Creeping Bentgrass

Bentgrasses are desirable turfgrass species when used on golf course fairways, putting greens, and croquet courts. However, they are a common perennial grass in many home lawns, especially older lawns, and can be a problem. Bentgrass creeps over desirable turf and forms large light-green patches that usually turn brown in summer. However, because it is green in cooler temperatures and has a fine texture, many homeowners don’t notice that they have a bentgrass problem until it turns brown and dies due to excessive thatch or drought. The brown patches are easily pulled up. You can’t really “manage” or “control” a creeping bentgrass invasion. There are no herbicides that can be applied that will kill out the bentgrass and leave the good lawn grasses. You have three choices… you can learn to live with the bentgrass, you can renovate your lawn, or you can start all over again “from the ground up”. Renovation involves correcting lawn problems without removing all of the sod and starting over. When creeping bentgrass has extensively invaded a lawn, total renovation is a viable option that can be taken to restore a lawn to attractiveness. If you don’t take the time to completely destroy these hard-to-kill grasses, your renovation may look good initially, but it will quickly become reinfested.

The light patches are unwanted invading Creeping Bentgrass