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I just recently moved into a house with a large lawn and I've noticed that there is a type of grass that seems to be littered throughout. Firstly, what type of grass is this and secondly how do I get rid of it?

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Kyle Decot
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  • Lawns are generally a mixture of grasses, anyway. The previous owner could have seeded a few bare spots with something fast growing. – fixer1234 Jul 13 '18 at 15:07
  • Looks like you have a mix of 3 grasses, not sure on what the third type is. But I believe I see fescue, bluegrass, and rye. The yellow color looks to be turning green, as if it were new grasslings still developing. –  Jul 13 '18 at 15:37
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    It almost looks like wild onion but the screen on my phone is not that good. Have you tried digging a little up? If there is a small bulb I would say that is what it is. –  Jul 13 '18 at 15:41
  • Could also be something like Liriope Spicata - we have it spreading into our lawn. It's quite aggressive, looks like grass, but tends to grow at a different rate, ending up looking like this when mixed in. I haven't tried to remove it though, I just mow it along with the rest of the lawn. –  Jul 13 '18 at 15:52
  • Wipe-on, wick, application with a herbicide can be used to selectively target unwanted growth that projects above the wanted grass. –  Jul 13 '18 at 15:57
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    It’s nutgrass or nutsedge. Google it there are many pages about it. Do you have fertilizer/weed control contract with anyone? Call them, they’ll 1) be getting a lot of calls about it 2) they’ll spray it 3) even after spraying it takes about 2 weeks to die. I have a lot this year. –  Jul 13 '18 at 16:07
  • Have you tried to get rid of it with chickens, then reseeding? – black thumb Mar 19 '19 at 04:04
  • My sugjestion would be to mow it and forget about it. The likelihood of you spending less than a small fortune trying to remove it is pretty low. – Rob Mar 19 '19 at 18:48
  • @Rob chickens are a very cheap solution – black thumb Mar 20 '19 at 04:10

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That looks like Nutsedge to me. http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems/weeds/yellow-nutsedge.aspx

When you pull a large piece out, does it have the nugget at the bottom? That thing is what will fight you for years. It requires diligence, but you CAN eradicate it.

My two-prong attack is to buy a bottle of nutsedge killer from the big box store for the first stage and use it up, spraying every week or so on the weeds. Then, walk the lawn once a week and hand-pull each sprout, leaving them on the lawn to then mow and mulch. The key is to slowly exhaust all the underground energy and the key to THAT is to not let each sprout get more than 3 or 4 leaves. I HATE that stuff.

Ha! I just looked at your photo again and saw the size of that lawn... You are going to have to go full chemical I assume? If so, there are some that work. I think Tenacity works on it.

Evil Elf
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  • What about using chickens to kill it off, as it does look like farm? – black thumb Mar 23 '19 at 20:01
  • That would work if they kept feeding on it. The way to eradicate it is to allow the plant to grow a few blades, then pull/prune. The plant stores energy once it has enough blades (I think it is like 4 or 5). While growing up until this number of blades, it is using up energy. Eventually, you can exhaust its energy reserves stored in those nebules underground. – Evil Elf Mar 25 '19 at 17:52