Couch Grass

The Couch Lawn

Couch lawns have long been a favourite lawn variety in Australia, their low cost combined with their preference for our warm sunny environments, have good drought resistance and quick repair capabilities all work in favour of the Couch lawn.

Couch grass has a fine leaf blade which mows beautifully with a cylinder mower, and when the lawn is in great health with a dark green colour - cylinder mowing will create that flat "bowling green" finish on our own home lawns.

Couch has undergone many improvements in the last 20 years with many new cultivars becoming available. These new Hybrid Couches have a nice finish, good dark green colour with increased wear and repair abilities, and have become the driving force for the popularity Couch continues to enjoy to this day. Popular varieties include Greenlees Park, Santa Ana and the most popular being the low cost Winter Green.

Weed Control In Couch Lawns

Spraying for all weed types is relatively straight forward for Couch Grass, this lawn type has no known bad side effects to any commonly used selective herbicides, so homeowners can feel very confident and safe when controlling weeds on their Couch lawns.

Couch Grass Is A Rapid Grower

Couch grass has a very rapid growth rate, this is the reason why the grass is so much cheaper to purchase than all other lawn types, the turf farm can very quickly grow a new batch of Couch at almost twice the speed of other grasses.

This rapid growth rate of Couch is terrific when we have kids playing in the yard, or the lawn is subject to other heavy traffic - meaning the lawn can easily repair itself from damage.

However, there are also downsides to this fast growth. Couch will very quickly invade surrounding paths and garden beds, sending it's underground runners deep into the soil and under fences. Lawn mowing is required more frequently in order to keep removing the right amount of leaf to keep the lawn healthy. And lastly, Couch lawns will build up their thatch layers very quickly - in turn, Couch will require Vertimowing / De-Thatching more often than other grasses in order to keep the lawn green and healthy.

Sunlight Requirements For Couch

Due to it's very fine leaf blade, Couch is a very poor grass when it comes to it's ability to absorb sunlight - sunlight being that vital ingredient which fuels the photosynthesis process in all living plant's - including our lawns.

For this reason, Couch lawns need to be planted in areas which receive direct sunlight for most of the day, they have the highest demand for direct sunlight of all the lawn types. If Couch is ever subjected to heavily shaded areas, the lawn will simply wither away and die.

If plants, trees or bushes have become overgrown and are now shading your Couch lawn leaving the grass in poor health, then the excess foliage must be heavily pruned back in order to substantially increase levels of sunlight, and to restore the lawn back to health. If sunlight cannot be increased, then thought should be given to a new purpose for the affected area, such as a garden bed or paving.