How do I repair my lawn from invasion from another grass?

[Zog]

My lawn is being invaded by two other types of grass. The main lawn is Wintergreen couch. I've included photos of the two grasses that are invading. One has very big wide blades of grass, the other one is slender and tall. The taller grass is mixing with the Wintergreen, while the wide bladed grass is replacing it. Is there a way to fix this without getting an earthmover to dig out the grass and replace it with turf?

 wide bladed invading grass

 Wintergreen couch

 tall slender invading grass at the top of the image, Wintergreen couch at the bottom of the image

 you can see a kind of island of Wintergreen being surrounded by the wide bladed grass

[MitchellMc]

Hi @Zog,

What percentage of the lawn is left as Wintergreen? From your last image, if I'm interpreting it correctly, it appears it's all but overrun entirely.

At this stage, with the invading grass through just about the entire lawn, there's not much you can do, and I'd be considering whether this invader is actually a better suit for the area. It appears to be rather healthy, and the appearance is not displeasing. Perhaps you should consider keeping it? I can't see any way of removing it without killing the rest of the lawn in that area. So you could certainly poison it, but the Wintergreen will die, too.

For the taller, slender grass, I'd recommend picking up a Yates Zero Weeding Herbicide Applicator Brush and applying a herbicide to the tips of it. That will allow ou to poison it and not the surrounding grass.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[Zog]

Mitchell,

No, about 80% is still wintergreen.

[MitchellMc]

Thanks for qualifying @Zog. Unfortunately, you'd likely have to look at manually pulling up the invading grass or poisoning the areas and starting again.

Mitchell

[JJ25]

Hi Zog,

The tall light green looking grass weed is nutgrass. It’s very invasive but can be killed with Sempra, Sedgehammer or Monument herbicides. They’re all safe for couch grasses and monument will also kill buffalo grasses, summer grass (crab grass) & Paspalum - if those are are what the thicker grass is?

Be sure to check the data sheets and safety info for each herbicide before use though to make sure your type of grass is safe. You can also test on a small area first.

Good luck!

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @JJ25. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for jumping into the discussion.

I trust @Zog really appreciates your input and helpful suggestions.

We look forward to hearing all about your projects and plans around the house and garden. Feel free to reach out anytime you need assistance or have something to share with the community.

Mitchell
 

[Zog]

@JJ25 

Thanks for that. I've done some research since reading your reply and I think you're right about the nutgrass, it matches photos I've found online and the broader leaf grass (I've uploaded a photo) does indeed look like crab grass. Knowing what it is, is half the battle!