Crabgrass is a common weed that reduces the attractiveness and health of your lawn. If lawn care is a priority for you, you should know how to recognize crabgrass and eliminate it. This post will help.
What is Crabgrass?
Crabgrass is a low grasslike weed with blades that radiate from its central point. It gets its name because these blades often resemble crab legs. It loves hot and dry weather and grows in weak areas of your lawn where the grass is thin or gone. As an annual plant, it will die in the fall. But you can’t rest on that, because while it lives through its season, it will spread thousands of seeds into the air so that you have many more patches of crabgrass the following spring.
How Do I Remove Crabgrass?
There are two ways to remove crabgrass.
Pull It Out
You can simply pull crabgrass out of the ground. Just make sure to get the roots too, or it will come back. A garden weeder tool can help you easily get under the roots. To be sure that no seeds spread from this crabgrass, put it in a trash bag and seal the bag tight.
Spray It
Spraying post-emergent (after the plant has grown) herbicide on the crabgrass will kill the crabgrass. Make sure you purchase a herbicide that will kill the weed without killing your grass. Follow the instructions on the product you purchase, which usually includes spraying it only on the crabgrass and not all over your lawn.
Preventing Crabgrass
You can prevent crabgrass from ever growing in your yard or from returning in the spring. Much of prevention has to do with having a healthy lawn.
Follow these steps:
- Fix bare spots. Get some grass seeds or lay down sod to fill in thin and bare spots so the crabgrass has less room to grow. Make sure to appropriately water the seeds or sod so they grow up healthy.
- Water your lawn. Most grass needs one inch of water each week. If yours isn’t getting the water it needs, supplement it with a water hose or sprinkler.
- Fertilize your lawn. Undernourished lawns are weaker and less able to fight off weeds. Make sure yours is getting all it needs by fertilizing your lawn in six to eight-week intervals while it is your grass type’s growing season.
- Mow grass to a taller height, as high as your grass type can remain healthy. Taller grass keeps the ground below it shadier so weeds are less likely to grow.
- Leave the grass clippings. Grass clippings will add extra nutrients to the soil for the grass and make the soil shady.
- Use pre-emergent herbicides. These herbicides fight weeds before they appear. Apply them early in spring. If you like to avoid herbicides, corn meal gluten will also work.
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