What is goosegrass?

Goosegrass is a summer annual grass that thrives where nothing else will: compacted, beaten-down soil that gets a lot of foot or tire traffic. Good goosegrass identification matters because it’s often mistaken for crabgrass, and it sprouts later, so a crabgrass preventer applied on the usual schedule can miss it.

Each plant lives one season and dies with the first hard frost. It comes back only from seed, so the game plan is stopping seed and fixing the soil conditions that let it in.

Goosegrass identification: what to look for

Goosegrass grows in a flat, tight rosette, pressed against the ground. Look for these features:

• Silver center: the base of the plant, where the stems fan out, is whitish to silvery. That’s why it’s sometimes called silver crabgrass.
• Leaves: smooth, folded, medium to dark green blades, a quarter to half inch wide. They feel slick compared to crabgrass.
• Ligule: a short, jagged membrane at the base of the blade, split in the center. No auricles.
• Seedhead: two to seven flat spikes spreading from the top of the stem, with seeds packed in two rows like a zipper.
• Roots: tough and fibrous. Pulling a mature plant from hard ground takes real effort.

Its low growth lets it survive even very short mowing, so it stays put in lawns all summer.

Where it grows in Pennsylvania

Across PA, goosegrass shows up wherever soil gets packed hard. Think the corner of the lawn kids cut across, the strip next to the driveway where cars pull off, baseball infields, sidewalk cracks and the edges of patios and walkways.

Central PA’s clay soils make the problem worse because they compact easily, especially when they’re walked on or driven over while wet. Full sun and thin turf seal the deal. If you see goosegrass in the same worn spots every summer, take that as a clue that the soil there needs attention.

Seed travels on mower wheels, shoes and equipment, and in soil hauled from one place to another. That’s how a new patch can show up at the edge of a freshly graded area or along a new walkway the first summer after construction.

Goosegrass look-alikes

Large crabgrass is the usual mix-up. Crabgrass has hairy, lighter green, wider leaves, a green rather than silver center, and stems that root at the joints as they spread. Its seedhead spikes are thin fingers, not zippers.

Smooth crabgrass is less hairy but has the same thin finger-like spikes. Annual bluegrass grows in compacted spots too, but it’s a cool-season weed with soft, boat-tipped leaves and fluffy seedheads in spring.

How to get rid of goosegrass

Goosegrass is easier to prevent than to kill once it’s established, so timing is everything.

Hand removal. Pull or dig young plants with a trowel or weeding knife while they’re small and the soil is moist. Mature plants in hard soil take some prying. Get them out before July, when seedheads start to form.

Cultural control. Fixing compaction is the real cure. Core aerate the lawn in early fall, add organic matter like compost when you topdress or renovate, and redirect foot or vehicle traffic away from the worst spots. Fertilize on a regular schedule, water deeply during drought, and overseed thin areas so grass fills the gaps.

Chemical control. Preemergence herbicides such as prodiamine, pendimethalin and dithiopyr stop seeds from sprouting. Penn State notes goosegrass needs warmer soil than crabgrass, so a single early spring application may wear off before it sprouts. A second application several weeks after the first is common where both weeds are a problem. For plants already up, selective postemergence options include mesotrione, and they work best on young plants before they tiller.

• Don’t apply a preemergence product where you plan to seed grass soon; it stops grass seed too.
• Read and follow the product label. The label is the law, and it tells you which grasses and sites the product is safe for.
• Applying herbicide for hire in Pennsylvania requires a PA Department of Agriculture pesticide applicator certification, so full lawn programs belong with a licensed lawn-care company.

Keeping it from coming back

Loosen compacted soil, keep traffic off soggy lawns, and build a dense stand of grass. When a spot simply gets too much traffic for grass to survive, it may be time for a stepping-stone path or a widened walkway instead of fighting the same battle every summer.

Keep an eye on the spots where it grew this year. Goosegrass tends to return to the exact same places, so those are the areas to aerate, overseed and, if needed, treat on time next spring.

If goosegrass keeps growing out of your paver joints, the sand has likely washed out. Re-sanding with polymeric sand helps lock the joints, as explained in our polymeric sand vs. regular sand guide.

Questions we get about goosegrass

Similar weeds

Large CrabgrassDigitaria sanguinalisSmooth CrabgrassDigitaria ischaemumAnnual BluegrassPoa annua