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Identify Lawn Weeds

Are There Weeds In Your Lawn?

Learning how to identify lawn weeds correctly is a necessary first step in the process of reducing or eliminating them altogether over time. It's an important part of establishing a healthy lawn.

It's only fair that we point out the official definition of a weed, before we go any further. A weed is simply a plant that grows where you don't want it to be, which makes it a nuisance plant. I think we can all agree that the only thing we want to see growing on our lawns are healthy, green, blades of grass.

When you know what weeds are appearing, you'll be able to apply the necessary controls to win the fight against them from overtaking your lawn.

Different weeds respond to different controls and practices. The more you can learn about a weeds habits, the easier it will be to control that weed effectively.

As an example, dandelions have very long tap roots that go deep under the ground beneath the surface rosette of leaves. Simply mowing the lawn would only remove the flower and maybe a few of the leaves but wouldn’t get ‘to the root of the problem’ as the saying goes.

In this case, the taproot needs to be entirely removed to get rid of the weed properly. If only a small portion of the taproot is left behind in the soil, the plant will re-sprout.

A dandelion, among other ocmmon lawn weeds.

Cycle Of Lawn Weeds

As you identify lawn weeds you will also be determining if the weed is:

annual-one that germinates from seed, grows, flowers, produces seeds, and dies in 12 months or less,

biennial–one that takes two years to complete it's life cycle, producing flowers and seeds in the second year,

perennial-one that lives more than two years. They reproduce from non-seed sources like tubers, rhizomes (underground stems), stolons (above-ground stems), and some produce from seed. Perennials prove to be the toughest to control because they are persistent and prolific reproducers.

Identify Lawn Weed Classes

Weeds can be classified into 3 categories:

broadleaf-weeds having relatively broad leaves, as opposed to needle-like or scale-like leaves (dicots),

grasses-usually have hollow stems, with sheath-forming leaves in two longitudinal rows, and tiny flower spikes and seed like heads. (monocots)

sedges-any number of grass like plants with solid triangular stems and leaves in three vertical rows and very tiny flowerlet spikelets.

What Next? Our List of Common Lawn Weeds

On the following pages, we've put together a list, complete with photos, of the most common lawn weeds that you're likely to come across in your yard.

If you don't see what you're looking for in your quest to identify lawn weeds, send us your descriptions and we'll help wherever we can.

Jim has walked thousands of lawns over the years, always assessing, analyzing, and offering his expert advice on what to do to get things back in shape. He's ready to share his knowledge.

Please join in our Lawn Care Forum . We’d love to hear from you.

Dandelions
Crabgrass
Broadleaf Plantain

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