Correct identification will be important in planning a management strategy. Unlike most weedy grasses, Italian ryegrass has auricles or claw-like structures that clasp around the stem near the base of the leaf blade. Its leaves and stems do not have hairs and tend to be glossy. Hairy chess, downy brome, and field brome have hairs on leaf sheaths while cheat lacks hairs. Little barley can often be identified by digging plants and checking around the roots for seed with numerous awns.
Annual bluegrass grows in tufts and has boat-shaped leaf tips.
Italian ryegrass occurs more frequently in Kentucky compared with the other species in this group. This may be good news since Italian ryegrass tends to be controlled more easily than the other species. A timely postemergence application of Hoelon can control Italian ryegrass, but will not control other weedy grasses that often occur in wheat in Kentucky. Achieve is a relative new postemergence wheat herbicide registered for controlling ryegrass. Limited research indicates that Achieve provides control similar that obtained with Hoelon.