How do lawns get so weedy? When lawns have disturbed soil, it brings the weed seeds to the surface and then establish themselves in your lawn. The seeds can also blow in from neighboring areas, once again establishing themselves in your lawn.
How to Control Lawn Weeds
Weeds are an unsightly bane on all of those who care deeply about their lawns. This article will provide you with all the information you need to prevent and remove weeds to keep your lawn beautiful and healthy.
Identification of Lawn Weeds
Before dealing with weeds, knowing the types of them can help us choose a more targeted solution.
1. Identify Annual Grassy Weeds
Annual grassy weeds such as crab grass reseed themselves at the end of the growing season and then die. The following spring, the seeds germinate to grow new plants.
2. Identify Broadleaf Weeds
Broadleaf weeds include weeds with leaves, such as clover and dandelions that grow in lawns with low nitrogen fertility.
3. Identify Perennial Grassy Weeds
Perennial grassy weeds go dormant in the winter along with your lawn grass and come back in the spring. They tend to spread through the roots and seeds.
All these weeds will establish themselves in lawns that have a mower blade set too low, have compacted soil, or are overwatered.
How To Remove Weeds in Your Lawn
You may need these:
Required Tools
- Adjustable height lawn mower
- Cloth gloves
- Fertilizer spreader
- Rubber gloves
- Safety glasses
- Tank sprayer
Required Materials
- Grass preventer
- Non-selective plant herbicide
- Post-emergence grass killer
Ways of Weeding
- Apply an herbicide to your lawn
- Mow them down with your lawn mower
- Pull the weeds out by hand
It’s recommended to remove the weeds when they are young before they spread or grow seed.
- Use a tank sprayer weed killer to get rid of clumps of weeds.
- Spot-treat weeds with a small, trigger-controlled, pump-up pressure sprayer.
- Kill broadleaf weeds by using a dial sprayer. When connected to a garden hose, a dial sprayer kills weeds over a wide area.
- Kill perennial grassy weeds one at a time by using a non-selective plant killer to coat the weeds with a glove dipped in an herbicide solution.
- Use pre-emergent herbicides before the weed seeds germinate and plants emerge, which will be utilized in the soil surface and move into the soil with rainfall or irrigation. This is the easiest way to keep your lawn free of weeds.
- Use post-emergent herbicides to the whole lawn or directly on the unwanted actively growing weeds.
Preventing Weeds in Your Lawn
- Mow your grass when it is about one-third above the standard cutting height. Keep other nearby plant areas immaculate. (Mowing every 3 to 5 days during growth periods helps keep your lawn at an appropriate height during the summer months.)
- Before the weed seeds grow, mow the grass at a taller height. Once the grass grows tall and thick which shades the soil, weed seeds are not as able to sprout and grow. Before the weed seeds form, mow your lawn again.
- Make sure to water deeply and infrequently. It helps your lawn grow deeper roots so it can better compete with weeds.
- Feed your lawn on a regular basis. A stressed-out lawn has a higher chance of being taken over by weeds.
In this way, appropriate mowing, irrigation and fertilization habits can prevent most weed difficulties. Be sure to leave the grass clippings on the grass after mowing. This helps to provide approximately 20% of the fertilization needs of most grass types.
