Landscape Chemical Annual Weed Control
Chemical control of weeds, such as crabgrass, in the landscape is accomplished with the use of a nonselective postemergent herbicide such as glyphosate. A 1 percent concentration of glyphosate will kill many annual weeds, such as crabgrass, and is made by mixing 1.7 ounces of glyphosate with 1 gallon of water in a garden spray tank. Other types of annual weeds may require additional applications of summer lawn weed killer or a slightly stronger concentrated mixture as indicated on the product label.
For any chemical control method, be sure to follow the instructions on the package label. Keep in mind that some herbicides, including glyphosate, can harm desired plants as well. Avoid spraying on windy days and don’t allow the chemicals to run off into waterways.
References
Why Is Crabgrass Bad
Crabgrass is an incredibly sturdy weed that can thrive in sweltering, dry climates. A single crabgrass plant can produce up to 150,000 seeds! Its hard to kill, and it spreads quickly, wreaking havoc on the turfgrass.
Turfgrasses are the beautiful, fine grasses like Bermuda, Kentucky Bluegrass, and Bentgrass. These turfgrasses require regular upkeep like mowing and watering.
Additionally, turfgrass typically needs more water to survive and is more fragile than crabgrass. As the crabgrass spreads and takes root across your yard, its roots will begin to choke out and steal nutrients from the turfgrass.
The results are not good:
- Crabgrass is messy looking: Crabgrass is not an attractive plant and will make your yard look weedy and uneven.
- Crabgrass dies and leaves your yard looking patchy: Crabgrass is an annual plant meaning it dies and doesnt come back. When it dies, it can leave your yard looking patchy.
- Crabgrass doesnt protect your yard from mud and erosion: As crabgrass dies, it also leaves parts of your yard exposed, so youll track more mud through your yard and into your house.
How Often Can You Use Lawn Weed Killers
This all depends on the weedkiller being used. Each manufacturer is different so do read the label.
Our recommended weed killers Resolva and Weedol suggest only one treatment per year but if you use each one once that allows you two full lawn treatments in a year. This only applies to weed killer for the coverage of the whole lawn NOT ready to use for spot treatments.
My advice would be a maximum of 2 treatments per annum using two different weed killers with different active ingredients. Further, you are only likely to treat this often in the first and possibly second year to get rid of established weeds. Once you get in to subsequent years a treatment in September will be the most youll need if you do some weed control with a spot weed killer during spring and summer. If you have good lawn care practices youll find you wont need a complete lawn treatment for several years. I give my lawn a full treatment about every 3 years!
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Summer Lawn Weed Control Tips And Tricks
As you can probably tell, weeds like to take advantage of every opportunity for attack and control. Their biggest target is a weak lawn that lacks nutrients, lacks drainage, and is thin and stressed. Add to that some heat, humidity, and the slower growth of your lawn during the summer months, and summer lawn weeds see a party.
Your biggest defense against summer lawn weeds is a healthy, happy lawn. This is a lawn that is mowed regularly to 3.5 to 4 inches high has the proper balance of nutrients via regular fertilization receives longer, infrequent irrigation and is balanced with aeration and overseeding at least once annually. Youre trying to create the best environment for your lawn to grow, not letting weed seeds germinate and emerge.
But weeds can still occasionally break through. While pre-emergent control can help with crabgrass, the other weeds on this list can be tackled with a post-emergent control. But this is best delivered by a professional, and heres why: A weed like spotted spurge, for instance, has thousands of fine hairs on its leaves, meaning herbicides wont adequately stick to it. This is a summer lawn weeds greatest defense mechanism. So lawn care professionals will use specialty herbicides delivered with a specific type of nozzle that reduces the products particle size, enabling it to better stick to the weed.
Managing Weeds In Warm Season Lawns
Factsheet | HGIC 2310 | Jul 13, 2022 | |
Bermudagrass, centipedegrass, zoysiagrass, and St. Augustinegrass are the most popular warm-season turfgrasses grown in South Carolina. Warm-season refers to the fact that they prefer the warm temperatures of spring and summer to grow. In the winter months, they do not actively grow, but become dormant and the foliage turns tan.
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Common Lawn Weeds And How To Get Rid Of Them
Even the best-tended lawns come under attack from common weeds. Weed seeds float in on the wind, creeping weeds claim more territory, and weeds you thought you pulled quietly continue to grow. How well your lawn copes with the onslaught depends on the weeds involved, the response you choose and your lawns overall health. Understanding common lawn weeds and the options available to fight them can help you successfully combat the invasion.
To help simplify weed defense, weve charted 10 common lawn weeds, including their characteristics, type and how they spread, and most importantly- how to eliminate them. Weeds, like ornamental garden plants, can be annuals or perennials. Annual weeds, such as crabgrass, complete their entire life cycle in a single growing season, and then die, leaving seeds behind to continue the legacy. Perennial weeds, such as dandelions, come back year after year from their roots, and distribute new seeds to boot. Weeds can also be grass-like, broadleaf or sedge. Choosing the right weed control product requires understanding the weed you want to fight and its stage of growth. Pre-emergent weed controls, sometime called preventers, work to keep weed seeds from germinating and developing. Post-emergent weed controls fight weeds that have already germinated and emerged from the soil.
How To Control Summer Weeds
In addition to a healthy water and fertilizer schedule, there are other ways of controlling summer weeds. Pull the ones you can easily see by hand. For the more grassy weeds, herbicides may be your best solution.
For weeds that have already established in your yard, use post-emergent weed control. There are selective herbicides that are formulated to treat certain broadleaf weeds, and non-selective herbicides that are great for grassy weeds. No matter what formula you use, be sure to follow specific label instructions to target the type of weeds youre dealing with.
For more specific tips on controlling the weeds in your lawn this summer, contact Cardinal Lawns today.
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Killing Crabgrass With Baking Soda
Like vinegar, baking soda kills plants by drying them out. Baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, increases salinity on the plants surface, drawing water out of it. The leaves lose moisture and eventually die.
You can apply the baking soda directly to the plant, making sure to cover it thoroughly across leaves, stalks, and the center. I recommend spraying water on the area first, as that will help the baking soda stick.
Be very careful not to get baking soda on any surrounding plants or grass you want to keep alive. You may want to cover those plants while you work.
What Kills Weeds Permanently
The surest way to kill weeds permanently is by manual removal or the application of chemical weed killers and herbicides. Weeds can also be killed via manual removal, using heat, crowding them out, and sometimes by drought.
Weeds can be quite stubborn so its important that youre thorough when getting rid of them. One sure way to permanently destroy these unwanted plants is through the application of chemical weed killers or herbicides.
When applying herbicide to weeds, please ensure that it is focused on the intended target so you dont end up harming other plants, with that said lets take a look at some of the best herbicides for weed control.
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Conditions For Using Lawn Weed Killer
- Ensure you have fertilised the lawn beforehand to maximise the effect of the weed killer
- When moisture is available in the soil. You can harm the grass in drought conditions
- When it is unlikely to rain for at least 6 hours
- On dry grass. Wet grass will dilute your weedkiller
- In calm weather wind will blow spray even from a watering can sprinkle bar
- Avoid frost or freezing conditions which may occur in spring
- Avoid strong sunshine
- In summer it is best to apply weed killer in the cooler evenings
- Any time after fertilising. Let the feed kick in then treat the weeds to get a better weed kill
- After mowing. Leave at least 2 days if applying liquid lawn weed killer to the whole lawn. Dont mow for a further 3 days
- When mowing prior to weed treatment dont mow close. If you mow close and chop the leaves off the weeds there is nothing left to spray!
Solarize Crabgrass Patches In The Lawn
Solarization is a natural way of killing weeds like crabgrass by covering them with clear, transparent plastic or tarp during hot weather to desiccate and destroy them with the suns heat. You can solarize crabgrass where there are large patches of it growing in your lawn.
Heres how:
- Mow the lawn short in areas with crabgrass patches.
- Water the area properly at a depth of up to 2 feet.
- Cover the crabgrass patch with clear plastic.
- Secure the edges of the plastic with heavy soil to trap all the heat underneath.
- Leave it for 4 to 8 weeks for solar heat to destroy crabgrass.
- Remove the plastic cover and till the area for reseeding.
Solarization can kill crabgrass for good without the need to use chemicals because it uses natural heat from the sun. As such, it is a highly effective way of getting rid of crabgrass in the summer because it is the season when the sun is at its hottest.
The method is also very effective if you want to kill crabgrass before planting new grass seed because it can kill all the vegetation and crabgrass seed in the soil before they even germinate.
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How To Prevent Lawn Weeds
The best way to prevent lawn weed issues is to practice excellent lawn care methods. This means mowing high, fertilizing lawns regularly, removing thatch, aerating lawns, and overseeding them. Healthy turfgrass with a robust root system prevents weeds from taking root. Additionally, keeping grass longer prevents sunlight from allowing weed seeds to germinate and sprout.
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Treat And Kill Lawn Weeds In The Fall
One of the best things you can do for your lawn is to treat weeds in the fall. Whether you’re tending warm- or cool-season turf, tackling weeds as autumn’s cooler days arrive can help you create a lush and lovely lawn. Fall treatments knock out both annual and perennial weeds and can actually be the key to killing established perennial invaders such as dandelion and clover.
Types of Weeds
Winter annuals, a type of annual weed, germinate in late summer to early fall. They grow in fall, through winter warm spells, and into early spring. These weeds set seed in mid- to late spring, just before daytime air temperatures jump. Examples of winter annual weeds include Henbit, Annual Bluegrass, Chickweed, corn Speedwell and Lawn Burrweed .
When you treat your lawn for weeds in autumn, you’ll target fall-germinating weeds, such as Henbit and Chickweed . Dandelion also germinates in fall, although compared to spring, the number of seeds germinating is generally less.
Fall is also an excellent time to control perennial weeds, because that’s the time of year when plants begin a process of winter food storage, shifting internal foodstuffs from leaves to roots. If you treat perennial weeds with herbicide in fall, the chemical moves from leaves to roots, essentially killing the weed at the root.
Treatment & Timing
Application timing will vary depending on where you live. In more northern locations, treat lawns as early as Labor Day warmest areas may apply as late as October.
Problem Weeds
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Mowing Properly And Regularly
Your grass should be cut every week during the Spring, and at least every ten days during the summer. Mulching the grass back into the lawn helps spread grass seed and increase turf thickness. Your blades need to be sharpened yearly and never cut the grass more than 1/3 of its total length. Every time your mow your lawn, you also mow the weeds which takes them out of the picture of a couple days, but dont forget that the roots are still alive and well and they will try to grow back.
How To Remove Creeping Charlie
If you are looking for a way to organically tackle Creeping Charlie, prepare yourself for a workout. One of the most effective ways to rid your lawn is to remove it by either aggressive raking or pulling it out by hand. Over time, this will essentially prevent the weed from going through photosynthesis, thus depleting its storage supply.This would be a good time to then spread a mixture of borax and water, which according to research has proven to be effective when attempting to selectively control Creeping Charlie. The suggested ratio for the mixture is 1 ounce of borax dissolved in 2-3 gallons of water. Since borax contains an ingredient called boron, which in large doses can be toxic to grass, it is not recommended to do this process more than once a year.As always, if you are looking for a non-organic option, there are a range of commercial herbicides which effectively treat Creeping Charlie. When looking for a broadleaf weed killer to address Creeping Charlie it is important to use one that contains a combination of dicamba, MCPP/MCPA and 2-4-D, for the best results.
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How To Use Chemical Weed Killer On Lawns
What to consider before applying weed killer to your lawns
- Ensure you have about 12 hours of dry weather forecast
- Avoid applying in windy conditions
- Apply weed killer to lawns using a knapsack sprayer
- Walk at approx 1m per second applying diluted spray at full pressure
- Swing the lance back & forth ensuring it is not raised more than 15cm off the ground
Precautions For New Lawns
It is best not to apply any herbicides during the first year after seeding or sodding a lawn. Besides, during this first year, there may be no weeds that need controlling. Simply mow and bag the clippings for any minor weed problems.
However, if weeds have become significant, postemergence herbicides can be applied to newly seeded lawns at ½ the rate, but only after the lawn has been mowed four times. If the lawn is to be over-seeded after postemergence herbicide treatment, wait three to four weeks to reduce injury to the new seedlings, depending on the product. If seeding after applying a preemergence herbicide, wait at least nine weeks but read the product label for the exact amount of time to wait after application before seeding.
In recently sodded areas, preemergence herbicides can be applied following signs of new growth, at ½ the rate recommended for established grasses. Postemergence herbicides should not be applied until the turfgrass is visibly growing and spreading. Use ½ the recommended rate until after the turf has been mowed three times. For most postemergence herbicide products do not make applications to established warm-season lawns during the spring green-up period. Wait until the lawn is fully greened before treating.
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Overseed Every Spring & Fall
Your lawn is an organic entity which means it grows and it eventually dies. Overseeding your lawn is the process of spreading grass seed across your property. For best results, seed right after you aerate your lawn and use the same type of grass seed that your lawn currently is. Water generously and your lawn will thank you!
Common Lawn Weeds That Appear In Spring
There are a variety of common lawn weeds to deal with, which can be categorized according to leaf shapebroadleaf weeds vs. grassy weeds. Or, they can be categorized by their seasonal growth habitannual weeds vs. perennial weeds.
The types of weeds you fight will vary depending on the region where you livesome are more problematic in warm growing zones, while others are unknown except in colder regions with freezing winters. Here are some of the more common weeds you may encounter beginning in spring:
Crabgrass :Crabgrass gets its name from the leaves, which form a tight, crab-like circle. This annual weed tends to appear in weak or bare areas of a lawn. Both over- and under-watering favor its growth, as does consistently mowing the lawn too short. Crabgrass can be treated with pre-emergence herbicides in the spring, which will keep the seeds from sprouting, or they can be treated with post-emergent herbicides as the weeds are noticed, beginning in spring. Check with your local extension office or a reputable garden center to fine-tune timing in your region. Crabgrass clumps can also be removed by hand, which is best done when the lawn is quite moist.
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