Common Grass Weed Control In Your Lawn & Garden

Crow's Foot Grass

Eleusine indica

What Does Crow's Foot Grass Look Like?

• Usually an annual, although it can occasionally behave as a short-lived perennial.
• Can reach around 1 m high, but young plants and those growing in lawns tend to remain close to the ground.
• Leaves are long, narrow and green, with slightly hairy margins.
• Flower heads have the characteristic appearance of a crow’s foot, consisting of multiple spikes.

Where is Crow's Foot Grass Found as a Weed?

It can occur in lawns, garden beds, roadsides, coastal areas and around wetlands.

Best Treatment & Weedkiller for Crow's Foot Grass

For garden beds, carefully spot-treat plants with a non-selective weedkiller such as Yates Zero Weed Killer 490 g/L Super Concentrate. Yates Zero Triple Strike Garden Weedkiller is a glyphosate-free alternative.

Do not allow non-selective weedkillers to contact desirable plants or lawn grasses and keep the spray nozzle close to the target weed to reduce overspray.

For crow's foot grass prevention in lawns, apply Munns Professional Lawn Weed Preventer in early spring. It can help prevent Crow’s Foot Grass seed germination for up to six months.

Nutgrass Weed

Cyperus rotundus

What Does Nutgrass Look Like?

• A perennial sedge rather than a true grass.
• Typically grows around 20 to 50 cm tall.
• Produces narrow, light-green leaves from the base.
• Spreads through underground rhizomes.
• Purple, egg-shaped underground tubers or ‘nuts’ develop along the rhizomes and store energy for further growth.
• Flowers form reddish to purple spikes, generally appearing from summer through autumn.
• Seeds are small and may be black, brown or dull green.

Where is Nutgrass Found?

Commonly occurs in lawns, garden beds, parks and pastures and favours moist or boggy soil.

Best Weedkiller & Treatment for Nutgrass

For gardens, paths and rockeries, non-selective weed killers like Yates Zero Weedkiller 490 g/L Super Concentrate or Yates Zero Ultra Tough Heavy Duty Weedkiller can be used, with care taken around desirable plants. Heavy infestations may require repeated applications.

Once plants have died, the page recommends removing as many underground tubers and rhizomes as possible and monitoring the area for regrowth.

For control of Nutgrass in turf, apply Munns Professional Nutgrass, Mullumbimby Couch and Broadleaf Weed Killer just prior to nutgrass flowering.

Guinea Grass Weed

Megathyrsus maximus var. maximus

What Does Guinea Grass Look Like?

• A perennial grass that develops into large, tufted clumps.
• Has short underground rhizomes.
• Commonly reaches about 1.5 m tall and wide, although plants can become considerably taller.
• Leaves are narrow, pointed and have a prominent midrib.
• Produces finely branched flower heads with small green, purple or reddish spikelets.
• Seeds are oblong and are often purple.

Where is Guinea Grass Found as a Weed?

Guinea Grass, also known as panic grass, as an invasive pasture weed that has spread into roadsides, nature strips and vacant land.

Why is Guinea Grass a Weed?

It was introduced for livestock feed. Its rapid growth, drought tolerance and ability to disperse seed allow it to compete strongly with native vegetation.

Best Weedkiller & Treatment for Guinea Grass

Control plants while actively growing and before they have the opportunity to set seed.

For garden beds, spot spray with Yates Zero Weed Killer 490 g/L Super Concentrate.

After the clump has died, physically remove it with a mattock or similar tool.

For Guinea Grass growing through lawns, non-selective weedkillers can be applied very carefully to the weed, avoiding contact with surrounding lawn.

Rhodes Grass Weed

Chloris gayana

What Does Rhodes Grass Look Like?

• A clumping annual or perennial grass.
• Can grow to around 1 m tall.
• Has bluish-green stems and leaf blades approximately 5 to 25 cm long.
• Semi-prostrate stems can root at their nodes, helping the weed spread.
• Flower heads develop over summer and autumn.
• Flower heads change from greenish or reddish-brown to brown or straw-coloured as they mature.

Where is Rhodes Grass Found?

Rhodes Grass occurs across eastern Australia and can be found in crops, pastures, grasslands, gardens, roadsides and parklands.

Best Weedkiller & Treatment for Rhodes Grass

Treating actively growing plants with Yates Zero Weed Killer 490 g/L Super Concentrate or glyphosate-free Yates Zero Triple Strike Garden Weedkiller.

For larger areas Yates Easy See Spray Dye can be mixed into the spray to help identify sprayed areas.

Because Rhodes Grass also spreads through seed, control plants as soon as seed heads start forming and treat subsequent regrowth.

Annual & Perennial Ryegrass Weed

Lolium rigidum – Annual Ryegrass
Lolium perenne – Perennial Ryegrass

What Does Ryegrass Look Like?

Annual and Perennial Ryegrass are upright, clumping grasses with glossy dark-green leaves that may show purple colouring near the base.

They favour cool conditions and can reach approximately 50 to 90 cm, although mowing keeps them considerably shorter in lawns.

Flowering stems carry flat spikes during winter and early spring, followed by seed production from spring into early summer.

Where is Ryegrass Found as a Weed?

Although Ryegrass species are deliberately used for turf, they can become weeds in warm-season lawns as well as garden beds, crops and pastures.

Best Weedkiller & Treatment for Ryegrass

Control Ryegrass in garden beds in autumn and winter, before plants set seed, with careful spot sprays of Yates Zero Weed Killer 490 g/L Super Concentrate or Yates Zero Triple Strike Garden Weedkiller.

There are no selective weedkillers for killing Ryegrass in lawns. If Ryegrass control is required, very careful spot treatment with a non-selective weed killer can be done. 

Barnyard Grass & Awnless Barnyard Grass

Echinochloa crus-galli – Barnyard Grass
Echinochloa colona – Awnless Barnyard Grass

What Does Barnyard Grass Look Like?

Barnyard Grass is an annual tufted grass with flat, light-green leaves and green to purple flower spikes. Its seeds have characteristic bristles or awns.

Awnless Barnyard Grass has a low-growing, tufted habit and can reach around 1 m tall, but its seeds lack the awns associated with Barnyard Grass.

The captured page describes both as prolific seed producers, with germination occurring following heavy rain in late spring and summer. 

Where is Barnyard Grass Found as a Weed?

Common habitats include:

• lawns
• garden beds
• crops and pastures
• drains
• waterways

Best Weedkiller & Treatment for Barnyard Grass

For garden beds, carefully spot spraying individual plants with Yates Zero Weed Killer 490 g/L Super Concentrate or Yates Zero Triple Strike Garden Weedkiller.

For prevention of Barnyard Grass (Echinochloa crus-galli) in lawns, apply Munns Professional Lawn Weed Preventer in early spring, which can prevent seed germination for up to six months.

Brome Grass

Bromus diandrus – Great Brome
Bromus rigidus – Rigid Brome
Bromus catharticus syn. Bromus wildenowii – Prairie Grass

What Does Brome Grass Look Like?

The page covers several common Brome Grass species. They are generally densely tufted annual or short-lived perennial grasses with dull-green, hairy leaves and stems.

Plants can reach around 1 m tall.

The species have similar foliage but can be distinguished by differences in their flowers and seed heads. Purplish-brown to straw-coloured flowers occur on stems during spring and summer.

The page identifies their high level of seed production, ability to tolerate relatively dry conditions and competitive root systems as reasons they can persist and spread.

Where is Brome Grass Found as a Weed?

Brome Grasses occur in:

• crops and pastures
• native vegetation
• gardens.

Best Weedkiller & Treatment for Brome Grass

Because Brome Grass spreads through seed, the captured page recommends preventing seed set and treating plants early while they are actively growing.

There are no selective weedkillers for Brome Grass, so careful spot spray the plants in garden beds with Yates Zero Weed Killer 490 g/L Super Concentrate or Yates Zero Triple Strike Garden Weedkiller.

Any regrowth should be treated again, taking care not to spray surrounding plants or lawn.