Quackgrass – Identification, Control, and Uses
Quackgrass, Elymus repens, also known as couch grass, is a common weed in lawns and gardens. Treated as a scourge by lawn care companies, it’s quite valuable for herbal medicine and livestock food. We share identification tips, how to use it, and how to get rid of quackgrass where it’s not wanted.
Quackgrass Identification
Quackgrass is widespread around the globe, but native to Europe, Asia and northwest Africa. It’s so prolific that it’s classified as a noxious weed throughout much of the U.S., growing in lawns, gardens, roadsides, and fields.
The plant is a cool season perennial grass (monocot), blooming in the spring/summer and dying back in fall/winter. Plants reach 1-4 feet tall, with long, flat leaves 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide. The leaf blades wrap around the stem with two clasping auricles.
The seed head resembles the seed head on oats or wheat, but much finer. It produces 15-400 seeds per plant stem (commonly 25-40), which can persist in the soil for years.
The rhizome root system is the easiest way to identify this plant, and to distinguish it from annual ryegrass. (Annual ryegrass looks similar but does not have rhizomes.)
Patches of quackgrass spread rapidly via rhizomes (underground runners). Elymus repens is also allelopathic, which means that it releases chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants.
Here is an example of a single quackgrass plant, with a rhizomes extending roughly 4 feet in length. Notice the new grass stems shooting up along with rhizome.
Each segment of the root can produce a new plant if left in the soil. This makes the plant a gardener’s bane, but also makes it an extremely durable forage crop. The rhizomes also anchor the soil well to help prevent erosion. It’s a great range plant, but aggressive competition for cultivated crops in the garden and farm field.
How to Get Rid of Quackgrass
The standard strategy is to use non-selective herbicides (like glyphosate) to kill quackgrass when it’s actively growing. The problem is that these herbicides kill everything else, too, including your soil microbes.
We had terrible quackgrass issues when we first started gardening. Over time, we improved the soil, and now we have hardly any quackgrass.
Quackgrass soils have low calcium, low humus, and anaerobic bacteria dominating the soil biosphere. There is often hardpan, high phosphate, high potassium, and very high magnesium. Soggy soils help quackgrass thrive.
To Get Rid of Quackgrass, start by applying calcium. Good calcium sources for reducing quackgrass pressure include:
- Calcitic lime (ground limestone, calcium carbonate)
- Crushed eggshells
- Oyster shell flour
We need to improve aeration and organic matter to jump start actinomycetes molds and other healthy soil microbes. Work to improve drainage with raised beds, regrading, or adding organic matter. Top dress with compost and use soil building cover crops, especially deep rooting crops like tillage radishes, to break up compacted soil. Humate soil conditions are another tool you can use to reduce compaction and improve aeration.
Ramial wood mulch in paths and finer organic mulch in beds will help smother the grass and build organic matter. Ramial wood mulch is chopped tree tops/branches, and breaks down faster and is more biologically active than bark mulch. It’s a great breeding ground for healthy soil molds.
See “Get Rid of Your Toughest Weeds Permanently” for more information.
Forage Value
Studies indicate that quackgrass is a viable forage crop for ruminants. It’s durable and drought tolerant.
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In timothy hay mixed with quackgrass, beef cattle yield was similar, even in stands with 100% quackgrass. The feed conversion ratio was better for timothy, but animal yield from quackgrass was better than timothy.
Couch grass rhizomes added to horse feed may improve the horses coats. Dogs use the grass as a natural emetic.
Use of Quackgrass for Food
The leaves, roots and seeds of quackgrass are edible, but not the tastiest wild harvested crop. Try very young leaves as salad greens or for juicing.
Once the plant gets a little larger, the leaves become tough and fibrous. You can get a more palatable nibble by pulling out an individual stem and eating only the base. The seeds are technically edible, but there isn’t much there to eat.
The roots (rhizomes) are the stars of the plant, both for eating and for medicinal use. They are mildly sweet to the taste, with a variety of uses. Try them dried and ground into a flour to use in baking, similar to zucchini flour.
Dried and roasted, they make an herbal coffee substitute, like dandelion and chicory. The natural sweetness means the roots will ferment. They’re labor intensive to clean, but quackgrass root wine resembles plum wine in flavor.
Medicinal Use
Backyard Medicine quotes Culpeper from 1653, “Although a gardener be of another opinion, yet a physician holds half an acre of couch grass to be worth five acres of carrots twice told over.”
Harvest the roots in spring or fall to use for medicine. They’ll have the most nutrients stored when the plant tops are less actively growing. Clean the roots well, cut into short lengths, and dry.
To make tea, steep two heaping teaspoons of dried root in a mug of boiling water for ten minutes. Take three times per day. You may also use the roots to make a tincture.
The action of the herb is anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and diuretic. It is recommended as a urinary tract tonic, to treat conditions such as:
- fever
- constipation
- fluid retention
- cystitis
- urethritis
- enlarged prostate
- kidney stones
- irritable bladder
- and more
This article is for general information only. Always exercise caution when using any wild plants and make sure you have positively identified the plant. Talk to your healthcare provider if you are on any prescription medication.
Other Names
Other names for quackgrass include: couchgrass, dog grass, quickgrass, quitch, quitch grass, scutch, twitch, wheat grass, cough grass, quake grass, chandler’s grass, durfa grass, durfee grass, Dutch grass, Fin’s grass, devil’s grass and witchgrass. Also referred to as Agropyron repens and Elytrigia repens.
More Information about Wild Plants
Thanks so much for stopping by to visit. This post is #22 in the Weekly Weeder series, where share how to use common wild plants. You can view the entire series on the Herbs and Wildcrafting page.
Articles include:
- My Favorite Wildcrafting Resources
- Queen Anne’s Lace – Butterfly Host Plant and Blueberry Protector
- Grandma Called it Medicine Leaf
This article is written by Laurie Neverman. Laurie was raised on a small dairy farm in northwest Wisconsin, where she gathered wildflowers from the woods and pastures. She and her family now live in northeast Wisconsin, where they combine intentional plantings and semi-wild areas. Every season is a new opportunity to learn more about working with wild plants.
Originally posted in 2013, last updated in 2024.