Seeing this image online, I knew for certain the name of my enemy - Lolium multifolorum (annual ryegrass).
I’ve been doing some reading on some of the turfgrass information resource sites across the Internet recently trying to determine the nature of a rather annoying grass I have in my yard. I was leaning most closely towards a tall fescue of some type, but it really didn’t fit. Still, most of the sites I ran across had it listed as one of the very few options I was likely to encounter as a Nebraska turfgrass. Fortunately I found Purdue’s turfgrass identification tool, which got me started on the right path without even grabbing a specimen of the grass. The only thing I was certain of was the seed type and the blade width (which was what kept throwing me off of the existing indications – my problem grass blades were almost exclusively over a quarter inch in width). This was the first site that showed me ryegrass, both perennial and annual as a possibility. Stupid, really. I know most of the cheap blends sold around here contain at least some quantity of ryegrass. Still, I wasn’t convinced completely, as I would expect an annual to disappear after each season and return only from seed, but I have some very large clumps that are fairly obviously over a year old. Searching led to the picture at the left, and I could at last tie a name to the enemy I was facing and begin a battle plan.
That’s where things are at right now. Killing grasses from within grasses is a notoriously difficult challenge, and the most logical option would probably be to kill it all off, level the lawn, and start from scratch. That may well be the end result, but I’m not in a rush to do that. Other suggestions were to burn it down with a glyphosate herbicide (i.e., Roundup), possibly atrazine, and at least one indication of a sedge killing herbicide now known as Sedgehammer. The suggestion I’m going to try out initially is a longer commitment, but I’ve seen it work where I’ve been aggressive with the weedeater on this grass. They suggest mowing at 2″ for two or more seasons, and being very sparing with watering. Apparently the annual rye doesn’t handle short cutting or drought very well. If we happen to get a hard winter with cold temps and little snow cover this year, it should help me out. We’ll see how it goes.
