Torpedograss Control for Turf

Torpedograss is an aggressive perennial grass with sharply pointed rhizomes that penetrate soil and spread through turf, landscape beds, and wet areas.

How to Identify Torpedograss

Rigid pointed shoots emerge from a network of white rhizomes with hard torpedo-shaped tips. Leaves are stiff and often waxy, and patches expand from underground runners.

Why It Appears in Turf

Moist soil, canals or drainage ways, contaminated fill, and fragmented rhizomes promote spread. Tillage can make infestations worse by moving viable pieces.

Make the Site Less Favorable

• Maintain the recommended mowing height and avoid scalping.
• Correct irrigation, drainage, compaction, fertility, or shade problems that thin desirable turf.
• Repair bare areas and use adapted turf cultivars to close openings where seedlings establish.

What University Research and Extension Guidance Says

Recent UF/IFAS guidance treats torpedograss as a persistent rhizomatous perennial. Suppression in tolerant turf requires carefully timed repeat applications, while severe infestations may need renovation and long follow-up because surviving rhizome fragments regrow.

Choosing a Turf Herbicide

Perennial weeds often regrow from stolons, rhizomes, tubers, bulbs, or deep roots. Select a product labeled for the desirable turf and target weed, treat actively growing plants, and plan the complete sequence of repeat applications or renovation steps allowed by the label.

Research and label note: University research may discuss treatments or timings that are not permitted on every turf species or use site. Research evidence does not expand a product label. Confirm the desirable turf species, use site, target weed, application timing, rate, adjuvant directions, and reseeding restrictions on the current label before use.

University sources: UF/IFAS Extension: 2026 Weed Management Guide for Florida Lawns.