How to Manage Pests

Choose and identify your turf species

Use this key to identify your grass species

• Click on illustrations that resemble your grass characteristics.
• Work through the key until you get to a summary page of your grass with links to management tips.

• Begin key
• Identification tips

Importance of identifying turfgrasses

It is important to recognize turfgrass species commonly used for home lawns or around parks and schools. Failure to properly identify a turfgrass species can lead to mistakes in maintenance. For example, not all turfgrass species tolerate the same mowing height or frequency. Irrigation frequency and the amount of water needed vary among species as do the frequency and amount of fertilizer. Turfgrasses also differ in how they adapt to sun, shade, and temperature. Most lawns are mixtures of various turfgrass species.

For more information on specific adaptations and tolerances, see the following tables for turfgrass species that are

• best adapted to most California conditions
• not adapted to hot climates
• adapted to summer heat

See the following publication for more information:

• "Turfgrass Selection for the Home Landscape" (100 KB, PDF)

Already know your turf species? Learn key qualities, identification characteristics, and management tips of each.

Annual ryegrass	Hard fescue	Seashore paspalum
Bermudagrass	Kentucky bluegrass	St. Augustinegrass
Buffalograss	Kikuyugrass	Tall fescue
Colonial bentgrass	Perennial ryegrass	Zoysiagrass
Creeping bentgrass	Red fescue
Dichondra	Rough bluegrass

**Annual bluegrass is a weed that often invades lawns and becomes managed as a turf species. For more information on annual bluegrass, refer to: Pest Notes: Annual Bluegrass.