It can rapidly reduce the productivity of desirable vegetation in prairie, cropland, pastureland, rangeland, and lawns. It is commonly found growing on a wide variety of soils, but it is most abundant in fine, fertile, moist soils. It has a pH tolerance range of 4.5 to 8.0 and grows vigorously on alkaline soils and will grow in saline soils. It can be most commonly found growing in moist, disturbed sites such as old fields, ditch banks, drainageways, and wet pastures. Quackgrass is a cool-season grass.
Seeds germinate either in the fall or spring.
Rhizomes actively grow in the summer, producing aerial shoots in the fall. During the first season, plants form a clump through extensive tillering and rhizome formation. During the second season of growth, other clumps develop from the rhizomes, and a patch is formed. In subsequent years, various patches will merge to form a continuous or patchy stand. Flowering occurs from May through August.