Crabgrass Control
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Crabgrass spreads quickly during the warm summer months. Between midsummer and early fall, each crabgrass plant produces thousands of seeds. The first frost kills the plants, but the seeds remain dormant through the winter. When the ground temperature warms up, the seeds begin to grow.
One key to crabgrass control is making sure the seeds can’t germinate. There are several ways to prevent crabgrass seed germination.
Keep in Mind you can:
· Kill it before it comes up with a pre-emergent herbicide.
· Kill it after it comes up with a post-emergent herbicide.
· Keep it from coming back by growing a healthy lawn.
Use a Crabgrass Preventer
If crabgrass has become established in your lawn, proper lawn maintenance alone may not be enough. You'll need to use a pre-emergent herbicide as the next line of defense. A pre-emergent herbicide is a crabgrass killer that works by eliminating the crabgrass seedlings as they germinate. When applying the pre-emergent herbicide, always follow the manufacturer's directions. Timing is essential when using pre-emergent herbicides. Apply the herbicide when the ground temperature rises above 60 degrees Fahrenheit, usually when you notice shrubs blooming and trees budding. I would not suggest applying herbicide to newly seeded or newly sodded lawns.
Use a Post-Emergent Herbicide
If the crabgrass seeds have already sprouted and crabgrass has appeared in your grass, the pre-emergent herbicide will do no good. Post Emergence weed control products are needed, which control crabgrass after it's already germinated.
Post-emergent herbicides work by killing the crabgrass plants. Apply these herbicides only to the crabgrass that's visible. Read and follow the manufacturer's directions on the product carefully. The amount of post-emergent herbicide that you can safely apply to your lawn depends on the type of grass you have. Apply the herbicide on a calm, sunny day. Rainfall shortly after application will wash the product away before the crabgrass has a chance to absorb it. Post-emergent herbicides work best when temperatures are 60 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. These higher temperatures cause the plants to absorb the herbicide quickly, but if the temperatures are too cool or weather conditions are too cloudy, the product is likely to be ineffective. If the crabgrass plants are fairly well established, you'll need to apply the herbicide twice. Treat the affected areas again four to seven days after the first application. Follow the manufacturer's instructions.
Prevent Crabgrass in the Future
The best defense against crabgrass is a healthy lawn. Unwanted grasses and weeds simply can't get the necessary toehold to thrive in a robust stand of grass. Use a mower to mow your lawn at frequent intervals to keep the grass a fairly consistent length. Crabgrass requires plenty of light to germinate, so keep the grass as thick and long as possible to create shade near the soil surface. Cutting your lawn too close will produce patches where crabgrass and other weeds can germinate. Remove no more than 1/3 of the grass blade at a time when mowing. Removing more not only allows more light to reach weeds but also can injure the grass.
Water established lawns in long, heavy intervals rather than shallow, frequent ones. Watering on an irregular schedule and only when needed promotes deeper root growth that's essential to healthy turfgrass. Remember that most established lawns require about 1 inch of water per week from rain or irrigation. If your lawn is newly seeded, water in shallow, more frequent intervals until the grass gets established.
Manual weed removal may not be practical for large lawns and gardens or for areas overgrown with many weeds. In these cases, you may choose to use herbicides. When you apply them properly, herbicides are very effective at eliminating weeds. Herbicides are available in two main categories. Finding the best weed killer depends on how you plan to deal with the weeds.
Systemic herbicides enter the plant through the roots and leaves and move throughout the inside of the plant.
Contact herbicides kill lawn weeds from the outside in. They attack the exposed parts of the plant, killing the weed by reducing its ability to feed itself through photosynthesis.
Within these two categories, herbicides may also be selective or nonselective.
Selective herbicides, when applied as directed by the manufacturer, kill only certain plants. A good example of a broadleaf herbicide is a lawn weed killer designed specifically for the removal of broadleaf plants. These products will remove the weeds without killing the established lawn in which the weeds grow
Nonselective herbicides kill plants without discretion, meaning all plants they come into contact with. If you use nonselective weed killer on clover growing in a lawn, it'll kill the clover, but it'll also kill any grass it contacts.
Finally, herbicides are either pre-emergent or post-emergent. The timing of pre and post-emergent herbicide application is critical. Applying them too late or too early is a waste of time and herbicide:
Pre-emergent herbicides are designed for application before the targeted weed germinates and are an effective, preventative method for controlling weeds. Crabgrass preventer is a good example. Pre-emergent weed killers establish a chemical barrier that won’t kill established plants but will prevent weeds from successfully growing. The protective barrier breaks down in six to eight weeks, so use of pre-emergents requires proper timing to be effective; apply them very early in the season. Be aware that pre-emergent weed control products can harm some desirable ornamental plants and turfgrasses. As always, read and follow the manufacturer's instructions.
Post-emergent herbicides are designed to attack weeds that are already established and growing. An example of a post-emergent is a herbicide you use as a crabgrass killer once the weed has sprouted in your lawn. All of the contact weed killers are post-emergents. Apply post-emergents later in the growing season, after weeds are established but before they have gone to seed.
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