How to Deal With Lawn Weeds
Even the best-maintained lawn will develop some weed problems - weed seeds are often blown onto the lawn or brought in by birds or animals. In the right conditions, the seeds soon germinate and the weeds then spread and even flower and set seed, benefiting from the regular lawn feedings. Many weeds are able to thrive despite fairly close mowing. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Use weedkillers. If your aim is to own a weed free lawn, remove or treat weeds as they appear before they spread. If you have a variety of small lawn weeds, a weedkiller is usually the best solution. Lawn weedkillers are selective in their action so that they do not harm lawn grasses. Weedkillers should usually be applied in spring or summer. shortly after or while fertilizing - the fertilizer stimulates the grasses to grow strongly and cover the areas left once the weeds have been killed. Follow the instructions on the weedkiller package precisely.
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Apply a second application of weedkiller, if necessary. Many weeds are initially resistant to weedkillers and these may need a second application later in the season if they grow back.
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Remove large weeds. Some large weeds or woody perennial weeds may not be effectively treated with weedkiller. Alternatively, or for weeds that are hard to control with weedkillers, dig out each weed by hand. Remove every bit of the roots to prevent the weed from regenerating. You will be left with a small hole in the lawn. Press down the soil slightly so that the top of the hole is less obvious.
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Remove dandelions. They are weeds but the sensitive easily spread nature of the dandelion means they need special care when removing them from the lawn. Keep the knife blade almost vertical and cut downward right next to the base of the weed, repeating this in a circle all the way around. Lever the knife back and forth very gently then pull out the weed, making sure that you do not leave any root in the lawn. Firm but carefully pack down the soil.
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Kill lawn moss. Several different sorts of moss may appear on a lawn - each of them indicates that the lawn itself is in a poor state and that you need to improve the growing conditions as well as take steps to control the moss. Moss develops where there is little aeration (often due to compaction or heavy soil), dieback of grass roots (caused by waterlogged conditions, drought, or compaction), shade, or low soil fertility. To treat it, use a commercial mosskiller, following the instructions.
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Set up a lawn maintenance program. Once the moss and weeds are dead, rake them out. Removing it when still living could spread the problem. Aerate the lawn regularly and brush in a top-dressing. Following a maintenance program will encourage the grass to grow strongly while also ensuring it is less prone to invasion by moss and weeds in the future.
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Tips & Warnings
Use gloves to protect you hands when weeding the garden.
- Photo Credit Public Domain
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Comments
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Straight fresh cut grass clippings can be ideal compost material used to smother out weedy spots. As fresh cut grass decompose , it build up a lot of heat if more than two feet high. It can be reused throughout the growing season then placed aside for next year uses for same purpose or others. doesn't matter really.
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For heavily weeded areas, I usually cover those spots with at least a foot high compost to blot it out of needed sunlight.. Give it a month or longer. Some die quicker than others. So trail and error will tell you how long it takes to smother weeds out. You can reuse the compost pile on other heavily weeded spots. Of course, there will be bare spots once the compost is removed and you can proceed to reseed the bald spots.
