Hey Guys,
I've been toying over either re-seeding or throwing down Bermuda sod in my front yard.
I reside outside of Birmingham, AL...so it gets mighty hot & humid during the summer months.
Before I invest in either of these options, I took note of what is growing thick and hearty in my yard, yet it's a grass I'm unfamilar with.
If I can find the seeds for this I can match my current grass and seed it into bare spots.
Currently this grass covers about 85% of my yard.
If no one can ID by my pics, where could I send some clipping samples to and obtain a positive ID?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Reg
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/Grass_Clip_1.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1559937281)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/Clip_2.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1559937308)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/34286/Clip_4.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1559937331)
St. Augustine grass perhaps
After looking @ tons of pics...it may be crabgrass! :P :embarassed:
It does look like that at first but crabgrass tends to grow sideways and looks less organized. I have plenty of that. I really think it's st. Augustine
I've always kinda liked crab grass and dandelions :)
I'm indifferent to crabgrass, but I especially like dandelions. One place I lived was almost pure dandelion in the backyard. It would alternate between white puffs and yellow flowers. Amazing to see really. I'd be surprised if my yard now was 50% "desirable" grasses. There's a little bit of everything in the yard. Some of the flowers I mow around til I get tired of it, or they quit blooming. I don't care what's in the yard as long as it keeps the dirt from washing away.
Not St. Augustine, Bermuda, Zoyzia, Bahaia, or Centipede.
Nutsedge.
Definitely not zoysia or nutsedge.
Nutsedge is bright green, has a starlike seed pod and is round at the base. Not nutsedge.
I always thought it was nutsedge, because that's what I was told. Upon looking it up, it's clearly not nutsedge. We have lots of it around us, but I guess I don't know what it is.
I've seen the OP's stuff before, and I think I might have some in my yard, but I don't know what to call it. It's nice to walk on. Crabgrass isn't so nice to walk on. It's stemmy, and spreads like cancer. The stalks drop down and sprout roots. I guess that's why it's called crabgrass. Crab=cancer, but I don't know why. I should look that up sometime.
Well, maybe you have a new species! Get a patent on it and make a fortune :D I suppose you have a lot of rain through the summer. It doesn't look drought tolerant so no-go for me ;)
Quote from: lxskllr on June 07, 2019, 08:33:39 PM
I've seen the OP's stuff before, and I think I might have some in my yard, but I don't know what to call it. It's nice to walk on. Crabgrass isn't so nice to walk on. It's stemmy, and spreads like cancer. The stalks drop down and sprout roots. I guess that's why it's called crabgrass. Crab=cancer, but I don't know why. I should look that up sometime.
Exactly. It's great to walk on with bare feet.
Crabgrass grows out from the center horizontally and by mid summer a clump of crabgrass looks like a #1 Jimmy.
It's called Quack grass, I have it here too.
Does it have a white root? Pull one piece and there will be 3-4-5 more growing on the same root? I fight something that kinda looks like that in my garden. I don't really know the name of it,but I call it a few names. :D It will spread fast and take over. Great for a lawn,not so much for a garden.
Quote from: thecfarm on June 08, 2019, 06:13:34 AM
Does it have a white root? Pull one piece and there will be 3-4-5 more growing on the same root? I fight something that kinda looks like that in my garden. I don't really know the name of it,but I call it a few names. :D It will spread fast and take over. Great for a lawn,not so much for a garden.
Take a look @ the pic with roots intact and tell me what you think it may be.
I did look at the picture but did not really look like a white root with "hair" for another piece of grass. Or I should say pieces. ;D
Quote from: Southside on June 08, 2019, 12:19:55 AM
It's called Quack grass, I have it here too.
Hmm...my grass seems to lack the classic "auricles" common to Quack Grass. Did you plant it & is there a way to buy seeds for it?
My wife actually likes it.
Thanks
Did not plant it, but we don't use any herbicide on our grazing land so I see a wide variety of grasses that have either been in the soil a long time or get deposited by a deer, bird, etc.
Let it go to seed and collect it yourself. There is a gentleman in Oklahoma who started that way with improved varieties of crab grass and now has a very successful business and several named varieties he produces. His stuff makes for great forage.
Take a small patch of your grass to someone for id. You have Southern States there. Some of them have good turf people on staff and can very helpful and give you a positive ID. Some don't have the right people - it just depends. Somewhere close to you there's a turf store that can help. It's hard to ID precisely by the pictures. It looks like some type of lawn grass, but what exactly?
We have that in our flower beds. It originated from bird seed.
No Idea what it is. Always thought it was a type of crab grass.
Thanks for all the feedback.
Contacted the Alabama A&M/Auburn County extension today about sending some clippings for positive ID.
***UPDATE***
Here is the dreaded news! :-\ ::) :P
Never seen crabgrass look so green, fluffy, and pretty...yet I'm not a grass guru either!
Hello Reggie Turner,
The weed is crabgrass. The attachment will list some herbicides to control the weed.
Thank you,
Nelson D. Wynn, Regional Extension Agent
205-669-6763
Well there you have it from the experts. Now what?
It must be quite different down there as a perennial. Up here you'd have bare ground from October through May. People put down a pre emergent in late March to control it in lawns.
Let us know how things turn out.
Thanks for the official ID.
If it's a perrennial it's not crab. You could also try Chris Teusch at University of Kentucky, he is a grass guru.
Our crab grass grows year round. We have one called goose grass too.
Doing a quick search ther's a bunch of different kinds of crab grass.
Yep. So it seems.
One thing I know for sure: If you put in zoysia plugs, in a year or so you will have a pure zoysia yard without getting rid of anything existing. Zoysia will crowd out everything. Even without fertilizer and adjusting ph.
Sure, it goes dormant in the winter and turns brown (here), but so what? Brown is the color of winter, with occasional whiteness.
Ours ion this side of Florida only browns if there is a "good" frost which maybe happens once every couple 2 or 3 years otherwise it's growing.
Quote from: Southside on June 13, 2019, 03:13:27 PM
If it's a perrennial it's not crab. You could also try Chris Teusch at University of Kentucky, he is a grass guru.
Thanks for the possible connection.
BTW...is there an email/contact info for Chris Teusch via their website or do you have his info?
I'd really like to get 2nd opinion.
I sent you a PM with his contact info.
My first thoughts was crab grass as well. I have one spot in the small garden that I have to pull all summer. I now even use roundup around the edges which also has mulch down.
What I am using on the lawn to reseed is timothy and clover mix. Both are hardy in our winters up here. $90 for 25 kg bag, versus $15 for 1 kg bag of exotic grass from the high mark up hardware stores. Which do you think is the better buy? :D And yes it is growing well here in the gravelly soil. ;)
Quote from: Southside on June 13, 2019, 10:30:58 PM
I sent you a PM with his contact info.
Thanks Jim,
I've spoken with him via email and he confirmed that it was crabgrass
and sent some great pics to help as well.
I'll bear with it this season and either go with Bermuda or Zoysia next yr.
Just sent him one last inquiry concerning just having crabgrass in the
backyard in lieu of having, "little to no grass"...which is my current status. LOL
Decent greenery is my only stipulation for the backyard...with the exception of
Johnson Grass! :D :embarassed:
Thanks for the help.
Reg