Couch Grass

Alison_B

I hope someone can help. A couple of years ago, I mentioned to my neighbours that we were thinking of having our back lawn returfed. They decided to go ahead and get theirs done, so we got a quote from the same company and had ours done too. As the front lawn was looking worse for wear, we paid for that to be done too. The front lawn is joint between the two houses but next doors have always looked after it and when we moved in, they asked if they could continue and we were not to touch it. We agreed to this as we had such a lot to do in the house anyway.

A few years on now from having the lawn changed and it is full of couch grass, so much so that it looks an absolute mess. What has gone from a lawn that looked like a bowling green when I grew up here as a child, now is the joke of the avenue. It is just spreading all over the place and is now more couch grass than lawn.

What can be done to make it a lovely lawn again? The company that laid the lawn for us are supposed to be professional people who owned a "grass" company. I feel so bad that I talked them into changing the front lawn and now it is such a state.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

savemoney

Found this

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=283


Lawn weedkillers

There are no selective lawn weedkillers that will kill couch grass while leaving the rest of the grass unharmed.


Infested lawns should therefore be sprayed off with glyphosate until the grasses are fully killed. Only then can the area be dug over and prepared for re-sowing or re-turfing.

Farway

I think savemoney is right, kill the lot & start again

Is it worth going back to the company? Probably not but just maybe they belong to some sort of organisation that sets standards

Alison_B

We contacted them last year when it started coming up. They promised to come around and check it but never came and they started screening our calls and never returned them. The neighbour has mentioned about getting artificial grass because of what has happened. We are at the bottom of a cul-de-sac, so get everyone debris.

Thanks for the replies. I did wonder if there was any weed killer we could use that was specific to couch grass.

Filey

How can you tell if it's couch grass?? Just wondering as I thought that almost any grass, if you keep mowing it, will look like a lawn. I know some grasses are finer than others so probably couch wouldn't do for a bowling green, but as long as you are not after a bowling green or a tennis court will it not do?

westiea

hi

Couch grass is a pain - unpleasant to look at and walk on. It forms thick clumps that the mower struggles with and kills off all other grass with its matt of creeping rhizomes.

Sounds like they laid cheap meadow turf and not quality. Anything looks good thats been pumped with a nitrogen feed for a short while sounds like that could be the prelaid state of your turf.
It is worth ringing Greenthumb - a friend used them - they did a free inspection and gave him advice - all no charge and he was very pleased, though they are franchises so I guess dependent on your area.

Lotus-eater

My lawn should be full of couch grass, my veg plot is, I must admit, I've never even given thought to the fact that it may be different cut and in a lawn. The lawn gets cut, walked on, played on and that's about it.
But, whenever I've dug up cut lawn, it's had very little couch grass in it, which really makes no sense as I have loads all around the lawn. So I presume if you keep cutting it, it puts it off.
Seriously? you can tell the difference between grass and couch grass? My lawn is lucky if it has grass, I've never cared what type it is.

[Deleted User]

I am the same., I do look at other people's fine lawns with envy but not with enough envy to make me want to kill our grass and start again. Knowing my luck it would come up all couch grass again anyway. As far as I am concerned if its green and looks like grass, it will do. I'd rather spend the hours required to keep a lawn in good condition growing fruit veg and flowers to be honest.

budgetboy_2

Why not pick up a few artificial grass samples from here: artificial grass then decide whether or not to get artificial turf.

wallbash

Spam Spam and more Spam

Davesnave

showsy wrote: »

Hi there, i have had the same proplem and searched around for nearly 12 months to find a sample/grass that looks just like the real thing, after all my searching i decided to go with a company based in trafford park in manchester called Grono artificial lawns, this was 2 years ago now and still looks like it did the day this was laid. Just another Spamming Post from me to all you gullible folk out there in MSE land.

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