Rough Bluegrass: A Comprehensive Guide

Does something not look quite right with your lawn? Are you noticing suspicious patches of light green grass that seem to be out of place among the rest of your turfgrass? Well, you might have a sneaky intruder in your lawn known as rough bluegrass.

Rough bluegrass is occasionally used as turfgrass on certain commercial properties. For the most part, however, it’s considered a weed. The challenge is that it can be tricky to identify and even more difficult to rid from your lawn.

What Is Rough Bluegrass?

Known as Poa trivialis or roughstalk, rough bluegrass is a cool-season perennial that thrives in shaded, moist areas. It may be used in less-trafficked areas of golf courses and parks, especially in shady areas where other grasses struggle to thrive. In most cases, though, rough bluegrass is an unwelcome intruder.

It spreads through above-ground stolons, which are horizontal stems that grow along the surface of the soil rather than below it. This growth method allows rough bluegrass to creep along, slowly spreading in your yard. The annoying thing about this grass is that it can blend in with other common cool-season grasses, like Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue. Often, homeowners and property managers don’t even realize they have an issue until rough bluegrass has grown throughout their lawns.

Rough Bluegrass Identification

Too often, rough bluegrass can hide in plain sight among your existing turfgrass. The faster you can identify rough bluegrass in your lawn, the more quickly you can deal with it so that it doesn’t keep growing.

One of the easiest ways to start your rough bluegrass identification is to look for color contrasts in your lawn. Rough bluegrass has a light green color that often stands out against darker turfgrass. It also has a soft, fine texture and a slightly glossy appearance.

Look at the growth patterns of your turfgrass. Rough bluegrass tends to form dense, circular patches or clumps. The bigger these patches grow, the easier it will be for you to notice them within your lawn.

Finally, rough bluegrass grows taller than many common lawn grasses. If you haven’t mowed in a while and notice tall clumps of grass sticking out from your lawn, you might have a case of rough bluegrass.

Rough Bluegrass Habitat: Where Does It Grow Best?

Though not native to the United States, rough bluegrass has done well, spreading through many parts of the country. As we mentioned, it loves cool, wet spring conditions and is a shade-tolerant grass. It will often appear in cooler climates in shaded areas where other grass struggles to grow. In particular, you can find rough bluegrass in plant hardiness zones three through seven.

Rough bluegrass can’t take the heat. When summer weather comes around, it will turn brown and play dead until the weather cools off again. Patches of rough bluegrass can make your lawn look disorderly and sick, especially in the summer when you’ll see big brown clumps in your turfgrass.

Rough Bluegrass Seed: What You Need to Know

How did rough bluegrass get its stolons into your lawn anyway? The answer may be that it hitched a ride in your grass seed. Remember, rough bluegrass looks very similar to other types of grass. The same goes for rough bluegrass seeds.

Often, the seed sorting equipment used by grass seed producers can’t distinguish between rough bluegrass seeds and the actual turfgrass seeds they’re sorting for. As a result, your turfgrass seeds could have unintentionally included some rough bluegrass mixed in. Over time, that rough bluegrass could slowly grow in your lawn until it becomes noticeable.

How to Get Rid of Rough Bluegrass in Your Lawn

You can’t always stop rough bluegrass seeds from getting into your lawn, so the question becomes, “How do I get rid of rough bluegrass?” That’s a tricky question. Unfortunately, herbicides can’t distinguish between your wanted turfgrass and rough bluegrass. If you try to use an herbicide that will kill rough bluegrass, it will also harm your surrounding turfgrass.

That means the best way to stop rough bluegrass is to manually remove it. That may entail hand-pulling or digging it out of the ground. The good news is that rough bluegrass has a shallow root system, so it’s relatively easy to pull. Just make sure you pull out the entire plant and then reseed the area to stop it from coming back.

If rough bluegrass has taken over a significant portion of your lawn, it may not be reasonable to try and manually pull up all of it. Instead, your best bet could be to simply take out your entire lawn and start over. This may seem like a drastic measure, but it could save you time and money in the long run compared with constantly fighting a huge rough bluegrass infestation.

Keep Your Lawn Healthy by Managing Rough Bluegrass

If you’re not sure how to get rid of rough bluegrass, another option is to hire a professional landscaping team to help. At The Grounds Guys®, we can identify rough bluegrass in your lawn and put together a plan of attack. That might mean manually removing your rough bluegrass or working with you to restart your lawn from scratch.

Whatever you choose, the best way to stop rough bluegrass from returning is to take good care of your lawn. A healthy, strong turfgrass lawn will help outcompete rough bluegrass so that it can’t start spreading.

At The Grounds Guys, we offer commercial and residential weed control as well as comprehensive landscaping and lawn care services.

Request a free estimate today.

This article is intended for general informational purposes only and may not be applicable to every situation. You are responsible for determining the proper course of action for your home and property. The Grounds Guys are not responsible for any damages that occur as a result of this blog content or your actions. For the most accurate guidance, contact The Grounds Guys location nearest you for a comprehensive, on-site assessment.