Your lawn looks full of waving wheat, giving your precious lawn a fuzzy look, especially during the spring to early summer.
Please don’t be alarmed; it is normal for some grasses’ seed heads to pop during this period, more so when they are under stress. Seedhead comes in various hues and shapes depending on the species of the grass you have.
Grass with white seed heads does not give your lawn the lovely look it should display. Your lawn will look like a miniature wheat field, or it has been invaded with weeds. Also, your grass will not mow neatly, and even your turfgrass may lose its density since the seed production is taxing the grass.
Let’s see which type of grasses mother nature gifted the ability to have white seed heads miniature
Contents
Grass with white seed heads
1. Bermuda grass
Bermuda grass is commonly loved by folks from the southern parts of the United States for its exceptional heat and drought tolerance. Bermuda grass is a resilient perennial warm-season grass with a faster growth rate and an aggressive nature.
These qualities make the Bermuda grass the best yet for many homeowners; their worries start when the warm weather sets in. Many Bermuda lawns produce seed heads, giving your lawn an unsightly look.
Not more than once, a few of my friends emailed me in a panic that a ”feathery weed had invaded their lawn”; when you see this, there is no need to worry.
However, most people confuse crabgrass with Bermuda grass. Bermuda grass forms white seed heads that grow more laterally or vertically, depending on the cultivar. The seedhead is a way of your Bermuda grass communicating to you that there may be some stress on its roots.
The good thing about Bermuda’s seed head is that it does not last long enough. But if it bothers you so much, you can use chemical means to remove the seedhead. Alternatively, you can save your Bermuda lawn by sharpening your mower blade and regularly mowing it little by little.
For some folks, Bermuda producing seedheads is an advantage; my neighbor is one of them; he believes that leaving the natural process to take it leads to a thicker lawn. This sound like a good idea but the effect is little.
Besides, his Bermuda has been invading my lawn. Control seeding of your lawn to have happy neighbors.
2. Buffalo
This perennial warm-season grass, native to the Great Plains from Montana to New Mexico, developed a bluish-green lawn and was once grazed by enormous herds of bison.
It spreads via stolons and rhizomes, making it a hardy grass. It has slightly curled-up blades and flowers that are both pistillate and staminate, which means the male and female are on different stalks.
The flowering stems are upright, with the male taller than the female. On the other hand, the female stalk has several spikes branching away from the stalk, and each spike has flattened spikelets.
The spikelets are usually white, and others have a reddish-orange hue depending on the variant. Usually, the male buffalo grass on our lawn does not produce seed heads due to the mowing, and the cultivated forms are majorly females.
3. Quack grass
Quack grass is a prevalent weed in lawns. Quack grass is an invasive cold-season grass that grows via rhizomes and breaks into clumps, making it difficult to eradicate.
This grass has broad blades that resemble wheat. This weed is seen on your tuft since it stands tall on your grass.
Quack grass can be identified at the base of its roots by the presence of two projections on the stem that resemble fingers and are known as auricles.
When mature, it produces a thin, about 10 inches long seedhead composed of unbranched multiple alternate white spikelets. Each spikelet bears numerous cream-to-white seeds.
See also: How do you get rid of thorns in your grass?
4. Perennial ryegrass
This grass is abundant along the chilly coasts of the United States. It tolerates foot activity well and develops swiftly to provide a beautiful, long-lasting groundcover.
It grows up to 2 feet tall and develops seed heads throughout the warm season, with a reddish-purple stem base as its hallmark.
The spike-like seed heads develop edgewise to the seed head stalk. Once the seed heads and stalks form, this grass becomes extremely tough to mow and has an ugly appearance. As a result, sharpen your mower and set it to the maximum.
Perennial ryegrass seed heads are persistent, and they don’t decompose easily. Therefore, it is important to keep it mowed; otherwise, you will have a lawn littered with white seed heads until the next season.
See also: What is the ideal fertilizer for yellow grass
5. Tall fescue
Tall fescue grass, like perennial ryegrass, is adapted to humid weather and is a winter-hardy grass. Tall fescue can grow up to 48 inches tall, with dark green flat leaf blades and a unique, coarse stem. Because of its clumpy growth pattern, this grass does not mix in with other turfgrasses.
However, it is a tough grass that can withstand cold and drought conditions. Tall fescues have spherical and smooth flowers on tall stems.
The flower stem produces panicle-style seed heads, each with six to eight seeds. When the seed heads form, your lawn will take on a dreadful pale appearance, especially if left unmowed.
See also: Do field mice eat grass?
6. Kentucky bluegrass
Kentucky bluegrass, known for its high-quality lawn, has become one of the most popular grasses in the United States because of its smooth velvety texture and deep green tint. The Kentucky bluegrass is also resistant to traffic.
The Kentucky bluegrass has lived up to expectations, but the only issue is that it is unmowed. If mowed wrongly, this grass will develop open branching panicle-style seed heads in the spring, and your tuft will quickly start looking stemmy and less thick.
See also: How to care for potted grass
See also: Grass and weeds that look like wheat
It’s that time of year when the white seed heads appear on your lawn, especially if you have buffalo grass, zoysia, or couch grass, all of which are known for having their gorgeous green hue destroyed by these white feathery things that appear out of nowhere.
Since you are familiar with grass with white seed heads, you will not be startled if your lawn turns white.
