• MSU Soil Testing Update

  Published on May 15, 2023
  Join Michigan State University Extension educators to learn what’s new in the soil testing process from Michigan State University (MSU).

• Orchardgrass

  Orchardgrass is a competitive perennial grassy weed of cool-season turf. It has a very well developed fibrous root system and can be difficult to remove once established.

• Summer Patch

  Summer patch first appears in the warm weather of summer as yellow to bronze-colored, irregular-shaped patches ranging from 6 in. to 3 ft (15.3 cm to 1 m) in diameter.

• Yellow Rocket

  Yellow rocket is a rosette-forming winter annual that is usually associated with bare, disturbed soil or new establishments (prefers nutrient-rich, medium-textured soils).

• White Clover

  White clover is one of the most common weeds of turfgrass. It is frequently included on lists of difficult-to-control weeds. White clover, as with all legumes, has the ability to survive under low soil nitrogen conditions. It can be identified by the three leaflets attached to one petiole.

• Common Purslane

  Common purslane is a mat-forming summer annual that thrives in all soil types. Common purslane has multi-branched red stems with thick fleshy leaves that cluster at the end of the branches.

• Common Milkweed

  Milkweed is easily identified by its upright growth habit and large (entire) leaves. All plant parts will exude a milky white latex when broken.

• Microdochium Patch

  This is the most important disease in areas with extended periods of cool wet weather. Symptoms appear as reddish brown to copper-colored spots in the turf.

• Prostrate Pigweed

  Prostrate pigweed is a native mat-forming summer annual weed that invades thin, damaged or under-fertilized lawns. It is common in areas with disturbed soils or neglected areas. Prostrate pigweed lacks the hairs common to redroot pigweed and has smooth leaves.

• Yellow Woodsorrel

  Yellow woodsorrel is a common summer annual in cool-season turf. Yellow woodsorrel is one of the latest germinating summer annual weeds. Often, infestations of oxalis can be associated with spring-timed broadleaf weed control applications.

• Gray Snow Mold

  This disease is important in northern regions of the United States, where snow cover remains on the ground for extended periods, usually 3 months or more.

• Bull Thistle

  Bull thistle is a clumping biennial that forms a thick taproot in its first growing season. The leaves of bull thistle are covered with 'soft' hairs and needle-like spines on the margin.

• Yellow Patch

  Yellow patch, also known as cool season brown-patch, is a Rhizoctonia pathogen similar to that of brown patch.

• Take-All Patch

  Take all patch is an important disease on bentgrass, particularly newly established stands of creeping bentgrass turf. The disease first appears in late spring or early summer, as a patch of bronze or bleached turf.

• Tall Fescue

  Tall fescue is a clumping perennial cool-season turfgrass. Its coarse texture and aggressive growth habit make it objectionable in many situations because it does not mix well with other turfs.

• Yellow Foxtail

  Yellow foxtail is a clumping annual grass that commonly invades Michigan turfs. Young plants can be difficult to distinguish from other grasses like crabgrass. Yellow foxtail produces a characteristic 'foxtail'-like seedhead.

• Rust

  Rust diseases are characterized by yellow to dark brown urediospore infestations that, from a distance, make turf stands appear orange or yellow.

• Rough Bluegrass

  Rough bluegrass is often used to overseed dormant warm-season turfgrasses. Overseeding typically occurs in the fall to provide a playing surface throughout the winter months.

• Leaf Spot

  Leaf spot is a warm-weather disease, but the pathogen overwinters as dormant mycelium in infected plants and dead grass debris.

• Yarrow, Common

  Common yarrow is considered a desirable herbaceous perennial by many gardeners and is sold in its cultivated form at most greenhouses.