How to Kill Crab Grass in St. Augustine Grass
Crabgrass (also called Digitaria) is a large, rapidly growing weed found in most countries throughout the world. The most common varieties of crabgrass in the United States is Large Crabgrass. Once crabgrass infiltrates a garden it will steadily absorb nutrients from the soil and water, leaving less nutrition for preferred grass varieties (such as St. Augustine) to grow in your lawn and garden.
St. Augustine grass is very popular varietal of grass grown in the southeastern United States, as well as tropical regions of Mexico and South Africa. St. Augustine grass is the perfect choice for hot climates due to the fact that the grass maintains a lush, green color even in the hottest summer months. If crabgrass is found circulating among St. Augustine grass, the crabgrass will drain St. Augustine grass of vital nutrients needed to thrive. Killing crabgrass is a simple but time-consuming process, which involves identifying and hand-pulling patches of crabgrass found throughout your lawn.
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Things You'll Need
- Gardening gloves
- Trash can
- Old newspaper (optional)
- Bricks or weights (optional)
Instructions
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1
Identify the crabgrass found growing throughout your lawn and garden and distinguish it from the other types of grass, including St. Augustine grass. Crabgrass is an elongated thick blade of grass that contains sprigs of leafy grass blades which spring out of the blade in a pattern similar to that of a crab's pincers.
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2
Put on your gardening gloves and pull the unwanted crabgrass from the ground, getting as much of the root as possible.
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3
After you have pulled as much of the unwanted crabgrass out of your garden, dispose of pulled crabgrass in a trash bag.
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4
Spread out old newspaper on any large patches of crabgrass that are too time-consuming or difficult to hand-pull.
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Weigh down the old newspaper with weights or bricks. Leave in place for two weeks. The newspaper will naturally and effectively kill large patches of crabgrass without keeping other grass from growing in the place of the crabgrass.
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Tips & Warnings
Because crabgrass intermingles with other types of grass, including St. Augustine grass, it is important that grass killing chemicals not be used, for fear of killing other grass in your yard.
