Before we discuss the ways of Killing Wintergrass and maximizing Winter Grass Control in turf, we need to review the different turf grasses available to the Australian home owner and property owner.

Broadly, we have 2 grasses including Cool Season grasses and Warm Season grasses.

In the category of Cool season grasses we have rye grass, fescue grasses and so on.

Warm season grasses include Durban turf grass, Buffalo grass (otherwise known as St Augustine grass in North America), Couch grass (otherwise known as Bermuda grass in North America), Zoysia grass, Queensland Blue Couch grass and Kikuyu grass.

With all the grasses listed above there are herbicides that can control winter grass in just about all these grasses and turf situations.

It is really important to understand that Professional Lawn Care operators, Green keepers and Landscape Contractors are trained and licenced to apply Professional fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide products that are only available for Professional and Commercial use. However, some of these products are not registered for Homeowner use.

The homeowner can control winter grass in most turf situations with what is available to them from the local Bunnings, Hardware store or Garden centre. The product that does most of what is needed by the home owner has the Active Constituent “Endothal” in it. The only problem here is this herbicide can damage Kikuyu grass.

Winter grass in kikuyu grass is generally tolerated as they both have a similar colour and when the lawn is mowed you cannot notice the wintergrass too much. In the case of long term control of winter grass in kikuyu turf, it is best to encourage healthy thick growth of the kikuyu turf over the warmer months to reduce chances of future winter grass germination.