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Hi!
At the start of spring my lawn (which I am 99% sure was buffalo grass- the horticulturist I spoke to at Bunnings agreed) became completely overtaken by Bindiis and clovers. After a lot of work, including two herbicide treatments, I was able to get rid of almost all of the weeds...however, was left with a very sad, bare yard, as the grass had been so suffocated by the weeds. After lots of TLC, I have started to see a lot of – the lawn looks a lot happier, and we can safely walk outside without shoes on (Yay!!). However, there is a large patch of growth that has very wide blades, and does not look like the buffalo lawn. I'm struggling to work out whether this is a weed or whether it is another species of grass that has somehow taken up residence in the yard. Im particularly struggling to ID it, as all of the pictures of common lawn weeds are only small tuffs of the weeds, where this is probably at least 1 square metre, so it doesnt really match any of the images I'm finding online. The pics are a bit decieving, the blades probably only come up about 3-4cm off the ground. I also havent mown the lawn since it started to grow, as I was away for a month, so am not sure if it looks so different because it has never seen a lawn mower.
Please send help!!! All advice would be greatly appreciated.
– Sincerely, an absolute novice who has developed an acute hyperfixation on their lawn
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @mayaruby. It's brilliant to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about lawn care.
I'm not entirely certain what the weed is, but it's not grass, and in this instance, it's likely irrelevant what exactly it is, as it's a weed. The important point is that it is not the grass you want, so it will compete with your buffalo for nutrients, water, and sunlight.
To fix this, the best approach is to remove it. You can either dig it out by hand if the area is small, or spray it with a glyphosate-based herbicide to kill it off. Remember to wear PPE, including safety glasses a face mask and overalls. After that, you can lay buffalo turf in the cleared patch. Because the area is only about a square metre, a couple of small rolls of buffalo turf will cover it nicely. Once it’s established, your buffalo lawn will gradually reconnect and fill in with consistent growth.
It’s tempting to try and identify the exact weed, but in this situation, the priority is removing it and re-establishing your buffalo lawn. Once you’ve done that, ongoing maintenance with regular mowing, watering, and occasional fertilising will help prevent weeds from taking over again.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
