Weed or Not Weed? Trying to find out...

[guttermanek]

I'm new to the forums, but I've checked thoroughly through previous posts to look at pics and see if anyone has what I have. I haven't found any.

A little background:

I was too busy last month to properly cut my lawn, *and* it didn't rain and was terribly hot. When I finally cut my lawn, I noticed that there was some sort of weed-type-thing that had taken over about half my lawn. In retrospect, it doesn't seem to be overtaking my entire lawn, but only the spots where the grass was weakest. Which turns out to be about half.

Anywho, I haven't been successful in identifying the plant. I thought it was spurge, but testing it like my friend suggested (breaking the stem to see if white stuff comes out) proved otherwise. I'm back to square one.

Here are some pics:

[img]https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u131/guttermanek/Lawn/Lawn1.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u131/guttermanek/Lawn/Lawn3.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u131/guttermanek/Lawn/Lawn2.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u131/guttermanek/Lawn/Lawn4.jpg[/img]

[microcollie]

When I enlarge the picture, it looks like birdsfoot trefoil, a rather invasive and tenacious non-native wildflower. Any signs of yellow, pea-like flowers? (It's in the same family as peas)

It's one of those things that is so established across most of the country that I can't imagine it ever being eradicated. (On the plus side, it's really eye-catching when in bloom)

I have it all over one of my "lawns" and have never found a way to get rid of it except for pulling. One of the good things about it is that, even though it forms a thick mat, it doesn't root all along its stems the way some other mat'formers do, so if you can find the central root, it's easy to dig out. If left to bloom, however, it will seed very easily, so if you see the flowers, you might want to mow them before they can ripen.

Good luck. Hey, at least it's green

[guttermanek]

LOL good point

I googled birdsfoot trefoil and yes, the petals look similar, but one, there aren't any flowers, and two, it's really low to the ground, almost like clovers.

But it is stiff and not soft. Don't know what that means.

I'll dig some up and take a pic of that to see if it helps.