Knowledgebase
Wild grass in my lawn #744399
Asked April 14, 2021, 8:14 PM EDT
Last fall, we spilled some wild bird seed in the lawn. Now we have a taller, bright green wide blade grass taking over. How can we kill this without destroying the bluegrass lawn?
Mono County California
Expert Response
Hello
Identifying grasses requires close examination of tiny details, usually under magnification. You may send whole plant samples, including the roots attached, to MSU Plant and Pest Diagnostics lab for identification. Include pictures of the whole plant and of the lawn containing the unknown grass.
If you still have the seeds that were in the feeder, it may help to send a small sample of them, too. If the bird seed package lists what seeds are contained in the mix, that would be helpful to the lab, too.
See the web site for fee schedule and instructions-
https://www.canr.msu.edu/pestid/
Once the type of grass is known, there may be a way to kill it with herbicide that doesn’t affect KBG, but the quickest way to remove it is by hand, or to use a nonselective herbicide, such as glyphosate, on the section of grass and then reseed or resod.