Nimblewill – In Cincinnati and Dayton Lawns

Nimblewill – In Cincinnati and Dayton Lawns is a problem.  Nimblewill technically is a warm season grass, which means it has a different growing pattern than the grasses in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas.  The grasses in the Cincinnati and Dayton lawns usually have a blend of fescue, rye, and bluegrasses.  Nimblewill stands out like the ugly duckling especially in the Early Spring and Late Fall when our regular cool season grasses are greening up out of winter dormancy.

Nimblewill in Cincinnati and Dayton lawns at this time of the year it is usually still a light tan color.  It grows in a “poofy” stringy looking pattern.  Many times you see it in patches choking out good cool season grasses.

Often it is confused with Bermuda (another warm season grass) or Creeping Bentgrass.  It has the same wiry horizontally growing pattern to it.  However, unlike bermuda grass, nimblewill does not have long runners.  Creeping bentgrass is what is on most golf course greens and is a little tighter knit growing.  Also creeping bentgrass is a cool season grass so it will match up better in color with the blue, rye, and fescues.  Nimblewill is a lighter green color than most cool season grasses in Cincinnati and Dayton lawns.  If you think you may have this invasive grass get a Purelawn Free Lawn Analysis.

 

Solutions:  Unfortunately at this time there are not too many options.  Here are some:

1)  Kill Off/Reseed – A full lawn renovation may be needed to eradicate this invasive grassy weed.  I would suggest having a professional do this, but if you plan on doing it, then spray Round Up Pro twice and reseed with a turf type tall fescue grass mix.  Do not attempt this drastic renovation at any other time besides Early Fall (begin the process in August).

2)  Tenacity Selective Herbicide – This is a lawn chemical that works selectively to kill off the nimblewill while not harming your good cool season grasses.  The jury is still out on this product, which just became available to lawn care companies in 2012.  We will continue to do research for you to make sure the materials we use are of the highest quality.

3)  Tolerate It – Nimblewill does green up in Late Spring and will stay green through the Summer and Early Fall.  The only times many customers even notice it is when it goes dormant earlier in the Late Fall and does not green up as quickly in the Early Spring.  Continue to slice seed newer grass blends of turf type tall fescue and bluegrass every Fall to try to crowd out the nimblewill.  If you plan on manually eradicating nimblewill make sure you remove every part of the plant or you could be causing regrowth that is more aggressive.  We do not suggest manual eradication.

4)  Receive a Free Lawn Analysis – Have one of our licensed technicians come out and analyze your lawn for FREE.  We will give you our suggestions and let you know how bad your nimblewill problem is.  We can also give you a quote on a Fall Lawn Renovation Project for your Cincinnati or Dayton lawn.