Here at Lawn Solutions Australia, we usually don’t recommend over sowing lawns in winter. Instead, we prefer to use an easier lawn pigment product like ColourGuard Plus or iron to help green up your lawn throughout the cooler months. While rye grass is effective, it is an expensive product to not just purchase but to transition in and out. However, if you do want to sow your lawn this winter, here is how to do it.
Is my grass suited for oversowing?
It is preferred that you have an existing couch lawn when it comes to oversowing. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, couch grasses have a fine leaf like rye. This helps the rye blend into the couch. The second is that more commercial herbicides are available to remove rye from couch than other turf varieties.
With other lawn varieties like buffalo and kikuyu, there are not as many safe to use herbicides. Rye grass also has a much finer leaf than buffalo and kikuyu, making the introduced grass stand out.
What should I oversow my lawn with?
If you are going to oversow, perennial rye is usually the best option. However, we generally don’t recommend this unless you have some experience oversowing. It is important to note that there isn’t a seeded grass on the market that is wear tolerant. This means you must rely on the existing grass to handle regular wear and heat. The rye is purely for winter colour. For this reason, oversowing is primarily done on high-profile sports grounds and stadiums and not home lawns.
How do I remove rye grass
Once spring comes and the weather begins to warm up, rye grass must be transitioned out (killed) to allow your existing grass to be dominant.
To transition rye grass out, you need to use a herbicide like Monument or Duke. As these are primarily commercial herbicides, they can expensive and difficult to apply correctly. If you don’t do this and just let nature take its course, you will have a patchy-looking lawn that will be a random mixture of rye and your existing grass.
Applying these commercial-style herbicides is not as straightforward as using domestic products. Look at our blog on How to Calibrate Your Sprayer for more information on applying these herbicides.
Monument Herbicide
Monument is safe for use on common couch, hybrid couch, QLD blue couch, and zoysia grasses. This herbicide is not recommended for use on kikuyu or buffalo lawns. Monument can also be used to treat a range of other weeds, including Burr Medic, Bindii, Winter Grass, Catsear, Chickweed, Clover, Cotula, Creeping Oxalis, Curled Dock, Milk Thistle, Mullumbimby Couch and Nutgrass.
Duke Herbicide
Duke is safe for use on couch, kikuyu, and most buffalo varieties. This herbicide can also be used to remove broadleaf weeds including Bindii, Black Thistle, Catsear, Cotula, Cudweed, Guildford (Onion) Grass, Medic, Mouse Ear Chickweed, Oxalis, White Clover, Onion Weed and False Onion Weeds. Duke will also remove other grass weeds including Winter Grass (Suppression), Bahia, grass (suppression and seedhead reduction).
Removing by hand
If there is only a small amount of rye growing or over a small area, you can also pull it out by hand.
Alternatives to oversowing
If you want to keep your lawn green and vibrant in winter without applying rye, we recommend using a pigment product like ColourGuard Plus or iron to achieve the desired colour.
Check out our other lawn care blogs here for more lawn care tips and advice.
