[allotmentann]

I know this is a daft question, but looking at pictures on the net has not helped. How do you tell couch grass from ordinary grass? Why is it worse than ordinary grass? I want to know so that I will know if I have it, as I would probably give it different treatment to my ordinary grass, judging from the comments posted on here! Thank you.

[DD.]

You can tell it by it's tough long white roots with nodules on it. The blades of grass themselves are tougher.

Leave a bit of root in and it will spread like wildfire, which is why it's not a good idea to rotavate if you have it.

[allotmentann]

Ah so it does look like ordinary grass then. It is probably what I have been digging out of a long covered bed today! The roots of ordinary grass are finer and more fibrous then I assume? Well, I shan't be rotavating it, all my digging is done by hand! Hopefully I will gradually remove most of it. Does it propagate by seed the same as ordinary grass or through the long roots like bindweed?

[sunshineband]

Ah so it does look like ordinary grass then. It is probably what I have been digging out of a long covered bed today! The roots of ordinary grass are finer and more fibrous then I assume? Well, I shan't be rotavating it, all my digging is done by hand! Hopefully I will gradually remove most of it. Does it propagate by seed the same as ordinary grass or through the long roots like bindweed?

Both

It is a very successful plant 

[Yorkie]

I can sometimes tell the difference between couch and turf grass.  Couch has coarser / lighter stems, and I find that they don't necessarily grow straight upwards - they can start out at a flatter angle and sometimes almost rosette-like.

[catweazle]

Both

It is a very successful plant 

it and horse tail are both the spawn of satan 

on the plus side it is very easy to kill with glyphosate

[GYO Girl]

[/quote]


it and horse tail are both the spawn of satan 

on the plus side it is very easy to kill with glyphosate
[/quote]

  I had never even thought about using glyphosate!  I have a long wide border that I inherited from two definate non-gardeners in our new house and it is absolutely full of it.  I am gradually working my way down the border digging it out but its like painting the Forth Bridge - it reappears behing me as I work my way down digging a bit a day!  It's pointless even starting to plant into the border until I clear it, it will just choke all the plants.

Glyphosate here I come....

[allotmentann]

Thank you for your replies. I had a sneaky suspicion that it might spread both ways! This means that it can never really be eradicated then, as even if I managed to get rid of every piece of mine (including all the seeds lying dormant that I inadvertently set as I dig!), then seeds would blow over from other plots. Still at least it digs out fairly easily! And digging is great exercize! It wouldn't be right to spend too much time sitting drinking coffee and admiring my work would it!
Yorkie I shall have to get down on my knees and examine the growth habits of grass more closely! I think I know what you mean and will play guess the grass type in future, before digging it up, to see if I can get it right!

[allotmentann]

Oh dear GYO girl, it sounds like a worse weed than I thought! I have a problem with ground elder in my garden which does a similar thing! The only thing that I have found, is that the more shrubs and plants I get established the less the stuff can take over. I am sure that although it feels like you are not getting anywhere, it is probably just those long dormant seeds you have unearthed and it will start to feel like you are making headway soon.

[GYO Girl]

The really annoying thing is that the border is absolutely full of bluebell bulbs, which I am having to dig up as I go because I just cannot get the couch grass from around each one.  I am saving them with a view to replanting them all if (when!) I can get rid of the couch grass.

[Aidy]

Hate the stuff, unlike marestail you can't whipp its head off. It seems to be able to grow for miles underneath paths etc before popping its head up.

This is the only pest I have used spray on (glyphosate) to control it.