Tenacity in the fall for POA

[Dwinter]

Past 2 years I've done the spring blanket spray of tenacity then spot spraying until the POA disappears/hides . Is it a good idea to blanket spray again in the fall ? when is the best time to fall blanket spray ? thanks P.S I'm starting the aggressive nitrogen regimen in a few weeks

[turf_toes]

How much product have you already applied? There’s a label specified limit. You need to figure that out first before considering a fall application.

[northeastlawn]

I have tried the Fall Tenacity apps in the fall. They never worked well for me. I'd say wait for the spring when poa-a is easier to spot again.

The August and Late September pre-m apps are huge, don't miss those. Tenacity is not a substitute for Prodiamine or Dimension.

I have always worried that the fall fertilizer program super charges any poa-a that made it through the summer, but if you need your KBG to recover from the summer, its probably worth the risk. I know I really enjoy the fall fertilizer part of the lawn growing season :-)

In the spring you have the benefit that the KBG might still be dormant, so hitting the poa-a with tenacity pops up the seed heads and the poa-a sticks out because its the only thing really growing that early. KBG greens up later.

I should note that I use tenacity to just ID the poa-a, but often I will just pull it by hand if can avoid doing a lot of spot sprays.

There is some stuff that is supposed kill the poa-a in the fall when its young, I have read some people put down their pre-m, then sept or oct hit it with something that is geared toward young pao-a. Then in the spring hit any poa-a left with xonerate (an expensive herbicide for mature pao-a).

That seems extreme when a little tenacity in the spring can take care of a lot poa-a if you time it correctly.

[ken-n-nancy]

I have tried the Fall Tenacity apps in the fall. They never worked well for me. I'd say wait for the spring when poa-a is easier to spot again.

The August and Late September pre-m apps are huge, don't miss those. Tenacity is not a substitute for Prodiamine or Dimension.

...

In the spring you have the benefit that the KBG might still be dormant, so hitting the poa-a with tenacity pops up the seed heads and the poa-a sticks out because its the only thing really growing that early. KBG greens up later.

I should note that I use tenacity to just ID the poa-a, but often I will just pull it by hand if I can avoid doing a lot of spot sprays. ...

Thanks for the excellent post! The above items particularly match with my experience with Poa annua and I think are key lessons learned!

I also am a big fan of pulling Poa annua by hand in the spring when it is easy to spot with the early green-up, distinctive color and shape, and early seed heads (compared to KBG).

[Dwinter]

This past spring I did Prodiamine 8 month rate on April 4th and Tenacity blanket 4oz rate on April 9th. then spot sprayed (2oz rate ) every 10-14days depending on weather forecast. This how the lawn looked on May 7th.

[PSU4ME]

I had very good success this year of an early spring ID application then raking and pulling it out. Definitely created some early holes but they are already filled is. Triv is a different story but a few wins here and there. The advise above is good, preM now, ID and pull in spring.

[northeastlawn]

I should 2nd that a good raking in the spring pulled out a lot of dead looking poa-a with seed heads. In the past I assumed it was dead, but over the last few years realized that this dead looking poa-a does come back to life.

I used a grounds keeper II rake and it worked really well st removing the old poa-a, but is a little gentler than a dethatching rake. I also wouldn’t aerate the lawn on the spring,that would just spread the poa-a around.

My big lesson was even if the poa-a looks dead, pull it out just to be sure. Even if you pull out some KBG, it’s more important to get the old poa-a than it is to save KBG. The KBG will spread back in on its own.