Crabgrass control is of chief importance as the days grow warmer and traditional lawn grasses are stressed due to heat and drought.  This is the time when insects, pests and weeds attack.  There are few things more frustrating to a homeowner striving for the perfect lawn than a weed that won’t go away.  Crabgrass is particularly difficult to eradicate, but there are some surefire ways to rid your lawn of this weed.

What is Crabgrass?

Crabgrass is an annual weed that affects lawns in cool-season areas, particularly the Midwest.  It starts growing when the soil temperature is 60 degrees for about a week at a time.  It flowers and sets seed, and has tremendous spreading capacity.

An Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure

This is true with lawns as well with people!  Maintaining a healthy lawn is half the battle.  If your grass is healthy, it will be able to out-compete many weeds, including crabgrass.  First of all, mow your grass as high as you can get away with for that grass species.  Mowing high will encourage healthy lawn grass growth and will, literally, shade out the weed seeds that might be lurking on top of the soil, including crabgrass.  Much research conducted by agricultural extension agencies and university agronomy programs has shown that weed problems in lawns are directly related to the mowing height of the grass.

Water the lawn deeply and infrequently to encourage deep root growth in your lawn grass, which will make your lawn more drought-tolerant.  That will, in turn, during times of stress, allow your lawn to better out-compete weeds.

Do not fertilize the lawn during the heat of the summer.  The lawn will already be stressed, and unable to take up most of the nitrogen.  You would essentially be fertilizing the crabgrass at that point.

One of the most effective ways to keep crabgrass out of the lawn is to use a preemergence herbicide.  There are plenty of synthetic preemergence herbicides available.  That is what “weed and feed” is.  Corn gluten is an organic preemergence herbicide, and is becoming more widely available.  If you have a Farmer’s Supply store near, they are most likely to have corn gluten in stock. Preemergence herbicides only work if you apply them before the weed sprouts-hence the name “pre-emergence.”  You will need to put down these herbicides in the early spring before crabgrass seeds begin to germinate.

You can also control crabgrass with post-emergence herbicide.  “Roundup” is a brand of post-emergence herbicide that is considered “broad spectrum.”  That means it kills weeds, grass, basically anything that crosses its path.  You will need to use a more selective post-emergence herbicide on crabgrass so that you will not injure your lawn.  The best option, if you have a bad crabgrass problem, and are following proper lawn care processes, is to have a lawn care professional apply post-emergence herbicide for you.  They will be licensed, and will know what to apply and how to do it safely.

Crabgrass is an annoyance and an eyesore, but it is possible to acheive a level of crabgrass control within your lawn, if not complete eradication.

Before you can remove lawn weeds, you have to know how to identify them. Most of us are familiar with dandelions, ground ivy and chickweed, but what about the dozens more found in yards all across America. Interestingly, according to the Gardening Trends Research Report, weed and insect control are the top two activities American’s planned for their lawns in 2007. If you are one of the Americans who wanted a weed-free lawn, then deciding what types of lawn weeds you can live with and without, will save time and energy. For example, in past decades of American horticulture, clover was an enviable ground cover, but then, people began citing clover as a common lawn weed because it did not look like regular grass. Today, we have come full circle, as this “common lawn weed” is making a come-back as many landscapers and gardeners have realized that not only is clover’s evergreen-color pretty to look at, but it elevates the nitrogen levels in the soil, camouflages other weeds and non-grass plants, and it is disease resistant.  Consequently, clover is now being purchased at seed supply store and garden supply catalogs by many Americans.

To help you in your quest for a weed free lawn, become familiar with the types of lawn weeds that grow in your region by looking for the identifiers listed below.

There are many common lawns weeds that are found coast to coast in America. Talk to your local agricultural extension department to find out what is prevalent in your area.