Can anyone identify this grass?

joshoc

Can anyone identify this grass (or maybe it's a weed?) that has started growing in some of the bare spots in my otherwise fescue lawn? I have attached pictures. The grass in question is light green, about 6 inches high.

Thanks,
Josh O.
Nashville, TN

Attached Images

   

GardenConcepts

Looks like Yellow Nutsedge to me. It's tough to get rid of- broad leaf weed control does nothing.

__________________
Chris

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Scuba_Dave

Looks like some stuff I had growing here, not a ton
I use a claw & then pull it up
Any roots missed it grows back

handy man88

Sounds like a job for Round Up.

bmeeks8

This is a very tough weed to control. It is Yellow Nutsedge. I've found that Round Up will only kill the top green growth but leave the underground nutlet (the geneis for more growth) relatively unharmed.

The only truly effective control I've found is called Sedge Hammer. This is the trade name. You can find it online at eBay and at some garden centers. It is about $12 per gallon (one small water soluable packet dropped in one gallon of water in a pump sprayer makes one "application"). I buy it in the 3-pack that makes 3 gallons of product. The 3-pack is about $36. It will kill the Nutsedge, but it takes two weeks or more to see the full impact.

downunder

It is either yellow or purple nutsedge. There's a little difference in the color of the tassle on top and one grows a little taller if I remember correctly, but essentially the same.

Nutsedge spreads by underground runners as well as the tubers which resemble small peanuts, which is where it gets the common name. Tenacity is the best control. It is shallow rooted and reasonably easy to pull up if the ground is moist and soft- unless there are a lot of other grass, etc. roots that help hold it in place. There are a few products (Image is one) that is supposed to control nutsedge without harming the lawn. They are expensive, around $30 for a pint the last time I got some. If you use it around flowers it will kill them also just as if you used glyphosate (RoundUp) but it can serve a purpose with treating the nutsedge in the lawn where other methods could be disfiguring.

There is some research that indicates nutsedge knows when you use herbicides and dislodges the tubers before the herbicide can destroy them. That seems to make sense based on my experience with it coming back repeatedly.

If you pull it, spray it or whatever and watch for the little ones to come back- they will! and then pull them out while they are still small and immature, you will eventually win. Eventually!

__________________
If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. If you wouldn't put your name on it, it ain't done right!

bmeeks8

Trust me -- the Sedge Hammer will work on Yellow Nutsedge. I used Image on the Nutsedge without any success in my yard before I found out about Sedge Hammer on the web. Mixed properly and applied as directed with a surfactant, it has killed all the Yellow Nutsedge I've applied it to. You have to be patient and persistent. It takes about a week before the Nutsedge begins to yellow a bit, and then one or two more weeks to die. The persistence comes in when you have to re-apply because you missed spraying the foilage of some that may not have sprouted when you sprayed the first time!