Weed Grasses

When people think of weeds in lawns and turf they immediately think of broad leaf weeds such as daisy, clover or buttercup. There are certain grass species that are undesirable in luxury lawns which are more difficult to eradicate than normal broad leaf weeds, This is because they cannot be controlled with selective weed killers. There are two main species of weed grass annual meadow grass and Yorkshire fog.

Annual Meadow Grass [Poa Annua]

Annual Meadow grass is a weed grass in luxury fine lawns for numerous reasons. It is a shallow rooting grass with poor drought resistance and poor disease resistance especially fusarium during the autumn and winter. For all it's disadvantages it is the most common grass in fine turf such as golf greens because of it's ability to adapt and thrive most conditions. Annual meadow establishes very quickly and can quite happily tolerate and produce seed under very close mowing, making it very difficult to eradicate. Annual meadow grass will grow in any soil conditions.

Yorkshire Fog [Holcus Lanatus]

Yorkshire fog is a tufted type perennial grass that is commonly found on all types of grass land. Like annual meadow grass is considered a weed grass in fine turf. Yorkshire fog prefers poorly drained wet soils but can survive dry conditions. It has soft grey-green broad leaves and stems which stand out more due to it's pale colour and coarse appearance from other grasses bent and fescue. It can spread quite rapidly as it produces thousands of seeds. Although it prefers a pH of 5.5 - 7.5 it can tolerate a wider range. It can be difficult to eradicate yorkshire fog from fine turf lawns. If there are only a few patches hand removal is recommended. If it has been allowed to clonize into larger patches, slashing at it with a knife may help to reduce it. Regular raking with a sping tine rake may also be helpful in reducing this weed grass as yorkshire fog does not like a lot of disturbance and wear.