Brand new lawn - is this annual meadow grass?

SamDude

Hi all,
First time in this board as I'm not a garden person, but that will now change as we now have a brand new lawn that I'd like to take care of.

We laid the new turf (approx 50sqm) on Friday, and by Sunday I saw these sprouting up all over.
Is this annual meadow grass or is it part of the lawn?

I understand that you can't prevent annual meadow grass, but should I be disappointed if it is AMG in the turf we've used? Is this normal?

25_Years_On

It could be Poa pratensis which is fine and not uncommon in lawns. They can be difficult to tell apart. I'm not seeing much of a ligule in the photo which suggest P. pratensis but hard to tell from one photo.

Ligules:

https://turf.purdue.edu/which-is-it-annual-bluegrass-or-kentucky-bluegrass/

SamDude

Thanks for your help - I've taken a photos of the base of a few, does this help identify one way or the other?

I've been trying to spot the ligules, but can't make out what I'm supposed to be seeing (or not).

Thank you again...

25_Years_On

Pull the leaf back. Where it meets the stem there's a whitish flap of material called the ligule. Not all species have them and they are a key identification feature.

http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/glossary/glossary-details/?irn=2268

Looking at the pictures I'm not convinced it's annual meadow grass. Besides Poa pratensis there is also Poa trivialis (rough meadow grass) which has an obvious ligule.

SamDude

Thanks - I decided to take a few more photos with the leaf pulled back (just before I saw your reply).
It is a bit tricky to get it to focus, but hopefully this should be better:

SamDude

Comparing Poa Annua to Poa Pratensis - I would (cautiously and hopefully say it's closer to Pratensis 

25_Years_On

SamDude said:

Comparing Poa Annua to Poa Pratensis - I would (cautiously and hopefully say it's closer to Pratensis 

However the one thing I should have said is that on older somewhat knackered stems the ligule gets ragged and sometimes disappears. I've just looked at a specimen of Poa annua at my place. And older stem with a browning leaf has no ligule. A fresher green leaf on a fresher flowering stem has an obvious ligule.

SamDude

How old does it have to be to be 'old'?
The lawn was laid last Friday and they only started showing up on Sunday so they are not knackered or browning....

twopenny

Grass seeds at this time of year.

You will find the same thing this time next year.

It's not a usual time to lay a lawn because of the hot weather and harder work to get established.

I would see this as quite normal.

Annual Meadow Grass is just that, annual. It can be airborn or bought in by birds on their feet and feathers.

If you want to be extra cautious a pair of scissors or a strimmer, use boards to walk on the newly laid lawn and cut and remove the seed heads.

I've done stranger things. Glass of something cold, radio on and it's done in no time

25_Years_On

Some of the leaves in the photos look a bit old and brown tinged hence my comment. Just check a few.