Advise for Poa annua control

Hi Experts,

I have, what I believe to be some patches of Poa annua on my lawn and have read lots of articles about it being extremely difficult to get rid of etc. After the recent spell of hot dry weather the patches of poa annua seem to be very dry (and slightly brown / yellow).

Is there anything that I can do at this point in time to take advantage of it being dry to remove it / control it?

Should I try to get it to dry out as much as possible in the hope that it may die?

Let it grow or cut it short?

Thanks for any tips, pics attached of the areas in case it can be identified as something other than Poa annua.

Rgds,
Rob.

 

Are you sure your complaint is Poa annua ? I have never heard of this but RHS describes it as a type of coarse grass .
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=514

 

Have a look here Rob.
http://www.bigga.org.uk/about-us/magazine/back-issues/05-2003/poa-annua-coe-are-we-now/00331.html

 

Thanks for the links, I'll check them out.

Cheers,
Rob.

 

Poa annua AKA annual meadow grass is usually rather deep green in colour and it often only grows an inch or two high before going to seed, usually within a matter of days after mowing. It tends to blend in well with other grasses, unless you have sewn it with very fine grass like on bowling greens.

Your lawn doesn't look like it's composed of fine grasses such as bents or fescues (at least from the close-up pics), so my thoughts are that the problem could be something that's eating your grass, such as leather jackets as they are notorious for creating yellow patches.

 

Poa Annua and other Poa related grasses are lighter in colour and don't fair well to hot conditions like we have at the moment which is why areas effected show up against the other types of grass in lawns depending on type.

 

You are no doubt right (as you're farm more experienced than me).

Just from personal experience, many lawns I cut have darker areas where grass has started to create seeds within a week Vs other areas. They appear to be Poa varities but there is a noticable difference just lately in that it is turning yellow due to the prolongued dry weather, whereas other grass varieties/seed mixtures are suffering somewhat less.

 

I have had this issue for the past year or so.

The problem is starting to decrease now by these steps,

1 - Digging out patches an reseeding.
2 - Regular scarifying then cutting, Poa Annua shreds up when scarified.
3 - Regular mowing, not too low to encourage other grasses through.
4 - Watering - not too often as Poa Annua has shallow roots and will thrive with little but often watering.

I need to aerate more to encourage stronger grass growth.

I am finding these steps are starting to work for me.