College of Agriculture & Natural Resources

• Fairy Ring

  Fairy rings tend to grow in circle shaped patterns through the organic matter in the soil, mat, and thatch, first appearing as dark green circular rings or arcs in the turf.

• Smut

  The smut diseases are important on many Kentucky bluegrass cultivars and higher cut turfgrass.

• English Daisy

  English Daisy is an escaped ornamental plant that can sometimes be found in lawns and pastures. Prefers heavy, moist, fertile soil and can tolerate mowing heights down to 1 inch.

• Common Lambsquarters

  Like many other summer annual broadleaf weeds, common lambsquarters is generally considered an 'establishment weed.' Common lambsquarters needs cultivation (bare, loose soil) to establish.

• Foliar Anthracnose

  Anthracnose can occur as both a foliar infecting and crown infecting disease.

• Shepherd's Purse

  Shepherd's purse is a winter annual with a basal rosette of lobed leaves and a long flowering stalk. Leaves become more deeply lobed as they mature. Due to extremely long-lived seeds and an affinity for disturbed soil, it is most often a weed of new seedings established between mid-August and the end of September.

• Green Foxtail

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

• Powdery Mildew

  Turf affected by the disease have a grayish white cast, with initial symptoms appearing as white patches on the leaf blade.

• Carolina Geranium

  Carolina geranium is an uncommon weed of low or no-maintenance areas such as fence rows. The leaf shape is very similar to common mallow, except that the leaves are more finely dissected. Pink, inconspicuous flowers are produced within the canopy. Plants typically do not persist after flowering.

• 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.

• Canada Thistle

  Canada thistle is a creeping perennial that always colonizes in patches. Plants can reach 1-3 feet high. Canada thistle has an extremely well developed creeping root system that can grow several feet deep.

• Slime Mold

  Slime molds are non-pathogenic fungi that occasionally dwell on many different turfgrass species.

• 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.

• Rust

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

• 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.

• Germander Speedwell

  Speedwell is often used as an ornamental ground cover and is commonly available at retail greenhouses. Germander speedwell is a perennial that has simple, opposite narrow leaves near the base that are slightly elongated.

• 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.

• 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.

• Wild Carrot

  One of the two most common weeds of Midwestern roadsides. Wild carrot (Queen Anne's-lace) is a biennial that forms a carrot-like taproot that allows it to survive the harsh, gravely, nutrient deficient conditions that it thrives in.

• Smooth Crabgrass

  Smooth crabgrass is the most common summer annual grass problem in managed turf.