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Unknown growths in newly laid turf

undonelondone4qdvZS04undonelondone4qdvZS04 Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Hi all

This is my first post in this forum

I live in South London and got a new turf laid in my back and front lawn. The gardener rotivated the soil, levelled it and laid Medallion on most part. As the gardener fell short on the turf, he sourced additional ones on front lawn.
Its been more than 4 weeks now and I have watered them well and they have grown well for most part - barring some weed growth between the turf sheets.
But what I had found growing strange in the front lawn was this thick stem grass like plans attached picture. Also the front lawn has a lot of seed heads. Back lawn it is non existent. I searched a lot on the internet to find a name of what this is. These have grown only in front lawn (my suspicion is the non medallion is the culprit)
But could you please guide me on what this is and how to handle it and if I need to be worried. The gardener will do the first cut soon and he said the 3 in 1 will take care of everything but I am not fully convinced 


Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    edited July 2022
    Horsetail, Equisetum arvense,  Weedkiller has no effect on it. If you mow every three days it will weaken it .  If it is only in the new grass and it has not knitted  to the subsoil yet, you may get away with lifting it, and discarding that grass.
  • undonelondone4qdvZS04undonelondone4qdvZS04 Posts: 2
    Thank you @fidgetbones for your quick response. I do plan to replace the infested turf patches with new turf. Can they grow back up from below the soil through the turf? What are the possible ways in which they reach the lawn , airborne? 
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Yes, if the roots have already started to go down into the soil,  there will be wiry black roots.  You will need to make sure you fork out every bit of root before it gets down too far otherwise you will have it forever.  Whatever you do don't rotovate. Every little bit of root left in will sprout a new plant.    Horestail does produce spores, so don't let it flower. They don't look like  normal flowers.   If you didn't have it before, it has come in the turf.
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