Grass Type?

[Eric_Phillips]

I am planning on rejuvinating my lawn. I planted it about three years ago with a typical grass mix of rye, fescue and bluegrass. It seems only one species took. Right now the grass grows in small clumps. The leaves are very narrow and only grow a couple inches high. The seed grows on a tall round stock with a tight seed head. The seed tips do start turing a reddish brown color. So which grass is it?

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

sounds like perennial ryegrass to me - just like the stuff that took around my house...

[Luremaker]

I think the grass left is perennial rye. The brown tips may be from cutting your grass with dull mower blades. Here is a link to Cornell University's lawn care site. Lot's of info and tips.

Gardening Resources, Cornell University

[Eric_Phillips]

Thanks for the responses. The brown tips aren't from cutting since the mower was in the shop. It looked like the seeds themselves were turning color not just the end of the stock. I will take a closer look at the Cornel site. Hopefully this fall I can get something overseeded and be able to have a smoother ride next summer on the mower.

[Gizmo36]

I thinkThat is fescue

[wupham]

If it only gets a couple of inches high, it might be annual bluegrass (Poa annua). That, of course, is not what you seeded but is a common weed seed. It is not Kentucky bluegrass because Kentucky bluegrass is rhizomatous and will not stay in clumps but will spread (annual blue is a bunchgrass and does not spread by rhizomes or stolons). Though tall fescue is a bunch grass, it has rather wide blades and so doesn't fit your description of having very narrow blades. To be sure it isn't tall fescue, run the edge of a leaf across your finger. Tall fescue is very rough. It could be perennial rye (it is a bunch grass) but it normally gets much taller than a couple of inches. One identifying characteristic is to pull up a plant and look at the base near the crown. Perennial rye should have a reddish tinge near the base which is not shared with either Kentucky bluegrass or annual bluegrass. Rye also has a very shiny underside to the leaf blade.

I just looked at your post again and noticed you said the mix contained fescue rather than tall fescue. There are some fescue species that have very fine blades (not like tall fescue) such as hard fescue, Chewings fescue and Sheeps fescue that are bunch grasses that could be the grass in question. However, they also tend to get much higher than a couple of inches. You can distinguish them from annual blue in that annual blue has a boat-shaped tip to the leaf blade (kind of like a canoe) and none of the fescues do. My money is still on annual blue.