Rough bluegrass

Rough Bluegrass (Poa Trivialis) is a fine textured perennial grass with somewhat shiny, yellowish green leaves. The light green patches of rough bluegrass are very obvious and objectionable in a darker green Kentucky bluegrass or Tall fescue lawn. The blades are flat or slightly v-shaped, 1 to 4mm wide, slightly tapering toward a boat-shaped tip. The plant spreads by means of stolons (above-ground, creeping stems) that root down at the nodes. The root system is fibrous and tends to be shallow, explaining the susceptibility to drought. It grows best in cool, moist shaded areas. It is very aggressive under these conditions, and can form a very dense, uniform turf. Rough bluegrass will also grow in open, sunny areas, but has poor heat and drought tolerance and will tend to turn brown during mid-summer stress periods. Areas colonized will thin back dramatically during hot weather, leaving mostly stems with very little leaf tissue. Poor traffic tolerance is also another undesirable characteristic of the plant.

Rough bluegrass is introduced to a turf stand in many different ways. Due to the shade tolerance of the plant it is often used in shady grass seed mixtures sold in retail stores. The plant also grows naturally over most of the world and seed and stolons can germinate after laying dormant for many years, thus contaminating a turf stand. Contaminants in turf seed mixtures can also contribute to rough bluegrass introduction, but seed growers and producers self impose growing and shipping restrictions to prevent this.

Rough bluegrass spreads readily. The stolons can be spread by the mower or by animals. Mechanical removal by hand is not very feasible as only one or two stolons left will permit re-establishment. The desired species in the turf are usually crowded out by these patches. The only reasonable approach is to kill the areas with a non-selective herbicide such "Round up" and seed or sod the area with the desired grasses.

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