College of Agriculture & Natural Resources

• Quackgrass

  Quackgrass is a common grassy weed of turfed areas. Quackgrass is a perennial and can often be spotted by its dull blue-green appearance. Because quackgrass spreads by rhizomes (underground stems) it responds very well to cultivation practices. It is common to have quackgrass contamination in unscreened topsoil. Each rhizome section has the ability to produce a new plant.

• 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.

• Foliar Anthracnose

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

• Field Horsetail

  Field horsetail is most often a weed of landscape beds and low-lying areas. Horsetail can survive in turf, but often will not persist with routine mowing.

• Wild Violet

  Wild violet is a low-growing clumping (simple) perennial with a dense, fibrous root system and heart-shaped leaves that often cup toward the petiole to form a funnel shape. Wild violet is often considered difficult-to-control due to its aggressive growth, waxy leaves and resistance to most common herbicides.

• 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.

• Creeping Speedwell

  Creeping speedwell is a low growing perennial that prefers shade, moist soils, good fertility and a low mowing height.

• Heal All

  Heal All is a low growing, spreading, perennial of the mint family. It has very distinctive 'puckered' leaves with an opposite arrangement on square stems.

• 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.

• 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.

• Yellow Patch

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

• 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.

• Mouseear Chickweed

  Mouseear chickweed is a low-growing perennial that can tolerate extremely low mowing heights (even at greens height). It can tolerate a wide variety of soil and growing conditions. The leaves of mouseear chickweed are typically very thick, dark green and covered with hairs.

• 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.

• Common Mallow

  Common mallow most often establishes along culverts, fencelines and near foundations. Common mallow forms a clump whorled branches that do not root where they touch the ground.

• Common Chickweed

  Primarily a winter annual, common chickweed is frequently found growing in the mulch skirts of shade trees. In general, common chickweed prefers shaded sites with moist soils. The vegetation forms mounds that are 3-7 inches tall. The delicate white-to-pink flowers appear early in the spring. Plants can persist in protected areas well after flowering.

• Broadleaf Plantain

  Broadleaf plantain is probably the second most common broadleaf weed of turf after dandelion. It is extremely well adapted to most sites including dry or wet conditions, heavy soils and very low mowing heights.

• 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.

• Poison Ivy

  Poison ivy is a trailing or climbing vine common to woodlots, naturalized areas, and property boundaries.

• 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.