How to Identify Smooth Crabgrass
Smooth crabgrass is an invasive, fast-growing weed that can establish itself quickly in a lawn. Once established, it's difficult to get rid of. A single crabgrass plant can produce thousands of seeds, which will crop up as new plants during the next growing cycle. Due to its highly adaptable nature, smooth crabgrass can be tricky to identify, as it closely resembles many other lawn grasses and weeds. Properly identifying smooth crabgrass is the crucial first step toward determining a method for ridding your lawn of this hardy nuisance. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Locate the plant in need of identification. Smooth crabgrass, which can be found all throughout the United States, often establishes itself in closely trimmed lawns or bare patches of lawns or meadows. It's drought-resistant and prefers sunny areas. It can crop up at any time during the growing season, though it reaches its peak in the summer.
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Examine the plant structure and growth pattern. Look down at the plant from above: If the blades spring up and out from the thick, matted center of the plant in a star-like pattern, it's probably crabgrass. Smooth crabgrass is smaller than many other common varieties of crabgrass. It rarely grows more than six inches tall, with individual grass blades generally about four inches long.
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Check if the plant has developed long tendrils that branch out from the matted center. If so, lift one to see if it has developed separate roots in the soil. You may wish to protect your hands with gardening gloves. Unlike other varieties of crabgrass, the tendrils of smooth crabgrass will not form a root system where they touch the soil. If the tendrils have rooted, the plant is not smooth crabgrass.
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Scrutinize the stems and the leaf blades of the plant. Smooth crabgrass is light green, though older blades may turn purple or red. Apart from its smaller size, smooth crabgrass may be differentiated from other crabgrass varieties by the lack of hair on the blades. New blades of smooth crabgrass first emerge slightly rolled like a tube, then gradually unfurl as they grow. Smooth crabgrass may also produce tiny, petal-free flowers that grow on long, spiky stems in late summer and early fall.
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Tips & Warnings
Smooth crabgrass often grows in lawn areas where cultivated grass has been damaged by drought or by pests such as grubs.
Unlike some lawn grasses, crabgrass is not perennial. It will die off at the end of the growing season, then grow again from seed the following year.
To discourage the establishment of smooth crabgrass, maintain lawn grasses at a height of at least three inches. Smooth crabgrass prefers to establish itself in bare patches or overly trimmed areas.
