Use White Vinegar Direct
While its a crucial ingredient in many of our natural weed killer recipes, spraying vinegar on plants is useful in and of itself. While household vinegar is helpful, we recommend using a product with 20% acetic acid.
Vinegar will kill any plant it comes into contact with, so be very careful where youre spraying.
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
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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This method is a cost effective way to kill weeds in a small lawn by using weedkiller concentrate mixed with water in a watering can.
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What Is Lawn Maintenance And Why Is It Important
Lawn care is crucial, despite the fact that it seems like a difficult chore for most homeowners. Effective lawn maintenance increases air quality while keeping their home’s appearance. Grass maintenance guarantees that their lawn can survive the challenges from weeds and insects that might harm it. By having a thorough lawn care and maintenance regime, you can ensure that your customersâ flowers, herbs, grass, and hedges are disease-resistant. Furthermore, lawn maintenance ensures that their turf can withstand inclement weather and that their lawn is always in top condition.
What To Do About: Thinning Grass And Bare Spots
Weather extremes, playing with kids, and horseplay with the dog are all examples of ordinary activities that can cause the grass to thin. You may need to plant fresh sod or extensively seed the afflicted area, depending on the size of the barren areas. Make sure the grass treatment you use is prepared specifically for the environment and grass type. If the grass is thin in certain areas, overseeding it in the fall might help it recover before winter arrives. If you want to overseed the grass, start at least 45 days before the first frost of the season.
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What To Do About: Mowing
Always mow the lawn according to best practices. The first of which is that you should mow based on grass height rather than having a pre-scheduled day to tend the lawn. Mowing heights differ depending on the time of the year and the species of grass your customers have, and should be gradually increased over multiple sessions. Remove no more than one-third of the blade length at a time, or you risk impeding above- and below-ground development. Use the correct grass equipment for the job, based on the size of their lawn and their goals, to make activities easier and less time-consuming.
Make Sure You Don’t Do This
Often people turn to the internet asking how do you kill weeds and they come across several solutions like:
1. RoundUp4. Salt Water5. Gasoline
While its true that these methods will kills the weeds, do not spray these on your weeds if they are within your lawn. These methods will work, but they will kill EVERYTHING as a result.We have people call every year asking I sprayed weed killer on my lawn and I have white/yellow patches everywhere now. They used a product listed above and that’s why it killed everything!
Only use these products on driveways, back alleys, rock patios or gravel pads where there isn’t any grass!
The good news is that you can kill weeds within your grass if you follow the instructions below!
We will break this down into weed prevention to stop weeds from showing up in the first place and weed control to tackle the weeds if theyve already arrived at the party.
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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 to ensure new life is constantly being replenished within the soil. 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 as your lawn will thank you!
They Get The Expertise Of A Professional Lawn Care Service
A professional has the skills and understanding to spot problems with their lawn far more quickly than they could. You can give them a remedy that will bring their grass back to life much faster than they can via trial and error because of your knowledge. Having the essential expertise and knowledge may also help them save time instead of wasting it experimenting with alternative solutions all the time.
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To Mow Or Not To Mow: Your Questions Are Answered
Mowing is an important part of a healthy lawn. And doing it right can keep your lawn happy and maximize the effectiveness of lawn treatments. Regular mowing not only improves its appearance, but also helps it grow thicker, choking out weeds. If mowing before or after treating your lawn is still confusing to you, never fear. Here at Natural Green, were happy to answer your questions about proper timing and mowing techniques to help you take better care of your lawn. Its what we do here in Central and Southern Maryland, and were always happy to share our knowledge about what your grass likes best. Wed love to be a part of helping you achieve the lawn of your dreams in Central or Southern Maryland. Get started today with a free quote.Together, well prepare a customized plan so you can have the best lawn on the block.
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!
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Can I Implement Weed Control On My Own
Now that you understand how these products work and what you can expect out of them, you might be wondering whether you can just implement a DIY program. After all, there are weed control products sold at the big box stores.
While theres certainly nothing stopping you from handling weed control on your own, youre not going to get as good results as you would with a professional program for several key reasons.
- Product effectiveness: The weed control products sold at the store to homeowners are simply not as good as the professional-grade products used by a licensed technician.
- Being able to mix products properly: Many times your professional lawn care technician will mix products together in order to give you the best possible combination. Homeowners likely dont know which products to mix nor would they want to be dealing with mixing product at their home. There are also some additives that professionals will use at times for better results. For instance, Master Lawn adds surfactants, which is a wetting agent that helps materials not to bead up and roll off of leaf blades. This enhances results for some weeds.
Cut The Grass Regularly
If you do nothing else to your lawn, just cut the grass regularly.
This is by far the most important part of lawn care.
Mowing the lawn regularly prevents the grass from growing too tall. Grass has to grow, and if it cant grow upwards it will be forced to grow sideways, creating new shoot and new grass leaves. This is what creates a thick, dense, lush lawn.
If you cut the grass every 6 weeks with a rusty old lawnmower youll have patchy grass that goes brown every time you cut it. This is the type of environment that weeds thrive in.
So cut the grass at least every 10 days between April and September.
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Relieve Soil Compaction By Aerating
Compacted soil means nutrient-deficient soil.
Soil compaction occurs when the lawn is used often. This might be the kids playing on it or the dog using it to do their business or using a certain part of the lawn regularly. Goalposts, washing lines or where the postman walks to get to your front door are all good examples.
The particles of soil beneath the grass get pressed together over time which squeezes out air and water. It also prevents air, water and other nutrients from getting into the soil so the grass cant consume them, produce food and grow.
Again, the result is a patchy lawn, sometimes with complete bald spots of hard soil.
Weeds love this kind of environment!
Aeration involves either spiking the surface of the lawn or removing cores of turf via hollow-tining .
This creates space in the soil to allow water, oxygen and nutrients to penetrate. It also relaxes the soil, making it easier for roots to grow and establish themselves, resulting in a healthy lawn full of healthy grass.
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Why Do People Want A Weed Free Lawn
There are two main reasons why people want to see green grass and not much else on their turf. The first is an emotion reason: they look bad. People dont want yellow heads sticking everywhere from dandelions, painful shrubs growing up from thistles, bunchy short plants growing like clover, and invasive purple eyesores like creeping bellflower spouting up everywhere. Weeds are essentially like acne natural yet unwanted.
The second reason to go weed free is that weeds are invasive by nature they want to grow as much at possible at the expense of other plants around it. Its a dawg eat dawg world when it comes to lawn weeds. Whenever a drop of water, nutrient, or beam of sunlight comes down its a big competition for who gets it. Your grass roots are going head to head with the roots of weeds. If you let nature do its course, unfortunately the weeds will win. They are a yearly problem for millions of homeowners everywhere. Weeds also reproduce much more rapidly than your lawn. A single dandelion can produce up to 200 seeds, which is potential for 200 more dandelions. Your grass cannot thrive so long as weeds are there stealing nutrients from your turf.The only way to have flourishing grass is to minimize the potential for weeds and do it without harming your lawn.
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Use A Weedkiller Concentrate To Treat The Whole Lawn
Its rare that your lawn will be taken over by just one type of weed. Usually, if theres a lot of one type of weed, there will be plenty of others too.
Spot spraying in a situation like this is futile. Treating the whole lawn with a selective weedkiller concentrate is the only option.
Products like Weedol Lawn Weedkiller Concentrate are designed to be diluted in water and applied using either a knapsack sprayer or watering can.
When using a weedkiller concentrate, be sure to read the instructions and mix the concentrate accurately.
If you make it too weak, youll not kill the weeds. Make it too strong and you could kill the grass as well as the weeds.
Weed Control Saves Time And Protects Your Investment
As a homeowner or business owner, youve invested in your lawn and landscape. Weed control applications can help you protect your investment. Weeds suffocate plants and grass as they take away vital nutrients from them. Weed control treatments save you time and keep you from having to spend your valuable time pulling weeds.
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When You Should Spray Your Weeds
The best time to treat weeds is when they are actively growing. This means you should start spraying and treating in the spring, usually sometime in April. Youll have to maintain your weed-killing regiment into late September/early October.
Its best not to jump the gun when using weed killers. Theres a lot of weeds in early spring that wont surface until later on in the year. Most weed killers are contact sprays: The treatment will only be effective if they make direct contact with the weeds. Youre better off waiting until May: By that time most of the weeds will have emerged, making them much easier to dispose of.
What To Do About: Watering
Lawns thrive when they are watered appropriately. Depending on the location, be wary of over- and under-watering. Shallow, frequent irrigation promotes shallow roots that are vulnerable to drought and other stresses. You can cut consumption, save money, and produce healthier, more robust grass by using smart watering methods and water-conserving grass types. Watering and other lawn duties may naturally change month to month as you follow your yearly lawn care plan, but you should constantly take into account what’s going on with the grass.
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How To Control Weeds In Your Lawn
The first time my lawn erupted into a sea of purple violets, I actually rather liked it I tend to evaluate a plants beauty first before sealing its doom by calling it a weed. For the most part, however, gardeners prefer for their turf grass and their flowers to stay in their respective places and for weeds to stay out of the picture altogether.
Try Diy Organic Weed Killers
- Boiling water is a natural way to kill weeds. Heat water to at least 200 degrees and pour directly onto the weeds. This technique of weed prevention may work best with weeds growing in gravel or between paving stones.
- You may be able to prevent, control or kill certain types of weeds using products around your house such as dish soap, epsom salt or apple cider vinegar.
Tip: Be safe. Use a teakettle for boiling, heating and pouring water.
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Identify Pest Problems Correctly
- Inspect your lawn often to detect pests and other problems early.
- Plant damage may not be caused by pests. Plants can be injured by poor growing conditions, poor maintenance practices, or environmental problems .
- You need to identify the pest to look up information that will help you decide how to control the pest and to prevent further problems. See Pest control tips for information about specific insect pests.
- Beneficial insects may be mistaken for pests. For example, ants are sometimes considered pests because they make visible mounds on lawns. But they do not attack the grass.
- In a healthy lawn, beneficial insects can keep pest insects in check. For more information on beneficial insects, see Understanding your lawn’s lifecycle.
- If you are having trouble, your local garden centre may be able to help you in identifying a pest, and there are many good sources of information on the Internet or in reference books.
