How to Spray Wild Onions
Wild onions are lawn weeds that get their name because they emit a strong onion or garlic smell when their stems are crushed. The stems are tall, thin and dark green, resembling the tops of chives. Wild onions have a clumping growth pattern that stands out sharply from the remainder of a lawn, making it unattractive. Killing wild onion weeds requires spraying them with a herbicide multiple times until the underground root system dies. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
-
-
1
Begin spraying the wild onions in November, which is when they have the most stems and are more vulnerable to herbicide.
-
2
Mow the lawn to cut the tops off of the wild onions, which allows the herbicide to soak faster into the root system. Place a grass catcher on the mower if desired; however, this is not required, as the onion clippings will not regrow or spread seed.
-
-
3
Fill a pump garden sprayer with an herbicide containing the ingredient imazaquin, 2,4-D, dicamba or mecoprop, using the amount indicated on the bottle. Dilute the herbicide with water only if instructed to do so.
-
4
Close the sprayer and pump the handle six to seven times to pressurize it. Point the sprayer wand at the wild onion weeds and saturate them completely with the herbicide.
-
5
Repeat the process of mowing and spraying again in the late winter or the very early spring.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
After applying the herbicide, do not mow the lawn for at least two weeks.
Wild onion weeds typically must be sprayed for at least two straight growing seasons before they die back completely.
Do not apply any herbicide to centipede grass or St. Augustine grass in the spring if it has already started to turn green; the grass will die. In these cases, dig up the wild onions.
