Not Mowing Frequently Enough
Mowing may seem like a no-brainer, but how you do it has a significant effect on the health and appearance of your lawn.
The right time: Mow as needed, so that cut off no more than a third of the height of your grass at a time. For example, if you set your mower at 2 inches, don’t let the grass get taller than 3 inches before mowing.
Why timing matters: Many homeowners ritually mow on weekends, effectively putting their lawns on a seven-day mowing schedule. Most of the year, weekly mowing may be fine. But in spring, when growth is vigorous, mowing may be necessary every four or five days. Longer intervals allow the grass to become too tall between cutting, stressing the lawn and making it less attractive. Keeping a well-mowed lawn is also an easy way to discourage fleas and ticks, because both pests prefer to hide out in long grass.
Weeds Dont Like A Healthy Lawn
If you have a dense lawn of healthy grass plants then you have a natural barrier between the weed seeds and the soil. If the weed seeds cant get to the soil the chances are good theyll die before ever becoming a problem weed. This means free weed control and less work!
Maintaining that all important grass barrier comes down to good lawn care:
1. If you damage the grass help it recover:
- Mow it on the high side
- Water it if needed
- Keep off it for a week or two
- Aerate the area
- Feed to speed recovery
2. If the grass disappears due to wear, dog urine, mower damage or shade then replace it before the weeds do:
- A small area just requires some seed or turf
- Larger areas may need renovating. See Repair & Renovation
- Some shady areas may be thin in the spring just sprinkle some grass seed over the whole thin area in April and it will thicken up in no time
- If the lawn has a lot of use and abuse feed before the damage starts
3. Keep your lawn in tip top shape so it recovers more easily:
- Mow frequently at least once a week in the growing season
- Mow at the right height for your grass
- Never remove more than 1/3 of the grass in any one cut
- Maintain good spot weed control
- Make sure the grass gets at least one slow-release feed a year
How To Kill Weeds Without Killing Your Lawn
Having a beautiful lawn comes at a price. Either you spend a moderate amount of money and spend a good amount of time doing it yourself, or you hire a company to handle it for about $350 per season.
Its a question of how much time are you willing to invest in it, can you properly do it or do you need help, and is it something you enjoy doing?
Regardless of if you do it yourself or hire some help, your goal is the same: Have a beautiful green lawn with no weeds. A weed free lawn comes down to prevention and a strategy for removal if they begin to grow. This blog will go over strategies on how to complete both so that you can maximize your chances of success.
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How Long To Stay Off Lawn After Weed And Feed
You should be good to use your lawn again after 24-72 hours. This give the fertilizer time to work its way into the soil. See the paragraphs below for when to water after application.
As always, we would recommend that you read the manufacturers directions included on the packaging. .
You should also not carry out aerating after weed & feed application, as it can possibly damage any new emerging grass seedlings.
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Maintain Your Lawn By Following The Necessary Lawn Care Tips
After the main problem has been taken care of, you need to ensure it does not happen again. If you know how to fix your lawn full of weeds, you only know half of what you need.
Making your lawn healthier will make the grass more robust and more competitive, not letting the weeds take root. Be sure to supplement rainfall when needed and to cut the grass at the appropriate time and length.
Lastly, remember to feed your grass with proper lawn fertilizers and weed killers. The best defense against weed infestations is healthy grass take care of your lawn, and your lawn will take care of itself.
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Lawn Care Tips Suggestions For Getting Rid Of Weeds In Your Lawn
Weeds are plants defined, not necessarily by their own intrinsic characteristics, but primarily by their relationship with humans. Gardeners themselves define weeds as those plants that interfere with their plans and compete with their preferred plants for light, water, and nutrients. Weeds are plants that grow where they are not wanted. This undesirable flora tends to be invasive and difficult to eradicate, so while its a pain to see them in a flower bed, it is particularly challenging to find them in your yard. Stressed lawn is more susceptible to weeds than a well-maintained lawn. Heres what to do to help your lawn choke out weeds when they try to grow
How Weeds In Lawns Work
To understand how to treat a lawn, its important to understand the weeds themselves. Weeds are plants, just like the grass in your lawn. Because they are plants, weeds flourish in the same conditions that a lush, green lawn would. Weeds also grow when the grass is cut low and the soil is compacted. These ideal conditions can lead to a lawn full of weeds, but there are a few different types of weeds to be aware of:
- Broadleaf weed. These weeds include dandelions, clover, ground ivy, oxalis, chickweed, thistle, dollarweed, and plantain. The leaves on these weeds are broad and flat.
- Grassy weed. These weeds include crabgrass, foxtail, annual bluegrass, and quackgrass. These weeds grow in blades and look like grass.
- Grass-like weed. These weeds include nut sedge, wild onion, and wild garlic. These weeds may look somewhat like grass, but they grow in a more tubular and hollow shape.
Its important to identify which type of weeds are growing in your yard before choosing a treatment. Some products are specifically designed for certain types of weeds and can only be used for that kind.
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Select A Proper Herbicide
Next, its time to select the proper weed treatment based on both weed classification and the stage in their life cycle. Pre-emergent herbicides tackle weed issues before they spring up. Post-emergent herbicides target established weeds.
Keep in mind that herbicides can kill whatever plant life they come into contact witheven if the label says otherwiseso handle with care. If your aim is to re-establish your lawn, as we recommend, killing your existing, thinning grass isnt a big deal, since you will need to start fresh anyway.
How To Get Rid Of Weeds In Your Lawn
Weeds can be a real pain in the neck, especially when they start to take over your lawn. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to get rid of them for good.
You can either pull them by hand, use a hoe or trowel to dig them up, or use a chemical herbicide. True Lawn Care Inc. are experts at keeping weeds out!
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Killing Lawn Weeds With Sugar
Leafy, green plants, like grass, require high amounts of nitrogen for best growth. Feeding the lawn with a commercial fertilizer provides the nitrogen, but also adds excessive salt to soil, which causes poor root growth over time. Sugar encourages grass roots to seek nitrogen in soil. This competitive use depletes soil nitrogen for weeds and helps grass flourish and crowd out pest plants.
You can use granulated or powdered sugar sprinkled lightly over your lawn or a molasses spray. to 10 gallons of water in a backpack or manual sprayer.)
Evenly coat the lawn and water it in lightly. Dont over coat or forget to water, as the sugar will attract insects and animals if left on top of the leaf blades.
The best time to start sugar weed control is spring when weeds are small and before they go to seed.
How To Get Rid Of Weeds
Learn how to kill weeds in your lawn without killing your grass.
Most lawn weeds are opportunists that take root wherever they can find the space and catch a few rays of sunlight. If you already have a weed problem on your hands but arent sure what types are popping up on your lawn, read about some of the most common types of weeds.
For those of you who are ready to fight the good fight, heres a step-by-step guide that will help you get rid of weeds when they start growing on your lawn.
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Will Fertilizer Help Weeds Grow
Fertilizers will feed both weeds and grass that are actively growing in your lawn. This is because fertilizers contain nutrients that are essential to plant life. For this reason, only apply fertilizer to your lawn after you have killed any existing weeds. If you apply fertilizer without killing weeds first, the weeds may rob most of the nutrients from the soil before your grass can absorb them.
- Most weeds will experience a growth boost if provided with fertilizer.
- Kill weeds before you apply fertilizer, to make sure you feed desirable grass only.
- Weed and Feed products combine fertilizer with weed killer, so you dont have to worry about weeds benefitting from a fertilizer application.
Because Weed and Feed products contain systemic broadleaf weed killers, they attack weeds down to the root at the same time the fertilizer in the Weed and Feed enters the soil. This ensures that the fertilizer is only taken up by the grass, while the annoying weeds wilt and die.
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Why You Can Trust Us
If you have questions about your home or lawn, Backyard Boss has answers. Our dedicated team is passionate about proper lawn care, publishing countless guides on the subject. Whether youre looking for the best lawn fertilizers, need help finding the best sprinklers for large areas, want to know about the best cheap lawn mowers, or are in search of the best grass seed, we have a guide for you.
When you consult Backyard Boss youre getting answers from the best about the best products available. For every guide we write, we conduct countless hours of research, weeding through all of the industrys top-rated products to deliver you in-depth, informative reviews and buyer tips.
Become a Backyard Boss by using our helpful guides to make your lawn look better than ever.
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Using A Lawn Weed Killer
If you have a lot of weeds to get rid of, then using the best weed killer for lawns is the most effective method of control.
Lawn herbicides are selective. This means they target weeds without killing common types of turfgrass. Theyre formulated to be effective at killing:
- Broadleaf weeds such as dandelion, clover, and chickweed
- Grassy weeds such as foxtail, quackgrass, and crabgrass
- Grass-like weeds such as nutsedge, wild onion, and wild garlic
But you still have to be careful when using them. Not all products are safe to use on all grass types. So check first to make sure your grass is recommended. And make sure the product you choose is labelled for use on the weed types growing on your lawn.
Also, stay away from non-selective weed killers containing ingredients such as glyphosate. These kill all vegetation, including your grass.
Herbicides are easy to use. Just mix the concentrate with water and add it to a good weed killer sprayer. Then make sure you soak the target weeds as you spray your lawn. The weeds should turn brown and die. But, depending on the herbicide, the time taken can vary.
Systemic weed killers are best for killing the plants to the root and preventing them from growing back. But you have to be patient when using them, as they can take from 2-4 weeks for a complete kill.
After the weeds have died you can use a rake and tilling fork to clear the leftover plant from the soil in preparation for reseeding the area or laying sod if necessary.
Mulch Your Grass Clippings
If youre tired of bagging grass while you mow, weve got good news. To help your lawn stay greener year-round, you can leave the grass clippings on your lawn. When grass clippings break down, they provide your lawn with beneficial nutrients. While you dont need to buy a new mower blade, it doesnt hurt to install a mulching blade so that the grass is cut into smaller pieces. Learn more about recycling grass clippings here.
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Use A Selective Herbicide
You want to choose a weed killer which has been engineered to kill the weed but not that the grass you have. Selective means it won’t kill all plants it’s applied to. 2,4-D is the more common selective herbicide. Using it properly has minimal risks and is extremely effective at killing weeds without killing your grass.
Selective herbicide works by entering the leaf of the weed and changing the way the plant handles nutrients. It causes it to literally grow and age itself to death. Selective herbicides typically take 4-14 days to see very strong results but can literally start to work overnight. It is an effective way to kill 99% of broadleaf weeds down to the root so that the same weed shouldnt be a problem in the future.
If you want to do this yourself the products, we recommend would be either Weed B Gon or Killex. These products can be purchased at a local hardware store such as Home Depot or Lowe’s.
Weed Control In Lawns
Weeds are plants that are growing where theyre not wanted. Weeds can take any form and can vary depending on where they grow. Weeds typically produce large numbers of seeds, assisting their spread. They are often excellent at surviving and reproducing in disturbed environments and are commonly the first species to colonise and dominate in these conditions.
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How To Beat Weeds
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Prevent weeds from taking hold Keep lawns in good condition. Remove seed heads from weeds. Take care when bringing soil or equipment into the garden.
Dig them out hand control of weeds in the early stages is the best method of all. Young weeds are easy to remove and they wont have had the chance to form seeds that can spread to other parts of the garden.
Mulching a layer of mulch will smother weeds in the garden and prevent their germination and spread in the garden and lawn.
Herbicides these are chemicals that kill weeds.
Tackling Weeds That Are Beyond Manual Removal
If your lawn is past the stage of manual weed removal, and common weeds have more or so taken over, then you have two options:
A weed spray
For cases where the weed infiltration has exceeded manual removal, take to a weed killing spray which will promote lawn growth to help it repair.
There are various herbicides available, including selective and non-selective.
Non-selective products kill most plants , whereas selective herbicides target specific weeds only.
To combat common lawn weeds such as Bindii, Creeping Oxalis, Catsear, Clover, Cudweed and Dandelion,All Purpose Weed Control is the perfect solution.
Winter Grass usually begins germinating in your soil in May, and you will start to see it emerging within your turf in late May and June and continue to spread throughout the Winter months.
Winter Grass can usually be removed very easily by hand, as it doesnt have particularly deep roots and it doesnt have any runners, just growing in simple clumps.
However, removing it by hand can be somewhat tedious so fortunately there are specifically targeted herbicide controls you can use, such asAmgrow Chemspray Winter Grass Killer.
A highly effective herbicide the 100ml package supplied is enough to threat 200m² of grass, and will break down naturally after application leaving no residue.
You will also need to check the suitability of the selected herbicide product for use on your lawn type. For example, many are not suitable for buffalo lawns.
Replace your lawn
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Not Fertilizing Your Lawn
As grass grows, it uses up nutrients in the soil. When you mow and bag up clippings, over time all the soil nutrients will get used up so you’ll need to add fertilizer. If you let clippings decompose back into the soil instead, that will help a little, but you may still need to replenish available nutrients once in a while. A soil test every year will show you how much you may need to add. When you feed your lawn is important, too.
The right time: North: Feed in fall and spring. South: Feed in spring and summer.
Why timing matters:Grass needs to be fed when it’s actively growing. For cool-season grasses this primarily means spring and fall. For warm-season grasses such as zoysia, bermuda, and St. Augustine, late spring and summer are the prime growing times.
In addition, cool-season grasses benefit from feeding in late fall , when growth has slowed but the grass is still green. The result is earlier greening and better appearance the next spring. Experts agree that this may be the most beneficial time to feed a cool-season lawn.
Warm-season lawns should not be fed in fall unless they’ve been overseeded with winter ryegrass. Also, avoid fertilizing any dormant grass, either in winter or summer the application will be wasted.
