Crowsfoot is known by many names, but one of the most common it goes by here in Australia is Crabgrass.
Skip to: What is Crowsfoot? How Can I Remove Crowsfoot? How Can I Prevent Crowsfoot?
Crowsfoot, as its name suggests, has a spiked flower with a similar appearance to that of a crows foot.
What is Crowsfoot?
Crowsfoot grass is a summer annual that grows in easy-to-identify tufts. It stays fairly flat to the ground with almost white flat sheathed stems and smooth strap like leaves.
Crowsfoot grass is a difficult to control weed that can tolerate low mowing and will thrive in nutrient deprived and compacted soil conditions. It will begin to germinate in the soil when temperatures reach above 15°C and can grow extremely quickly once active.
Seed heads appear usually from late spring or early summer, and the weed can still continue to grow into autumn. These seed heads can have as many as ten spikelets on each long stem. In an unhealthy lawn, if left to seed and spread, Crowsfoot will quickly infiltrate right through the entire lawn. Crowsfoot is commonly found throughout most Australian states including Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australian and the Northern Territory.
How Can I Remove Crowsfoot?
The best way to remove crowsfoot is to chip out by hand. Make sure when doing so that you carefully remove the entire plant and don’t spread any seeds during the process.
Treating Crowsfoot with a selective herbicide can be difficult as many herbicides will harm your lawn variety as well.
We recommend treating the individual weed tufts with a non-selective herbicide like glyphosate (Round Up or Zero). You will need to make sure you do so extremely carefully as it will kill everything it comes in contact with. The safest way is to use a small paintbrush or weed wand and carefully brush the glyphosate only onto the crowsfoot leaf.
How Can I Prevent Crowsfoot?
The best way to control Crowsfoot is to maintain a healthy lawn where it is unlikely to infiltrate and spread. Being proactive and removing it as soon as it appears and before it goes to seed will be the key to preventing it from spreading out of control.
Another way of preventing the seed from germinating is to apply a pre-emergent herbicide like Oxafert or Barricade in early spring. An application in Autumn will also help to prevent the germination of Winter weeds as well.
For more information on how to treat specific weeds in your lawn, visit the Lawn Solutions Australia lawn care page here.
