How To Control Common Weed Grasses

Weed and rough grasses are a common pain in our lawns, they basically take advantage of any weak points such as lawns that have not been seeded in a while. They are well suited to clay loam & loam soils, due to the PH levels being neutral. There are a couple of ways to remove the grasses or spot them before they become a major issue in your lawn, and this will be explained further in this guide. There are a couple of ways to remove the grasses or spot them before they become a major issue in your lawn, and this will be explained further in this guide.

All these grasses come from fields in the countryside, verges, undisturbed land, and controlling them may only be worthwhile in some cases. Keeping these grasses out of your lawn can be a very hard task and when they do appear it becomes an unpleasant view and ruins all your hard work you have put into your lawn.

Types of Weed Grass

The four most common weed grasses you will come across in any UK lawn are Poa Annua (also known as Annual Meadow Grass), Couch Grass, Yorkshire Fog and Rough Stalked Meadow Grass.

Annual Meadow Grass (POA Annua) & Rye Grass

Annual meadow grass also known as Poa Annua has a medium sized green leaf which produce seed heads for most of the growing season. Rye grass has a much darker green which are dull on top and has a shiny bottom with tall seed spikes.

They actually blend into a reasonable lawn and are easily unnoticed unless of course you are a lawn enthusiast or have an ornamental lawn. Believe it or not golf courses are completely riddled with them with. They are only hand controlled on the greens or verti-cutt, if too may have taken over it would be a case of heavy scarifying and over-seeding.

These two types will thrive well on fertile grounds which makes our gardens a big target for them. The Annual meadow grass strives when watered little and often as it has shallow roots, this makes it extremely dominant against your normal grass. Watering infrequently but deeply is a good approach on established lawns.

Rough Meadow Grass

Also known as rough stalked meadow grass that creates big clumps of rough hard thick dark green grass, it is one of the worst weed grasses to have in your lawn but saying this it is the least common and simple to sort.

When you see this plant in your lawn try to remove as soon as possible as it will just get bigger and bigger. You can manually pull out the smaller patches or any individual plants by cutting them out with a knife and replacing the patch with new seed or turf.

Yorkshire Fog

Finally, we have a broad soft light green & slightly hairy leaf which is Yorkshire Fog which can be mistaken for couch or crab grass. This plant can be a nightmare for any lawn lovers as creates clumps of broad pale leaves that stick out like a sore thumb when it reaches a certain size. Even worse when you fertilise your lawn your grass will get darker, but Yorkshire Fog won’t change in colour, this makes it more noticeable.

It can be removed by manually cutting out the individual plants and re-seeding or turfing the patches left. It is a weak type of grass and is easily weakened but the fastest and less labour-intensive approach is to cut the infected area out using a turf cutter or spade and re-seed / turf the area.

If you have excessive clumps of this plant, you can spot treat with a glyphosate weed killer then after a couple of weeks have passed rake out the dead grass and re-seed / turf. It may get to that point that the lawn is completely infested, if this is the case you may want to think about killing off the area and starting again. 

Why Do Weed Grasses Appear In Our Lawns ?

You could be completely weed grass free and all of a sudden they start to appear without you even knowing, there can be a number of reasons why this has happened.

• Bird droppings

• Migrated from nearby countryside

• Your neighbours neglected lawn

• Laying dormant in your soil waiting for the right weather conditions

• Compacted ground

• Excessive mowing

• Not enough grass coverage

There are plenty of reasons why these grasses take over and strive!

What Makes Weed Grasses A Problem

The biggest thing as well as how unsightly having these in your lawn is, is that they will interfere with the balance of your lawn leaving area even more susceptible to these plants.

The rate at which these plants can spread can be a big concern, they can also be very prominent in a neighbour’s garden or the root system may be tangled around other garden plants such as shrubs. This also makes it very hard to control as the plant can creep from other areas you don’t have access to.

Preventing Weed Grasses

As there is no chemical available in the UK to treat these plants all you can do is try your best to prevent the issue in the first place.

The best way of doing this is by having a healthy thick lawn, this is due to the established grass roots blocking the spread of the weed grasses. You can keep your lawn healthy and thick with the normal type of maintenance such as aerating & scarifying but most importantly a good old feed with a fertiliser will strengthen and boost root growth. Not only will this help fight off weed grass but general garden weeds as well.

There is always going to be that time when you get a dead patch or thinning in your lawn weather that is down to frost, drought, flooding etc. When this happens, it is an opportunity for pesky weeds such as weed grasses to take advantage of the open space in the soil. This is where re-seeding plays a big part, by doing this you are ensuring your lawn is mainly made up of the grass you want. The typical types of grass that make up a lawn is fescue & perennial rye grass, re-seeding every 1-3 years will help keep your lawn thick, less thatch and stop any unwanted plants sneaking into your lawn.

Controlling Weed Grasses

If the weed grasses are not to invasive at this stage and you have a few clumps, these can be cut out using a blade to cut vertically at the roots. Once cut out and removed simply prepare the soil and re-seed or turf.

If the weed grasses continue to spread you may need to consider a chemical approach such as a glyphosate weed killer. These weed killers will eliminate the weed grass as well as there root system but it will also kill any grass you touch too so you need to be careful when spot treating. Once the areas are treated it will take a couple of weeks to kill off the plants completely, once done rake out the dead grass and re-seed or turf the patches.

If the weed grasses are out of control and have taken over the majority of your lawn you may want to consider killing of the area with a weed killer and the remove the turf entirely, you can then start from scratch.

Remember a healthy thick lawn is a great prevention and if you do see any unwanted grass, remove it before it spreads, the quicker you react the less likely it will overtake your lawn and become a major issue down the line.

If you are looking to sow new seed, feed your lawn or want any additional advice, please get in touch, we are more than happy to provide as much information as you need to achieve your lawn goals. You can contact us by phone on 08004118141 or by email at sales@a1lawn.co.uk.