# Anyone else having issues with GCI Cool Blue?



## emsguy630 (Aug 8, 2021)

Hello,

Did a complete renovation last fall in my front yard and just wanted to see if anyone else has any issues with this limey green color stuff popping up now that winter is almost gone. I have two family members who are also experiencing the same thing with the cool blue. I have a ton of this stuff popping up now.


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## Drose1970 (10 mo ago)

I also did a complete renovation last fall with GCI cool blue and have very similar weeds. I had roughly 8-10 of them pop up late fall, mine were very easy to hand pull. So far this spring has been weed free with the exception of a few broadleaf weeds. Otherwise, so far I'd say I've had success with the cool blue.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Do you have any seed left, anyone? If so, someone should examine a handful or two for odd-looking seeds, if you have time. Might need a magnifier, but it could be worth it to do a quick check. If you find a couple of seeds that aren't KBG in a handful, that would prove where it came from.


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## aperfcrcle (Apr 15, 2020)

had the same thing with my reno of cool blue. I was pulling a bunch of exactly what you took a picture of last summer. drove me nuts! so far haven't seen it pop up but it's still early here.


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## emsguy630 (Aug 8, 2021)

aperfcrcle said:


> had the same thing with my reno of cool blue. I was pulling a bunch of exactly what you took a picture of last summer. drove me nuts! so far haven't seen it pop up but it's still early here.


Were you ever able to identify what it was? I'm leaning more towards annual Rye. I've literally been looking at so many sources with help in trying to identify it, but I'm still not 100% sure. I didn't have any issues with it popping up in late August last year, however, it really started to kick off in Late Feb and early March and is definitely growing way faster than the TTTF/KBG. My yard is pretty large and I don't have the time to pull it all by hand.


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## Lawn Whisperer (Feb 15, 2021)

GCI Turf seeds has been known to have zero weed and zero other cultivar seed blends. They had to change their cultivar blend last year. Is this the new variety cultivars of Saltillo, Coronado TDH, Falcon IV, and Midnight? The previous blend of cultivars were Black Tail, Thor, Falcon IV, and Blue Coat.


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## Drose1970 (10 mo ago)

No. Mine were the old cultivars of Thor, falcon IV, blacktail and blue coat.


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## emsguy630 (Aug 8, 2021)

Lawn Whisperer said:


> GCI Turf seeds has been known to have zero weed and zero other cultivar seed blends. They had to change their cultivar blend last year. Is this the new variety cultivars of Saltillo, Coronado TDH, Falcon IV, and Midnight? The previous blend of cultivars were Black Tail, Thor, Falcon IV, and Blue Coat.


It was the Black Tail, Thor, Falcon IV, and Blue Coat. I purchased the seed before they had to change.


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## Budstl (Apr 19, 2017)

Did you guys fallow a few weeks before seed down? Also did you guys use anything to cover the seed? Annual rye can have a clasping auricle. I don't see any in the pics provided.


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## emsguy630 (Aug 8, 2021)

Budstl said:


> Did you guys fallow a few weeks before seed down? Also did you guys use anything to cover the seed? Annual rye can have a clasping auricle. I don't see any in the pics provided.


I aerated. I did bring top soil in but I'm not convinced it was the top soil, especially when two of my family members also used the seed with no topsoil. I do see what you mean about the auricle. I took a better close up. These blades also appear to have hair on them. It's driving me nuts not knowing what this is lol


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## Lawn Whisperer (Feb 15, 2021)

emsguy630 said:


> Lawn Whisperer said:
> 
> 
> > GCI Turf seeds has been known to have zero weed and zero other cultivar seed blends. They had to change their cultivar blend last year. Is this the new variety cultivars of Saltillo, Coronado TDH, Falcon IV, and Midnight? The previous blend of cultivars were Black Tail, Thor, Falcon IV, and Blue Coat.
> ...


I've used both GCI TTTF and GCI Cool blue (previous cultivars) in the last two years, fall 2020 and fall 2021, with great success.

As mentioned above, the undesired grass your seeing might've been from your soil, topdressing or from your lawn service. I had a company spread compost during an overseed and they spread some ryegrass seeds in a couple of the thin areas. I had a handful of poa and nutsedge also, but I knew that that was from my soil, since it was in the same area as pre-seeding.


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## 2L8 (Mar 18, 2019)

emsguy630 said:


> Budstl said:
> 
> 
> > Did you guys fallow a few weeks before seed down? Also did you guys use anything to cover the seed? Annual rye can have a clasping auricle. I don't see any in the pics provided.
> ...


I can't see any auricles in these pictures either, while in the pictures in the first post there is at least a hint of something.

Maybe they are two different plants. Coincidentally, I saw two hairy guys here just a few steps away on the side of the road, and at first I thought they were the same. Then I noticed the auricles and the different color:



In each case on the right is most likely the wall barley (false barley, Hordeum muricum) and on the left the yorkshire fog (tufted grass, Holcus lanatus), the one without auricles.


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## emsguy630 (Aug 8, 2021)

2L8 said:


> emsguy630 said:
> 
> 
> > Budstl said:
> ...


Very very interesting. I ended up reaching out to my county extension and sent them a ton of pictures. Hopefully I'll have an answer from them tomorrow! I'll keep you posted!


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## 2L8 (Mar 18, 2019)

Hordeum muricum is called mouse barley(translated)here, perhaps because it is also spread by mice. The awns of the seeds have barbs and settle in the fur of animals. Dogs are often affected, and so here you can find the mouse barley where dog owners walk their dogs. I used to wonder about the flowering barley on roadsides.

For animals, the awns can become a real problem because they cause itching and inflammation when they get to sensitive areas.


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## situman (Nov 3, 2020)

Dude, it is hard to pinpoint exactly where the contaminations come from. Squirrels will dig up your yard, birds poop, wind, human traffic and etc etc etc. There is no such thing as a perfect lawn. Regardless of what that is, just go and deal with it by either spot glyph or hand pull.


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## aperfcrcle (Apr 15, 2020)

emsguy630 said:


> Were you ever able to identify what it was? I'm leaning more towards annual Rye. I've literally been looking at so many sources with help in trying to identify it, but I'm still not 100% sure. I didn't have any issues with it popping up in late August last year, however, it really started to kick off in Late Feb and early March and is definitely growing way faster than the TTTF/KBG. My yard is pretty large and I don't have the time to pull it all by hand.


I was not able to, even posted here about it and nobody really replied. I did not top soil on my reno so it had to be something in the seed. I will let you know if it comes back


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## situman (Nov 3, 2020)

aperfcrcle said:


> emsguy630 said:
> 
> 
> > Were you ever able to identify what it was? I'm leaning more towards annual Rye. I've literally been looking at so many sources with help in trying to identify it, but I'm still not 100% sure. I didn't have any issues with it popping up in late August last year, however, it really started to kick off in Late Feb and early March and is definitely growing way faster than the TTTF/KBG. My yard is pretty large and I don't have the time to pull it all by hand.
> ...


You did a renovation. You left your soil wide open and assuming you dethatched or scarified, brought up weed seeds. Do not assume that your new reno will be weed free even if you fallow.


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## Ngilbe36 (Jul 23, 2020)

aperfcrcle said:


> emsguy630 said:
> 
> 
> > Were you ever able to identify what it was? I'm leaning more towards annual Rye. I've literally been looking at so many sources with help in trying to identify it, but I'm still not 100% sure. I didn't have any issues with it popping up in late August last year, however, it really started to kick off in Late Feb and early March and is definitely growing way faster than the TTTF/KBG. My yard is pretty large and I don't have the time to pull it all by hand.
> ...


Yeah this is a poor assumption and is definitely not fair to immediately blame the seed. There is a reason people fallow for weeks. I used GCI Cool Blue and had no such grass come up.


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## emsguy630 (Aug 8, 2021)

Ngilbe36 said:


> aperfcrcle said:
> 
> 
> > emsguy630 said:
> ...


Wasn't making an assumption. I only was inquiring if anyone else had an issue. Two of my family members did not bring any top soil in and did not aerate or use a scarc.. One family member only did an overseed and had the same type of grass pop up .


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## aperfcrcle (Apr 15, 2020)

Didn't mean to start a battle.. Just pointing out that I just so happen to have the same random weed pop up, that I never had in my lawn before hand. Not throwing GCI under the bus, nor am I unhappy with the seed in any way whatsoever... Literally just pointing out that I just so happen to have the same problem the OP did.


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## emsguy630 (Aug 8, 2021)

The state extension office did get back to me today and determined it to be poa triv.


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## 2L8 (Mar 18, 2019)

What kind of people work there? Poa trivialis is hairless and has no ridges on the leaf blade. Your pictures definitely do not show Poa trivialis.


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## The Lawnfather (May 2, 2020)

I planted the older version last fall and have seen no weeds so far


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## emsguy630 (Aug 8, 2021)

2L8 said:


> What kind of people work there? Poa trivialis is hairless and has no ridges on the leaf blade. Your pictures definitely do not show Poa trivialis.


My same exact thought. I thought poa triv was hairless.


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## 2L8 (Mar 18, 2019)

When you get expertise like this, you lose confidence in the knowledge of the experts. This is not only sad, but also annoying.

I had a similar experience when I first discovered Poa trivialis in the lawn. All characteristics were correct, only the ligula of the young plant was much shorter than described. So I grabbed a few plants of it and made an appointment with the head greenkeeper of the nearest golf course. He couldn't identify the grass and he couldn't tell me anything about unwanted grasses in the lawn. Maybe there weren't any there or maybe they didn't care. That is one of the reasons I am active on this forum.


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## Belgianbillie (Apr 3, 2018)

it looks a lot like the poa triv in my yard, except i dont think mine is hairy.


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## Versa (2 mo ago)

emsguy630 said:


> Hello,
> 
> Did a complete renovation last fall in my front yard and just wanted to see if anyone else has any issues with this limey green color stuff popping up now that winter is almost gone. I have two family members who are also experiencing the same thing with the cool blue. I have a ton of this stuff popping up now.


I completed an overseed with cool blue last fall with great success. This fall I did an overseed with their Tall Fescue and experiencing nothing but patches of lime green weeds. So pissed! The reason I feel it’s some contaminate in the seed is because it seems to be popping up in the areas I spot seeded heavily.


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## Kentucky26 (3 mo ago)

I did a renovation on my front yard this year with just regular GCI TTTF. I noticed the same lime green plants pop up. I’ve never had them in my yard before nor do I have them in the backyard. Also haven’t seen them in any other yards on our street. Luckily I’ve only had a few spots pop up that I put gly on.


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## Old Hickory (Aug 19, 2019)

situman said:


> Dude, it is hard to pinpoint exactly where the contaminations come from. Squirrels will dig up your yard, birds poop, wind, human traffic and etc etc etc. There is no such thing as a perfect lawn. Regardless of what that is, just go and deal with it by either spot glyph or hand-pull.


Needs repeating.


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## Glen_Cove_5511 (Jun 13, 2020)

Anyone contacted Pete to ask him about it?


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Old Hickory said:


> Needs repeating.


Someone should post a thread asking the same question about all TTTF renos, and see if the frequency of invading weed grasses is as high as in this thread. If it is, then there is likely no connection between this particular seed and the grassy weeds.


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## shanebrown2010 (Sep 30, 2021)

I also did an overseed with GCI TTTF this year and every spot I overseeded came up light green patches of POA. This is the first year that I did not areate because of the fear I was bringing POA to the surface. I did a complete reno last year with GCI TTTF and had great results. That is the reason I went back with Pete's seed this year.


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