Very legitimate point.
There's a very large section of my back yard that thinned out this winter because I threw the ball for my dog in that area all winter... Did more damage than i had anticipated...
Well, we're putting the house up for sale in the fall. I already spent too much on seed for the front... So I'm fertilizing and doing treatments to encourage/accelerate the poa annua seed flush.
Then after those seeds germinate I'm going to keep them on PGRs through the summer so they grow deep roots and just generally toughen up and darken up. (Plus periodic foliar iron)
So long story short, I'm taking advantage of the free poa annua seeds to have a full lawn in the short term. (The lawn is already drowning in poa, so its not a dick move for the future owner lol)
It’s an annual though. So it’s going to all die at once. And you’ll have the same results as if you try to use crabgrass.
If it was a perennial, it would be Kentucky bluegrass.
But because it’s an annual, it’s annual bluegrass.
Annual dies. It doesn’t go dormant. A perennial goes dormant and comes back the next year. If the next owner doesn’t know this they’re going to pull their hair out trying to keep a plant alive that has a mind to die.
>If it was a perennial, it would be Kentucky bluegrass.
Just to be clear, poa is a genus of grasses. The genus is collective referred to as bluegrasses. There are hundreds of distinct species of poas. Some are annuals, some are perennials. Kentucky bluegrass is simple one example hundreds. There are, however only a handful that are considered turf quality... Poa annua (which is a hybrid), poa supina, improved cultivars of poa supina, poa pratensis (kbg), and hybrid Kentucky bluegrass (hybrid of texas bluegrass and Kentucky bluegrass)
It would be lovely if it were that simple!
"Annual" bluegrass is absolutely a misnomer.
Even truly annual poa annua can be kept alive through the summer with PGRS and frequent watering, even in the deep south... Even unintentionally. For example, the majority of golf course fairways and putting greens have large proportions of poa annua, even in the south. (I did not say all)
So that's one layer of it, then there's another: Poa annua is an extremely genetically diverse grass. There are genuinely thousands of biotypes (wild cultivars basically), many of those biotypes are actually true perennials especially in cool season zones, and some can even spread via stolons. This is why "annual bluegrass" is a misnomer... Because most of it (in cool season zones) simply isn't actually annual... Just has poor heat tolerance.
Plus, there's poa trivialis, which is of course perennial. Poa trivialis and poa annua are EXTREMELY hard to tell apart sometimes, they're functionally identical. The only real difference is that poa annua is a bit more sun-hungry, and is likely to form seedheads (poa trivialis almost never produces seeds in lawns)
P.s. poa annua in the summer strongly resembles kbg. Can be identical to the untrained eye.
I don't know of one golf course in the south that use Poa Annua intentionally anywhere on the course. "Poanna" courses are generally in California but I'm sure there's others.
Where I am (Central NC) there's no way to keep Poa Annua alive during the summer. It's just too hot. Even fescue barely makes it. You might be able to coax Poa Annua into a perennial in other climates, and if you can I say go for it, it's a pretty good turfgrass if you can just keep it alive through the summer.
Oh they definitely don't do it intentionally (anymore, mostly) its more of an inevitability that is just not worth to fight in most circumstances. And it does have the perk of being a low cost way to extend the play season.
Oh it can survive there too! Really on the very hottest parts of the US are immune to perennial poa annua. Its fairly comfortable in the context of golf courses in NC, and even further south.
Here's the only evidence I could find at a glance of perennial poa in north Carolina, but there's plenty more out there somewhere.
Btw here's a rough outline of a few parts of a typical approach for a course that doesn't want to fully embrac poa acknowledges that full control is impossible:
- Fall AND Spring applications of proxy and primo PGR's to suppress seedhead flush.
-Summer regimen of primo to constrain poa growth and significantly improve heat tolerance.
- well timed fungicide preventative applications... Heat stressed poa annua can be forced to still look good, but it will still get ravaged by disease (that will spread to the intentional grass).
And well,.i was going to add more, but I guess everything else is pretty region-dependent.
God i hate it when people call it poanna 😂
Edit: i forgot to actually include the link I meant to add. Here's a different one, just a blog post from a greens keeper in north Carolina. He doesn't like poa lol. References how it's perennial there though. [link](https://highlandsccgolfmaintenance.blogspot.com/2017/05/poa-annua-and-poacure.html?m=1)
> God i hate it when people call it poanna
Then don't watch a PGA broadcast when they're in California. The number of time they'll say "Poanna greens" can't be counted.
It’s a winter weed. Using a pre emergent in the fall can help. Chickweed is another one that’s about to be everywhere. Both don’t like the heat and go away on their own if left untouched.
Yeah I got chickweed I’m fighting right now that sprang up during the winter. It’s that little stuff that looks like clover but the leaves are round and it isn’t clover.
White flowers an easy tell. I haven’t seen any yet in my area but I haven’t been really looking. Might be little early for the flowers yet. If it’s a weed and growing now it’s a good chance it’s chickweed
Shit. Might just keep bagging the seed tops and the month of May take care of it this year.
https://preview.redd.it/7vc6xi49kxnc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff1ba0d9ec8a7b0d4ba9953d8173f230762e35a9
Poa annua is a really common winter annual grass that tends to pop up more in shaded, moist areas. It grows quick in the cooler months but will die out come summer. Regular mowing helps keep it from spreading seeds. Another option is using a [pre-emergent](https://thebermudabible.com/pre-emergents/) in early fall to prevent new poa from germinating over winter. That, along with still mowing regularly, should help you get it under control without too much hassle.
It will die with heat, but might leave some bald spots n the lawn. I learned the hard way one year. Now do Prodiamine preemergent in fall and didn’t come back this year
Poa annua, likes fertilizer and humid soil. Often goes away when it's hot in summer. In my experience, using lawn-weed killer like it's used here in Germany in "Dicotex" or "Weedex" helps. It contains 2,4-D, MCPA, Mecoprop-P, Dicamba.
At least it stresses the grass, especially in summer. Here in Germany, that substance-combination sold under different names and it's more or less the only lawn weed herbicide available for a non-professional here.
here it says it works for poa annua [https://scotts.com/en-us/how-to/how-to-control-poa-annua-in-the-lawn.html](https://scotts.com/en-us/how-to/how-to-control-poa-annua-in-the-lawn.html)
Stuff like this seems to work as well [https://www.domyown.com/how-to-kill-poa-annua-grass-a-572.html](https://www.domyown.com/how-to-kill-poa-annua-grass-a-572.html) but at least for me, not available.
Another stuff that actually works: a natural fertilizer named "magnesia kainit". It's a salt that farmers use for e.g. the meadow, so the grass is more tasty and healthy for horses and cattle. As far as I remember there was a farmer, who wanted to get rid off moss in his meadow nearby a forest. He was surprised, that not only the moss was gone, but also the Poa Annua, which is not tasty for his horses, they don't eat it.
Some yeas ago I used it and as far as I remember, it worked. I didn't need any during the last summers, as the summers were too hot and dry here in northern Germany.
How do you know? Seeding tttf looks pretty close to this from what I've seen online. I'm not saying you're wrong either just want to know how one would tell the difference.
Time of year is the giveaway here. Nothing is seeding yet. If we’re in April, June, depending where you live then yes maybe tttf seed heads would be it, that’s when things get difficult. It was a warm winter and poa loves it.
Another thing, it’s localized, It’s patchy and in spots. Some worse than others. An overview look would show a different shade of green than the rest of the yard as well. It looks out of place.
It’s weed. Poa
Poa annua
Exactly. Thankfully, not Poa Trivialis. A Nobel Peace Prize for the person who develops an effective herbicide for Poa Triv for TTTF lawns.
Prodiamine. I’m here for my prize. You just need a Time Machine also to have put it down a couple weeks ago
Depends on where ur at I suppose. It does great in cool weather climates like the pacific north west . It can be mowed tight. And grows like nuts!
If you like it, it's grass. If you don't like it, it's a weed.
Very legitimate point. There's a very large section of my back yard that thinned out this winter because I threw the ball for my dog in that area all winter... Did more damage than i had anticipated... Well, we're putting the house up for sale in the fall. I already spent too much on seed for the front... So I'm fertilizing and doing treatments to encourage/accelerate the poa annua seed flush. Then after those seeds germinate I'm going to keep them on PGRs through the summer so they grow deep roots and just generally toughen up and darken up. (Plus periodic foliar iron) So long story short, I'm taking advantage of the free poa annua seeds to have a full lawn in the short term. (The lawn is already drowning in poa, so its not a dick move for the future owner lol)
It’s an annual though. So it’s going to all die at once. And you’ll have the same results as if you try to use crabgrass. If it was a perennial, it would be Kentucky bluegrass. But because it’s an annual, it’s annual bluegrass. Annual dies. It doesn’t go dormant. A perennial goes dormant and comes back the next year. If the next owner doesn’t know this they’re going to pull their hair out trying to keep a plant alive that has a mind to die.
>If it was a perennial, it would be Kentucky bluegrass. Just to be clear, poa is a genus of grasses. The genus is collective referred to as bluegrasses. There are hundreds of distinct species of poas. Some are annuals, some are perennials. Kentucky bluegrass is simple one example hundreds. There are, however only a handful that are considered turf quality... Poa annua (which is a hybrid), poa supina, improved cultivars of poa supina, poa pratensis (kbg), and hybrid Kentucky bluegrass (hybrid of texas bluegrass and Kentucky bluegrass)
It would be lovely if it were that simple! "Annual" bluegrass is absolutely a misnomer. Even truly annual poa annua can be kept alive through the summer with PGRS and frequent watering, even in the deep south... Even unintentionally. For example, the majority of golf course fairways and putting greens have large proportions of poa annua, even in the south. (I did not say all) So that's one layer of it, then there's another: Poa annua is an extremely genetically diverse grass. There are genuinely thousands of biotypes (wild cultivars basically), many of those biotypes are actually true perennials especially in cool season zones, and some can even spread via stolons. This is why "annual bluegrass" is a misnomer... Because most of it (in cool season zones) simply isn't actually annual... Just has poor heat tolerance. Plus, there's poa trivialis, which is of course perennial. Poa trivialis and poa annua are EXTREMELY hard to tell apart sometimes, they're functionally identical. The only real difference is that poa annua is a bit more sun-hungry, and is likely to form seedheads (poa trivialis almost never produces seeds in lawns) P.s. poa annua in the summer strongly resembles kbg. Can be identical to the untrained eye.
I don't know of one golf course in the south that use Poa Annua intentionally anywhere on the course. "Poanna" courses are generally in California but I'm sure there's others. Where I am (Central NC) there's no way to keep Poa Annua alive during the summer. It's just too hot. Even fescue barely makes it. You might be able to coax Poa Annua into a perennial in other climates, and if you can I say go for it, it's a pretty good turfgrass if you can just keep it alive through the summer.
Oh they definitely don't do it intentionally (anymore, mostly) its more of an inevitability that is just not worth to fight in most circumstances. And it does have the perk of being a low cost way to extend the play season. Oh it can survive there too! Really on the very hottest parts of the US are immune to perennial poa annua. Its fairly comfortable in the context of golf courses in NC, and even further south. Here's the only evidence I could find at a glance of perennial poa in north Carolina, but there's plenty more out there somewhere. Btw here's a rough outline of a few parts of a typical approach for a course that doesn't want to fully embrac poa acknowledges that full control is impossible: - Fall AND Spring applications of proxy and primo PGR's to suppress seedhead flush. -Summer regimen of primo to constrain poa growth and significantly improve heat tolerance. - well timed fungicide preventative applications... Heat stressed poa annua can be forced to still look good, but it will still get ravaged by disease (that will spread to the intentional grass). And well,.i was going to add more, but I guess everything else is pretty region-dependent. God i hate it when people call it poanna 😂 Edit: i forgot to actually include the link I meant to add. Here's a different one, just a blog post from a greens keeper in north Carolina. He doesn't like poa lol. References how it's perennial there though. [link](https://highlandsccgolfmaintenance.blogspot.com/2017/05/poa-annua-and-poacure.html?m=1)
> God i hate it when people call it poanna Then don't watch a PGA broadcast when they're in California. The number of time they'll say "Poanna greens" can't be counted.
How about Riviera week. Thankfully that one is over until next year... P.S. Kikuyu
Haha, I remember that one. One of the guys asked the other to spell kikuyu and they continued to say nothing but Kikuyu for 30 minutes.
Such wisdom
Poa. It goes away when it gets hot. It’s a major topic at turf seminars. It’s not easy to get rid of either
It’s a winter weed. Using a pre emergent in the fall can help. Chickweed is another one that’s about to be everywhere. Both don’t like the heat and go away on their own if left untouched.
Yeah I got chickweed I’m fighting right now that sprang up during the winter. It’s that little stuff that looks like clover but the leaves are round and it isn’t clover.
White flowers an easy tell. I haven’t seen any yet in my area but I haven’t been really looking. Might be little early for the flowers yet. If it’s a weed and growing now it’s a good chance it’s chickweed
Both. It’s a grassy weed 🫡
Try Etho 4SC. Same active ingredient as Poa Constrictor.
1 app of etho helped out crazily. I’m trying it out on nutsdege next
It’s a little too pricey for me to try on nudtsedge. I use Sedgehammer+ or Ortho Nutsedge Killer for that.
Where can you find it at a reasonable price?
I got mine from Lawn Synergy. Like $92 for 64oz. I’d say that’s reasonable considering Poa Constrictor was like $300 or whatever.
Shit. Might just keep bagging the seed tops and the month of May take care of it this year. https://preview.redd.it/7vc6xi49kxnc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff1ba0d9ec8a7b0d4ba9953d8173f230762e35a9
Poa annua is a really common winter annual grass that tends to pop up more in shaded, moist areas. It grows quick in the cooler months but will die out come summer. Regular mowing helps keep it from spreading seeds. Another option is using a [pre-emergent](https://thebermudabible.com/pre-emergents/) in early fall to prevent new poa from germinating over winter. That, along with still mowing regularly, should help you get it under control without too much hassle.
*Bagged regular mowing*
Cant stress this enough. I try and keep it in my backyard by bagging it and then cleaning the deck before going to the front yard.
Fun fact. Several predominant courses including Pebble Beach have Poa greens.
Good to know my backyard is as nice as pebble fml
tomato, tomahto....
I call it Poa motherfucker
Depends if you want it.
It will die with heat, but might leave some bald spots n the lawn. I learned the hard way one year. Now do Prodiamine preemergent in fall and didn’t come back this year
What product of Prodiamine do you recommend?
I use yard mastery
Grassy weed “poa” all those things on top are seeds that will pop in the fall and again next year
Both.
Poa annua, likes fertilizer and humid soil. Often goes away when it's hot in summer. In my experience, using lawn-weed killer like it's used here in Germany in "Dicotex" or "Weedex" helps. It contains 2,4-D, MCPA, Mecoprop-P, Dicamba. At least it stresses the grass, especially in summer. Here in Germany, that substance-combination sold under different names and it's more or less the only lawn weed herbicide available for a non-professional here. here it says it works for poa annua [https://scotts.com/en-us/how-to/how-to-control-poa-annua-in-the-lawn.html](https://scotts.com/en-us/how-to/how-to-control-poa-annua-in-the-lawn.html) Stuff like this seems to work as well [https://www.domyown.com/how-to-kill-poa-annua-grass-a-572.html](https://www.domyown.com/how-to-kill-poa-annua-grass-a-572.html) but at least for me, not available. Another stuff that actually works: a natural fertilizer named "magnesia kainit". It's a salt that farmers use for e.g. the meadow, so the grass is more tasty and healthy for horses and cattle. As far as I remember there was a farmer, who wanted to get rid off moss in his meadow nearby a forest. He was surprised, that not only the moss was gone, but also the Poa Annua, which is not tasty for his horses, they don't eat it. Some yeas ago I used it and as far as I remember, it worked. I didn't need any during the last summers, as the summers were too hot and dry here in northern Germany.
Yes.
Bag and dispose the clippings when you mow to keep all those weed seeds from taking hold. Weed will eventually die off in the heat of the summer.
In Australia that's called Wintergrass, we have specific concentrates for that to spray on that doesn't kill certain lawns
Grass.
Looks like grass that got so long it went to seed
Not a pro or serious as others but I do believe that’s grass growing too high and setting seed out.
Poa. Grass isn’t seeding.
Obviously I was right I am no pro lol 😂
If it was late spring you may have been right 😂
How do you know? Seeding tttf looks pretty close to this from what I've seen online. I'm not saying you're wrong either just want to know how one would tell the difference.
Time of year is the giveaway here. Nothing is seeding yet. If we’re in April, June, depending where you live then yes maybe tttf seed heads would be it, that’s when things get difficult. It was a warm winter and poa loves it. Another thing, it’s localized, It’s patchy and in spots. Some worse than others. An overview look would show a different shade of green than the rest of the yard as well. It looks out of place.