LawnSuite guide: Crowsfoot grass in lawns: a summer weed of thin patches
Use this LawnSuite guide to recognise the problem before deciding what to do. Crowsfoot is a summer grassy weed. It comes up as the soil warms in spring and moves into thin, patchy parts of the lawn. By February it can make a tidy lawn look a mess.
What it is
Crowsfoot grass, also called goosegrass, is one of the summer grassy weeds, alongside summer grass (crabgrass).
How to spot it
Look for a coarse tuft with flattened leaf bases and narrow leaves that may be flat or folded. Its seed head has finger-like branches spreading from one point. Check the plant's base, leaves and seed head together when identifying it.
When it shows up
Summer grassy weeds germinate as the soil warms in spring, so prevention is about spring timing, not a calendar date. Crowsfoot runs on its own timing, so check the product label for when to act.
Where it shows up
Thin and bare patches. Most weeds are opportunists in thin turf, so the gaps are where crowsfoot gets its start.
Lawn care that keeps it out
Keep the lawn dense and well fed so there are fewer gaps to colonise. If you're renovating or oversowing in spring, check the pre-emergent's label for reseeding restrictions first; scarifying or cultivating can also disturb the treated surface.
If you use a product
Use a selective herbicide whose label lists your turf type and crowsfoot, and follow the label.
Keep reading
Not sure it's crowsfoot?
Create a free LawnSuite account in your browser and photograph the patch. Photo diagnosis uses Google Gemini vision to identify the likely weed, pest or disease and shows a confidence score for each result, so you can match it to the signs on this page before you treat.