Is this a picture of quack grass?

Question

Here is a link to a picture of grass growing in my lawn:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jcueland/detail?.dir=/449ascd&.dnm=b674scd.jpg&.src=ph

I think it is quack grass but I don't know for sure. If it's not quack grass what is it?

Answer 1

I agree with "Billy Ray". But, where I come from, we sometimes call what you have in the picture as "bull bermuda" or "St. Augustine (grass)". It is often used as a ground cover on golf courses in the "rough" because it is extremely drought tolerant and spreads quickly. It can overtake an entire lawn in a three or four seasons and will kill out all other grasses, including the more common bermuda grass that Billy Ray mentions.

I have also seen it referred to as "quack grass", so you could be right. It looks a lot like the picture of quack grass in my Sunset Western Garden Book, I must admit.

It can be controlled with Roundup. If you just pull it up, some of the runner stays in the ground and it will come back in the spring. If there are several days of hard frost (6 or more hours a night), it will turn white and stop growing. However, in coastal plains and valleys, in may stay green all year as long as it is not cut too short.

If it has already taken over your lawn, cut it back severly in the winter, dethatch, and aeriate the soil. In the spring, fertilize with a good organic fertilizer to get it green again. Keep it trimmed, but not cut short during the summer. It won't need much mowing if you keep it to 2 1/2 inches or more. However, it won't tolerate a lot of traffic, either, so it's not a good lawn for kids to play on every day.

Personally, I hate the stuff, but one of my lawns has been completely taken over with it. I gave up fighting it years ago. Now, I take care of it as per above.

Alternative: after cutting it back severly in the late fall, overseed with seasonal rye grass. That will keep your lawn green all winter and won't die back until mid summer. By then, the bermuda will be in full growth again. However, if you do this, be prepared to mow your lawn beginning in mid-winter forward because rye grass grows fast and tall and it can get away from you very easily.

Answer 2

Its Bermuda grass. A warm season grass native to regions of Africa. It is an invasive weed grass which can take over good grasses. Here is a link below to a pic and great info. There are different varieties of such. They grow in the fall by sending out horizontal stolons which is the stalk part of the grass. When it goes to seed it starts growing a little more vertical as the seed head develops.. Check it out. http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/bermuda_grass.htm

Answer 3

some of the pictures match (more of the seedling pix), others show the grass as very tall.

Here is a link that may help...
http://www.agry.purdue.edu/courses/agry105/prohibited/quackgrass.htm