How to Get Rid of Invasive Crabgrass
Crabgrass is a warm-season annual that affects lawns in Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and the USA. Crabgrass not only takes away from the aesthetics of your lawn, but it can also damage the grass by competing with the grass for the nutrients found in the soil. Richard L. Duble, a turf grass specialist, reports that "crabgrass has plagued turf managers for 50 years and still tops the list of most troublesome weeds." There is no pesticide on the market that will kill crabgrass in your yard without the possibility of damaging the lawn. To rid a lawn of crabgrass, you must remove and manage any crabgrass infestations. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Lawn fertilizer with a pre-emergent herbicide
- Hose
- Gardening gloves
- Plastic bag
- Mulch
- Lawn mower
Instructions
-
-
1
Apply a lawn fertilizer with a pre-emergent herbicide in the spring. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for correct application. The fertilizer will help your grass to grow strong and thick, while the herbicide will kill any crabgrass before it emerges.
-
2
Inspect your grass daily during the summer growing season. Look for the growth of crabgrass shoots. Large crabgrass will have hairy leaves that turn maroon as they mature. Smooth crabgrass looks like large crabgrass, except the leaves are smooth instead of hairy.
-
-
3
Use a garden hose to soak the soil directly around any crabgrass shoots you find.
-
4
Put on your gardening gloves before removing the crabgrass shoots. Grasp as low as you can on the crabgrass stem. Use a very slow motion to pull out as much of the crabgrass and root as possible.
-
5
Mulch the area where you removed the crabgrass. This will stop any leftover roots from growing there again.
-
6
Place the crabgrass and root into a plastic bag. Do not place the crabgrass back down on your lawn. Tie the plastic bag and discard it directly into the garbage. A crabgrass flower may contain 150,000 seeds that will establish if left on your lawn.
-
7
Mow your lawn on a regular basis. Do not mow the grass lower than heights of 2 to 3 inches. This will block out light to the soil and hinder the growth of crabgrass.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Some pesticides claim to kill crabgrass but may damage certain types of turf grass.
Do not over-water an established yard. Crab grass loves to grow in wet soil.
References
- Photo Credit grass,lawn image by Greg Pickens from Fotolia.com
