The Grass Doctor

my Lawn grass has little white tops looks like seeds or leaf petals?

I planted some grass seeds and they grew but I noticed they have little buds thingys and they are white. What is going on will they go away and become normal grass is this a good thing?

Public Comments

1. Does it look anything like this? http://www.flickr.com/photos/10770266@N04/2337844456/ If so, you have a bad case of "Poa Annua" which is also called annual bluegrass. It is very undesirable grassy weed that was either in your original stash of lawn seed or, the wild seeds were already lying dormant in your soil, waiting to germinate (dormant seeds are viable for many years). Poa annua is just what its name implies, it is an annual grass that completes its life cycle in one growing season. The grass will go to seed in late spring to early summer and sometimes in the fall. The white topped stems you are seeing are in fact the seeds themselves. Poa annua is sometimes used as the main turf on the putting greens of golf courses. The only drawback is that it tends to turn brownish during the heat of summer. You can control poa by applying a pre-emergent herbicide in the fall and then again in early spring. However, as I stated before, the poa seed can lay dormant in the soil for 3 or 4 years or more before germinating so, a pre-emergent program will usually take a couple of years to significantly control this grassy weed. There are a few post emergent herbicides that can be used today, but it requires a licensed applicator to do the application. So, you have a couple of different options you can take here. depending on how quick you want a clean looking lawn. One easy option is to keep the lawn mowed weekly to prevent the seed heads from growing tall and visible. Eventually, as the summer heat arrives, the poa will go dormant and die off, eliminating these unsightly, white, seed heads. You may however, have some browning in areas that were heavily populated with the poa grass. One good thing about mowing and keeping the poa from producing seed, is that you will not be allowing anymore seed into the turf for a later germination. And mowing will keep that ugly looking white haze the seems to appear over your turf with the seed production.....Hope this answers your question. If you have anymore feel free to ask.... ** More info and a picture...http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/weed-identification-control/poa-annua-control.htm ...Billy Ray