Seedheads in lawns

Editor’s note: This article is from the archives of the MSU Crop Advisory Team Alerts. Check the label of any pesticide referenced to ensure your use is included.

I’ve recently started to notice many lawns start to produce seedheads. Seedhead production requires energy from the plant, so it is likely the turf will not only look stemmy due to the seed stalks, but the turfgrass may even thin out. Keep the mower blade sharp and provide some fertilization if you haven’t recently to help the turf recover from this energy intensive event. Also, the lawn is not going to be reseeded by seedhead production. Even if the seed was allowed to reach maturity, which would take about four months, allowed to dry, and then harvested, you’d still need to make sure that seed would find a home in the soil in order to germinate. If you need to fill in some areas in your lawn, it’ll be easier to go buy some seed.

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