What is this grass/weed and how can I stop it taking over my lawn?
Matt21
Posts: 14
I moved into our house last summer. The garden is about 30 years old. It was turfed nicely with some finer grass and had a few issues like moss and hundreds of dandelions which I dealt with last year.
Now I have ever growing patches of this thick stalked, course leafed grass which is spreading throughout the entire lawn and I'm sure that if I don't do anything about it soon it will dominate the rest of the finer grass that the rest of the lawn is made up of.
When I removed all of the dandelions I used Verve Family Grass seed to fill in some of the patches that were left and maybe this grass comes from that seed. I don't understand why they would include it as it doesn't blend on with the normal grass and sticks out like a sore thumb.
I noticed that there was stalks with seeds coming out of the patches of this grass so I'm pretty sure it is self seeding and spreading.
Can anyone identify the grass/weed type and how I can stop it and get rid of it all without killing the normal grass that I want my lawn to be made up from?
TIA
Posts
Not sure if it properly uploaded my photo attachments to the OP.
I'll try again here.
Sounds like couch grass. You can do either hand weed it out, which isn't easy, or use one of those weed sticks to paint the leaves which will kill the roots. It's fiddly but often it's the best way as the roots are brittle and break easily.
https://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/2016/05/28/20160527_174204.jpg
Last edited: 28 May 2016 14:36:58
https://www.imageupload.co.uk/images/2016/05/28/20160527_174109.jpg
Hi Matt. Definitely couch grass. I notice that the famous DIY store called this 'Family Grass Seed'. They will have included couch grass as it is hardwearing and good for the budding England footballers to play on. Pain in the neck in the garden!
Is that couch grass?
If so can I use Glyphosate 6 to get rid of it? Will that also kill the grass I want to keep?
No Matt. The glyphosate will harm your fine grasses too. There are no selctive weedkillers which can be used on a lawn to kill couch. I'm afraid its back breaking and laborious work to dig out the roots.
Ok. Thanks for helping me identify it. That's annoying if I seeded it myself. It makes no sense why it's included in the family grass seed as it is so different to the nicer fine grass.
What is the weed stick someone mentioned before? Is it worth doing?
Also, does couch grass self seed and spread or is it sterile?
Matt, it is definitely worth a try and if you only have a small infestation it won't be as tedious. Couch grass spreads by seed and by runners. Its a fiend!
Is there any chance it's ryegrass and it's just a bit overgrown? I didn't cut the grass until about a month ago for the first time this year.
On the grass seed box it says that the mix is 40% perennial ryegrass.