably do the same as others have mentioned, and just dig them out at some point, and reseed.
    If you have a large amount @Scottcosworth,  that can be more time consuming than redoing the whole area though.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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