Identifying and Eradicating Weeds in Grass

As you look at your lawn, it’s normal to wonder if those sprouting grasses or plants are weeds and whether they’re supposed to be there.

At SunCo, our weed control services can help you achieve the lawn you’ve always envisioned, free of weeds and other unwanted plants.

Achieving a healthy lawn starts with having the right informational toolkit.

That’s why today, we’re sharing our favorite tidbits and nuggets of knowledge for dealing with grassy weed problems.

Types of Common Lawn Weeds

Lawn weed problems affect many of our customers here at SunCo. Here are the most common culprits we get reports about.

Perennial Weeds

First, there are perennial plants and weeds, which will live for at least two years.

Many emerge in the winter or early spring, only to disappear for a while later.

You might think you’re out of the woods (or shall we say out of the weeds?) only to see that the perennials have come back again the next year.

The following plants meet the definition of a perennial weed that you may see in your grass:

• Dandelions
• Bindweed
• Creeping thistle
• Buttonweed
• Common blue violet
• Chickweed
• Canada thistle

Some types of perennials may grow purple flowers, from the common blue violet to creeping thistle.

Although the flowers are attractive, these common lawn weeds are not, which means you still need to strongly consider an emergent herbicide as a treatment.

Annual Weeds

Check your grass – you might have an annual weed problem.

As the name suggests, annuals appear every year. It’s not always right on the dot but usually thereabouts.

In the year they’re alive, annuals will germinate, develop flowers (purple flowers or other colors), and establish seed. It’s the seed that allows them to come back each year even when the plants otherwise die.

Keep your eyes peeled for these grass-like weeds, some of which feature light green leaves:

• Henbit
• Dandelions
• Creeping Charlie
• Foxtail
• Purslane
• White clover
• Bindweed

The previous categorization isn’t the only one. Weeds can also be divided into:

Broadleaf Weeds

Does your property have a broadleaf weed problem? Unlike other lawn weeds, broadleaves are known for their aggression. They can spread quickly and are hard to remove.

There’s little reason to confuse broadleaf weeds with other common lawn weeds, as they’re obvious among grass.

The size and shape of the leaves, which are generally quite broad, make them easy to distinguish.

Broadleaf weeds can grow all year long. Some you might see across seasons are:

• Cutleaf geranium
• Hairy bittercress
• Common vetch
• Shepherd’s purse
• Nettleleaf goosefoot
• Japanese clover
• Common ragweed
• Lamb’s quarter
• Redroot pigweed
• Yellow woodsorrel

Grassy Weeds

Finally, there are perhaps the hardest to discern between true grass and lawn weeds: grassy weeds.

These may be warm-season grass or grow when the weather gets cool, but either way, they’re trouble.

Although they’re some of the most common lawn weeds, grassy weeds can take up precious resources in the soil, choke out oxygen to the healthy grasses you want more of, and dominate space so other plants and grasses can’t grow.

Before you know it, your entire backyard or commercial property could be covered with these weeds.

Here are some of the most common lawn weeds that can be confused for regular grass:

• Crabgrass
• Barnyardgrass
• Bermudagrass
• Annual bluegrass
• Creeping bentgrass
• Goosegrass
• Dallisgrass
• Quackgrass

Weeds or Grass? How to Be Sure

You don’t want to eliminate healthy grasses, only lawn weeds, which means knowing the difference between one and the other.

SunCo recommends looking at the following parts of the grass to confirm if it’s weed or plant:

Seed Head

The top portion of grass is the seed head. Tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, and perennial ryegrass are common lawn weeds with noticeable seed heads.

Auricle

Grasses have auricles, which emerge from either side of a blade of grass, usually appearing where the blades and sheath intersect.

Studying this part of the grass can help you confirm whether you have a weed or grass, as the former might have hook-like auricles.

Blade and Leaves

Weeds have different types of blades or leaves depending on whether they’re broadleaf or other kinds of common lawn weeds.

Here is an indicator of which types of weeds contain which blades:

• Wild violets are broadleaf weeds with pointed, tapered leaves; heart shape is another type of leaf shape you might see.
• Shepherd’s purse contains lobed, hairy leaves, although the shape can sometimes vary.
• Spurge have small, rounded leaves in shades of red to brown.
• Purple cudweed has oval-shaped leaves with wool-like white fibers throughout.
• Nutsedge is a grassy weed with a yellowish tint.
• Goosegrass grows in low clumps.
• Foxtail has flat leaves, which makes it distinguishable from crabgrass.
• Dandelions have lance-shaped leaves and distinct yellow flowers.
• Dallisgrass has thin, coarse blades that grow in clumps.
• Crabgrass features blades measuring a quarter of an inch that are angled from the stem.
• Annual ryegrass, a common lawn weed, is clumpy, appearing purple nearer the base with blades that are smooth, shiny, and dark.
• Annual bluegrass has folded leaves.

Eradication Measures to Remove Grassy Weeds

You need these grassy lawn weeds gone ASAP, as they’re having a negative impact on your commercial or residential property.

Fortunately, you have plenty of solutions for ridding your lawn of weed growth.

Dig and Remove by Hand

If you don’t mind getting a bit dirty (and sweaty), you can restore your lawn grass by removing garden weeds by hand.

This method to control weeds isn’t recommended for vigorous turf or broadleaf weeds.

They’re so insidious and tough to remove that you’ll find yourself exhausted from the effort.

When using hand removal for common lawn weeds, you should first dig around the weed’s base using a garden shovel.

If you don’t reach all the way to the bottom of the roots, the weeds will definitely come back again next year.

Mulch

You can take care of many types of lawn weeds, grasses or otherwise, by mulching.

Better yet is that mulching will stop weed seeds, which prevents perennial and annual weeds from sprouting up again every season/year.

You may use eco-friendly materials to make mulch or rely on SunCo’s mulching services to improve your landscaping.

We offer mulch in several shades to match the features of your residential or commercial property.

If you’d rather go the DIY route, we recommend weed-free straw, coco hulls, shredded leaves, and grass clippings for mulch. Add several inches of mulch early in summer, applying two to four inches.

Mulch usually lasts for several years. However, be advised that mulch garden beds are only effective if you’ve already treated weeds.

Use Herbicide

Lastly, you can stop lawn weeds in their tracks with herbicide.

Pre-emergent herbicide is applied before weeds sprout, while post-emergent herbicide is used after the weeds grow.

Weed killers like these are useful, because you can treat every garden weed you have whether you can identify its growth pattern or not.

Here are some tips for herbicide application:

• Always follow the included instructions to ensure you use just the right amount of product, whether pre-emergent herbicides or post-emergent herbicides. If the instructions on the package call for dilution with water, you must do that.
• Only apply herbicides on weeds. You can kill or damage desirable grass species if you aren’t careful.
• Don’t use herbicide for common lawn weeds if rain is in the forecast within the next few days following the application. The rain will wash it away and your weed problem will persist.
• Avoid using granular herbicide in windy conditions. It can blow to other parts of the lawn other than the common lawn weeds, potentially damaging other grasses and plants.
• Do not apply herbicide if the temperatures will exceed 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The herbicide vapors can spread and hurt the rest of your garden (plus, they’re not great for you to breathe in, either).

Aerate the Lawn

Get into the habit of seasonal aeration.

If you don’t know what aeration is, it involves creating strategic space in the soil using a tool like a plug or spike aerator (mechanical aeration) but it can also be done naturally (chemical aeration).

Aeration is advantageous for a number of reasons. It breaks up compacted soil, creates stronger grass roots, and allows more water and nutrients to reach the soil, making your plants healthier.

In other words, aerating will strengthen your lawn, ensuring that the existing grasses and plants with pink or white flowers are so durable that common lawn weeds won’t be able to grow.

Get Expert Lawn Care with SunCo

Grassy weeds don’t have to dominate your lawn anymore.

Whether you’re dealing with poison ivy, weeds with dark purple berries, or those with bright yellow flowers, weed control can keep grassy weeds at bay.

It all begins with knowing how these plants spread, which is usually through dandelion seeds or other seeds.

Next, you need to know how to identify the grass blades so you can be sure which is a weed and which isn’t. Then you can treat the common lawn weeds using herbicide, mulch, hand removal, or aeration.

SunCo’s years of experience in commercial lawn care and landscaping make us the team to call if common lawn weeds are taking over your property. Contact us now.