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Please help with ID

Posted: September 17th, 2020, 3:28 pm
by ChrisT03
My grass has been taken over by a grassy weed. Not sure what it is or how to kill it. Will this die in the winter? Hope this pic is ok


Image

Re: Please help with ID

Posted: September 17th, 2020, 5:49 pm
by bpgreen
I'm not very good at weed/ grass id, but I think that might be an unimproved tall fescue (something like k31, which is often included in seed mixes in big box stores). I don't think there's a way to selectively kill it. You'll probably need to use glyphosate (the chemical in roundup, but generics are cheaper).

I may be wrong, so if somebody else comes in, pay more attention to them.

Re: Please help with ID

Posted: September 17th, 2020, 7:32 pm
by MorpheusPA
That looks like K-31 to me as well.

Re: Please help with ID

Posted: September 17th, 2020, 10:01 pm
by jskierko
K-31 or some other tall clumping fescue. I have several areas of this in my backyard. No, it won't die in the winter and it will likely be the first to green up in the spring. In my NoMix it grows faster than the rest of the grass, so anything greater than 24 hours post mowing and it stands out. I have experimented with several mechanical removal methods including hand pulling (almost impossible due to root system) and digging out. Glyphosate is probably best bet, possibly waiting until surrounding grass is dormant due to drought or when coming out of winter.

Re: Please help with ID

Posted: September 18th, 2020, 12:54 am
by MorpheusPA
I might try painting it with glyphosate. If you happen to have a trimmer brush around (I have dozens, so for me, this is never an issue), paint just the blades of that particular type of grass.

If not, Q-tips, or the cheap version that you'd never use on yourself, also work.

Wear gloves. You don't want to expose your skin to this stuff for that long a period. Fortunately, these days, we all have 'em.

How tedious is this? Unbelievably. I did it on my renovation way back when, crawling my way foot by foot through the front yard. But if you don't have too much of it, it's not awful. If you do, get the worst of it, then get the remainder when the rest of the lawn goes dormant (if yours does) as yes, this will be the last to do so. Usually. For a Long Island lawn, well, we'll see this year.