# What is this???



## GoldenBoot (Apr 10, 2020)

Lawn care has been my new hobby for only about 10 months. This is my first forum post. I live in San Angelo, TX. My grass is a mix between bermuda and buffalo, with a little st augustine that I am working on removing. I bought a house a couple of years ago and the lawn was neglected for several years prior. I have learned a lot over the last 10 months - what type of grass I have, weeds I have, and how to handle them.

One thing I can not figure out is what this stuff is. Grass, or weed? It is dormant in the winter, and is growing seed heads already. It almost seems like sod to me. For a long time I thought it was some type of crabgrass because of the seed head, but I no longer think so. I have hit it with drive xlr8, dismiss south, and 2, 4d - and nothing happened. It is matted down compared to the bermuda and buffalo sections of my yard, and grown pretty fast. I have a big KR bluestem problem I am fighting, but this looks different from that. Hopefully someone can ID from these pics...


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## HarryZoysia (Aug 27, 2019)

Dallisgrass. MSMA, although not labeled for residential use, will kill it


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

HarryZoysia said:


> Dallisgrass. MSMA, although not labeled for residential use, will kill it


@GoldenBoot it's definitely not dallisgrass. It looks like goosegrass though, which is still vulnerable to MSMA. Goose is also vulnerable to Dismiss, I believe.


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)




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## GoldenBoot (Apr 10, 2020)

The seed head tells me it is not dallisgrass.

The seed head does look like goosegrass, but dismiss south does not bother it, making me think it is not goosegrass. I use dismiss south to control my purple nutsedge problem.

I will consider msma...

Cant find anything else that has that same seed head from searching google.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

GoldenBoot said:


> The seed head tells me it is not dallisgrass.
> 
> The seed head does look like goosegrass, but dismiss south does not bother it, making me think it is not goosegrass. I use dismiss south to control my purple nutsedge problem.
> 
> ...


Well, I'm not sure what to think about the Dismiss S not working. This sure looks like what you're dealing with. https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/goosegrass


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

Whew those 2 (dallis grass and goose grass) look awfully close to one another. Gonna have to go goose grass here only because of the seed head. The seed head on dallis grass has the pattern of a cactus, whereas on the the goose grass it looks more like a broom. When it comes to the leaves and growing environment this short 2 minute video will hopefully help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgvdjSOBU2M

Here he discusses the difference between the 2.


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## GoldenBoot (Apr 10, 2020)

The blades are not thick like the descriptions of goosegrass I have read. It does not have the "wagon wheel" appearance. I wonder if someone planted this stuff because it does not seem to spread. The blades are thin, and easy to cut. Reminds me of buffalo grass in that sense. Again, this stuff goes dormant in the winter, and is starting to green up within last few weeks. It is not damaged by Quinclorac or Sulfentrazone. Im not really sure if it IS a weed or not at this point. I was thinking goosegrass/crabgrass last summer and fall, but now I am thinking it is not that. I have scoured the internet for hours looking for seed heads that are not bermuda, crabgrass, goosegrass - to try and find something else it COULD be... Any ideas what else it could be if it is not goosegrass?


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

GoldenBoot said:


> The blades are not thick like the descriptions of goosegrass I have read. It does not have the "wagon wheel" appearance. I wonder if someone planted this stuff because it does not seem to spread. The blades are thin, and easy to cut. Reminds me of buffalo grass in that sense. Again, this stuff goes dormant in the winter, and is starting to green up within last few weeks. It is not damaged by Quinclorac or Sulfentrazone. Im not really sure if it IS a weed or not at this point. I was thinking goosegrass/crabgrass last summer and fall, but now I am thinking it is not that. I have scoured the internet for hours looking for seed heads that are not bermuda, crabgrass, goosegrass - to try and find something else it COULD be... Any ideas what else it could be if it is not goosegrass?


Agreed. If it doesn't have the wagon wheel then its not goose grass. Another one to consider is:

Paspalum grass: It goes dormant in the winter as well, and looks somewhat similar to what you have.


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## HarryZoysia (Aug 27, 2019)

Not goosegrass


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## grassland (Mar 7, 2019)

Might be some type of grass found in pastures. Maybe guineagrass or smutgrass.


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## GoldenBoot (Apr 10, 2020)

Appreciate the replies. I have spent a few more days searching endlessly for matching seed heads. Nothing I can find matches. Goosegrass seems to be the closest match.

Again, Dismiss South did not kill this stuff. I do not have anything else labeled for goosegrass. What would be the best herbicide that would be safe to use in bermuda and buffalo grass?

Also, does anybody have any recommendations for dealing with King Ranch Bluestem? I have so much of it, pulling it is a nightmare.


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## FATC1TY (Jul 12, 2017)

That is absolutely not goosegrass that's green. Doesn't look like it. Not flat like it gets, and dismiss would absolutely damage it in most cases.

The only thing that makes me think it might be is all the dead weeds there. Not much turf of any type in those photos and the centers of some of those weeds does resemble goosegrass a little if I look closer. What did you spray or did you let it go dormant for the winter??

See this grass near the end of last season ?


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## McDiddles (Feb 24, 2020)

not goose, or dallis.... Bahia maybe.


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## Darth_V8r (Jul 18, 2019)

Bahia has a twin seed head like a peace sign. It's not bahia.


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## GoldenBoot (Apr 10, 2020)

FATC1TY said:


> That is absolutely not goosegrass that's green. Doesn't look like it. Not flat like it gets, and dismiss would absolutely damage it in most cases.
> 
> The only thing that makes me think it might be is all the dead weeds there. Not much turf of any type in those photos and the centers of some of those weeds does resemble goosegrass a little if I look closer. What did you spray or did you let it go dormant for the winter??
> 
> See this grass near the end of last season ?


I am new to lawn care. Started treating my yard for the weeds I have last June. Before that my lawn did not get any attention other than mowing. Since then I have been able to identify weeds that called for 2,4D - Quinclorac (drive xlr8) - and Sulfentrazone (dismiss south). Crabgrass/Goosegrass, Purple nutsedge, and Broadleaf weeds were my targets. (Turns out the "Crabgrass/Goosegrass" problem I thought I had is actually King Ranch Bluestem... :?)

Since last summer I have made a few broad applications across my lawn with a hose end sprayer according to the label for each herbicide above. I don't remember that part stressing or turning yellow at all.

It goes dormant in the cold. Last winter when the cold temps settled in, it was dormant along with my bermuda and buffalo.

I made sure to start my pre-emergent program on time this year. I put down granular barricade early February, and followed up with dimension liquid application early march. When lawn started to wake up, this stuff was turning green again along with it. Tells me it is a perennial.

I mow at 1.5" twice a week usually. This stuff grows FAST. It is always taller than my bermuda/buffalo. And regardless of how low I mow, the seed heads are coming out close to the dirt.

I found some in a part of my yard I can not mow.....Took these pics today. I notice the dead foliage, and I am not sure when or how that happened.


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## Darth_V8r (Jul 18, 2019)

I think it is some form of paspalum. ironically, dallisgrass and bahia are both paspalums, but that seedstalk you showed does not look like either. It for the most part looks like Florida Paspalum.

Check out texasinvasives.org. database of invasive plants and grasses.


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## GoldenBoot (Apr 10, 2020)

Feel like I am getting warm - but I don't think this is it...

Chloris virgata
AKA
feather fingergrass

I think it may be in the "chloris" family though


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

Darth_V8r said:


> I think it is some form of paspalum. ironically, dallisgrass and bahia are both paspalums, but that seedstalk you showed does not look like either. It for the most part looks like Florida Paspalum.
> 
> Check out texasinvasives.org. database of invasive plants and grasses.





kb02gt said:


> GoldenBoot said:
> 
> 
> > The blades are not thick like the descriptions of goosegrass I have read. It does not have the "wagon wheel" appearance. I wonder if someone planted this stuff because it does not seem to spread. The blades are thin, and easy to cut. Reminds me of buffalo grass in that sense. Again, this stuff goes dormant in the winter, and is starting to green up within last few weeks. It is not damaged by Quinclorac or Sulfentrazone. Im not really sure if it IS a weed or not at this point. I was thinking goosegrass/crabgrass last summer and fall, but now I am thinking it is not that. I have scoured the internet for hours looking for seed heads that are not bermuda, crabgrass, goosegrass - to try and find something else it COULD be... Any ideas what else it could be if it is not goosegrass?
> ...


@Darth_V8r Totally agree with this. And paspalum has the attributes that was just shared in that it cannot be damaged by either herbacide, and although Sulfentrazine is forgiving to a lot of weeds. Would not use that as my main weed killer. Only use it for sedges for the most part. Aka Dismiss.

Thanks for the link. :thumbup:


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## GoldenBoot (Apr 10, 2020)

Found a couple of mature seed heads today. To me, they look like giant bermuda, or crabgrass seed heads. After looking through several different kinds of paspalum and their seed heads, none of them look like this. The paspalum seed heads I can find are all similar to dallisgrass, and bahia grass.

I have some celsius wg on the way, will see if that does anything to it.

As I am posting this, and googling paspalum grass, I think I stumbled across it in a native grass brochure.....

It looks like it is a CHLORIS grass - specifically WINDMILL GRASS

Since I am in Texas, I am guessing it is - Chloris texensis


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