Annual Meadow Grass

Annual meadow grass in your lawn is not always bad news, but many see it as an eyesore that can spread rapidly.

But, with some graft, it can be dealt with and removed. At Turfonline, we have decades of first-hand turf lawn gardening experience. We’ve had more than our fair share of infestations to deal with. Here’s how to spot annual meadow grass. Then we’ll show you the best way to get rid of it. Finally, we’ll show you how to prevent future infestations from cropping up in your garden.

What Does Annual Meadow Grass look like?  It comes in many different species, but spotting them in your garden is hardly a tricky task. They are often found peeking above normal grass and have a lighter colour. The harder task is clearing your garden of them.

Using Lawn Weedkiller

As there is no selective chemical for annual meadow grass (poa annua), there are no treatments which can be applied without also killing the rest of your lawn.

But you can spot-treat the offending plants with Round-up or a similar product. This should work  if the grassed area isn’t particularly large and the weed grass is not too pervasive. Naturally, be careful when doing this as all plants treated, whether a weed or not, will be killed by the chemical. If you’d rather not use chemicals, cutting through the base and roots of the plant with a sharp knife will also kill the plant.

Removing AMG From Large Lawns

While weedkiller is great for smaller gardens, this won’t work for those with bigger gardens or who have a more widespread problem. In this case, annual meadow grass becomes even more difficult to remove. There are a few techniques to get rid of the problem.

Firstly, feed your lawn well in March when the turf grasses will be beginning to grow. This will help to thicken up the lawn. It will also prevent the problem from getting worse and will make the existing annual meadow grass easier to deal with.

The roots of annual meadow grass are shallower than most turfgrass species, so not watering your lawn often over the summer can be an effective way of treating it. By waiting until your whole lawn looks to be suffering during a drought before watering, the weed grass will likely have died due to its shallower roots.

Preventing An Infestation of AMG

As with most things, the best way of treating annual meadow grass is to prevent it from infesting your lawn in the first place:

• Be sure to source turf from a reputable supplier.
• Ensure that it isn’t already present when laying your lawn.
• If seeding your own lawn, be sure to check the seed mixture for poa annua.
• Once established, keeping your lawn healthy, lush and dense will make it harder for any seeds to establish themselves.
• If you do begin to spot annual meadow grass, dealing with the problem early is vital.
• Since annual meadow grass seeds sprout all year round even when cut short, if left unchecked, the problem will worsen and potentially get out of hand.