This is my lawn.
For some reason lots of thick horrible coarse grass has started growing in lots of patches all over. Does anyone know why it would all of a sudden start to grow? Also, can anything be done about it? I have Green Thumb come 4 times a year....I would have hoped they would sort it out.
EDIT: I've been informed that it's couch grass, and the reason for its prevalence this year is probably because of the very wet winter we had in the UK.
Click photo for full size
Hmm, well Phil Hawthorn, Greenthumb are really being pathetic! Couch grass in lawns is not a problem - stolons within lawn grass will die out within a year with regular lawn maintenance and cutting, so if yours is being cut frequently, and you've not had couch grass before, it won't be that. It's more likely something like Yorkshire Fog - it doesn't look like annual meadow grass, but there are other coarse leaved weed grasses that might have invaded.
Greenthumb should know how to treat these - you either dig out the clumps and reseed the patches, particularly if they are isolated, or slash into the stolons with a sharp knife before cutting. The other advice is to rake up the grass foliage, so it's standing up properly before mowing, and change the direction of the cut at each mowing. If Greenthumb suggests this is some kind of annual grass, then a grass box should be used, or all clippings collected.
This is crabgrass, a summer annual, or possibly quackgrass a cool season perennial. A close up picture of the stems would help.
See these excellent answers for control methods
I don't think that is crabgrass. I think it is quackgrass. A nightmare. The more you read about it, the more it will frighten you. Does the grass have the telltale auricles at the base of the leaf? I believe Bamboo may have it right; it may be called couch grass is some areas as well.
I have a large patch I am battling. Luckily it is isolated to an area surrounded by the street and the sidewalk. The rhizomes are popping up through the asphalt! Most landscapers will use Roundup several times and just scorch that area of the grass and repeat until they have exhausted the plants underground reserves. Do not till it. Every piece can become a new plant. I am currently using Tenacity to kill mine. It is doing an amazing job. I am year two into the war and now I think I am finally seeing the end. Every generation that comes back up is weaker and smaller. Of all weeds, this has proven to be a worth adversary; fun battle but stressful at first. Tenacity is the only herbicide I have found that will kill it but not my desired turf.
