Nature’s Highlighter: How to Use Morning Dew to Identify Bermudagrass and Buffalograss

By Teresa Roberts

Monday, June 22, 2026

Article by Ross Braun, Ph.D., Kansas State University

Bermudagrass and buffalograss can be excellent turfgrass species options for Kansas for home lawns, golf courses, sports fields, and many other uses. Like zoysiagrass, they have excellent summer performance and can conserve water inputs compared with cool-season grasses. However, like any turfgrass species, they can become weeds when they show up where they were not intentionally planted or where they are not desired. How can you tell if you have some bermudagrass or buffalograss infesting your tall fescue or zoysiagrass on your properties? Well, the first step is to scout on a dewy morning to observe differences in dew on the leaf blades.

If you walk your property at dawn, you will notice that patches of bermudagrass or buffalograss practically look painted white with moisture, while the surrounding zoysiagrass, Kentucky bluegrass, or tall fescue appears notably drier. This visual contrast is a perfect, built-in scouting tool that relies entirely on the plant’s leaf morphology and canopy architecture.

Figure 1. The lighter colored plots with more dew in this picture are buffalograss and bermudagrass. The darker green squares are Zoysiagrass and the darker green grass in the foreground is tall fescue.
Figure 2. Zoysiagrass in bottom left, bermudagrass with more dew in bottom right. Mowing height is 2.5 inches (similar to a home lawn or golf course rough height).
Figure 3. Bermudagrass (lighter color due to excessive dew) in the foreground and tall fescue mixed with Kentucky bluegrass in the background.

 

Here is a breakdown of why these grasses interact with morning moisture so differently.

The Dew Catchers: Bermudagrass and Buffalograss

When condensation forms overnight, these two species hold water high and tight at the top of the turf canopy, creating a bright silver-white sheen.

Both buffalograss and bermudagrass have a very specific morphological trait: fine, microscopic hairs (pubescence) along the leaf blades. These hairs are often on both sides of the leaf blades as well. Whereas, zoysiagrass is often less hairy and usually only on the top side of the leaf blade, and most cool-season turfgrasses (tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass) lack hairs completely. These hairs on bermudagrass and buffalograss act like a net, trapping thousands of tiny water droplets and preventing them from merging into heavier drops. Because the droplets stay small and suspended on the leaf surface, they catch the morning light brilliantly.

Figure 4. Close-up of a buffalograss plant in the afternoon (no dew), notice the excessive hairs on the leaf blades.


The Quick Dew Drainers: Zoysiagrass, Tall Fescue, and Kentucky Bluegrass

On the other side of the spectrum, these grasses have structural traits that actively encourage water to shed rather than sit, making them look darker and drier in the early hours.

Tall fescue is characterized by its much wider, coarser leaf blades. When dew forms, the wide surface area causes the tiny droplets to quickly pool together into larger, heavier drops. Because the leaf lacks the dense hairs of buffalograss and bermudagrass, gravity takes over, and the water simply slides down into the lower canopy. The same happens with Kentucky bluegrass, which has smoother leaf blades (no hairs) like tall fescue and finer (skinnier) leaf texture than tall fescue.

Zoysiagrass has highly rigid leaf blades that stay upright (i.e., more vertical). This stiffness, combined with a smoother leaf surface (less hairs), means it doesn’t cradle small water droplets like bermudagrass or buffalograss. The water runs down the stiff structural veins of the leaf and disappears below the visible canopy line.

Figure 5. All four pictures were taken on the same morning and within 10 ft of each other. Notice the dew on the bermudagrass plants in the upper left corner and in the left side of the upper right picture. Minimal dew is present on the Zoysiagrass and tall fescue plants.


Using Dew to Your Advantage!

Once the sun comes up and the morning dew evaporates, a creeping patch of bermudagrass or buffalograss can easily camouflage itself within a tall fescue or zoysiagrass. Trying to scout and spot it in the dry afternoon can be difficult and requires getting down on your hands and knees to inspect collar regions and ligules and leaf blades more closely.

Getting up at dawn on a dewy morning will simplify your scouting efforts. Let the dew do the hard work for you! These dew differences can be observed in both high and lower mowing heights. So you can use this to your advantage in higher heights of cut (i.e., home lawn or golf course rough heights), but also at lower heights of cut (i.e., golf course fairway or sports field heights). Those bright, glistening patches will serve as a glowing map of exactly where your warm-season invaders are spreading, allowing you to accurately target your control efforts before the problem gets out of hand. Flag these areas or use marking paint to outline where you need to control.

Figure 6. This area is mowed at 0.625 inches (i.e., golf course fairway/sports field height). Notice the zoysiagrass in the foreground and bermugrass in the background (upper half) of the picture. Both at the same lower mowing height.
Figure 7. Large buffalograss area (right side) with dew with tall fescue and zoysiagrass in the background.
Figure 8. Tall fescue (with minimal dew) surrounding a golf tee box. Notice the lighter colored dewy patches in the tall fescue, this is bermudagrass infestations.

 

Good luck and happy scouting!