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What is Creeping Bentgrass?

With all the time and effort you’ve put in your yard, creeping bentgrass is frustrating when it comes to your lawn. The good news is that while it may be unsightly during certain times of the year, it’s not likely to ever take over your entire lawn. Additionally, there are ways to keep your Painesville, OH lawn healthy enough to prevent the bentgrass from growing in the first place.

What is Creeping Bentgrass?

Typically meant for golf courses, creeping bentgrass may grow on your lawn when it’s 2-3 years old. It can grow this way from birds flying above, neighboring lawns, and commercial mowing equipment. It may even be part of the blend of grasses in the seed when your lawn was originally planted. Creeping bentgrass grows in low areas, typically along property lines where the water drains away from your home, but it can also grow throughout your yard.

How to Identify Creeping Bentgrass

Knowing how to tell creeping bentgrass apart from other weeds or grasses is necessary, as they each have different treatment solutions.

You can identify by:

  • Initial lighter-colored patches anywhere from 6 inches to 2 feet.
  • Eventual brown, wilted grass during the summer.
  • A horizontal growth pattern.
  • A shallow root system.
  • Resistance when raking.

How to Get Rid of Creeping Bentgrass

There are three possible solutions:

Don’t Do Anything

The best way to treat creeping bentgrass is by no targeted treatment at all! Since it’s a grass, conventional weed control products won’t work. Regularly scheduled lawn care services with organic fertilizer, will promote the health of your entire lawn, which discourages growth.

Use Tenacity Brand Herbicide

The brand Tenacity recognizes the creeping bentgrass in your lawn and kills it without damaging the healthy grass. This allows you to reseed the empty areas. Tenacity works by stopping the plant’s ability to produce chlorophyll, which causes it to turn white and die. Three treatments are needed at 10-14 day intervals before seeding can be done. As a result, there are unsightly white spots in your yard until the new seed is established. This is an expensive and short-term solution lasting, only 2 or 3 years before growing again. 

Use a Non-Selective Herbicide

Unlike Tenacity, Roundup is a total-kill product, which means if you miss some of the bent, it will easily migrate into the areas being prepared for new seed. This means the original problem returns a little sooner than with Tenacity. Otherwise, this option is like using Tenacity except that the spots are brown instead of white.

Trust Ecolawn with your Painesville, OH Lawn Care Needs

While the lawn experts at Ecolawn highly recommend not treat creeping bentgrass, it’s because it is the most practical option that also will save you the most money. In order to create a healthy, lush lawn that has the ability to fight off creeping bentgrass, you need ongoing lawn care in addition to your home maintenance regimen. Ecolawn has been providing nutrient-rich lawn care in the Cleveland area for over 40 years. Our team will be able to make your deep root system healthy again. We will also give advice on the best ways to prevent creeping bentgrass.

In addition, follow these best practices for lawn mowing and best practices for watering your lawn in order to keep your lawn protected—without proper mowing and watering practices completed by yourself, the creeping bentgrass will not go away. 

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