Weeds in the lawn don't just look bad, they crowd out grass and lead to a patchy lawn. An integrated approach will help kill the weeds while also ensuring that they don't easily re-invade the lawn again later.
1. Cultural
The first strategy is cultural control, which means managing the general lawn environment so that it isn't a naturally productive area for weeds to grow. The main aim of cultural control is to keep the lawn healthy and lush enough so that weeds have problems getting a foothold into the yard.
Begin by providing adequate water. Most lawns require a couple of inches of moisture a week during the growing season. A regular fertilization schedule, along with re-seeding if a bare area develops, will help keep lawns lush enough to crowd out weeds. If any area must remain bare, then cover it with a mulch to help suppress weeds.
2. Mechanical
Mechanical control is sometimes the labor-intensive part of integrated weed control. At its simplest, it means pulling weeds by hand. This is most often necessary for stubborn weeds or those growing in mulched areas. Pulling the weeds young is ideal since the roots won't be very long.
Mechanical control can also refer to the use of lawn tools. For example, don't mow the lawn too close to the ground as this can make the environment better suited to weed growth. Instead, leave the grass a couple of inches long so it shades out potential weed sprouts. You can also edges around the side of your yard, as a trench edge reduces the chances of weeds invading the crumbling soil that would otherwise be present where lawn meets sidewalk.
3. Chemical
The final method of attack on weeds is chemical control. Targeted controls, such as a full spectrum herbicide, are the least invasive. These are applied directly to problem weeds, where they quickly kill them. Full-spectrum herbicides do kill all plants, so they must be applied carefully to prevent overspray.
There are more controlled herbicides that can be applied to the entire lawn. Pre-emergent herbicides are applied in late winter and early spring, where they target weed roots and seeds before plants emerged. Broadleaf herbicides kill leafy weeds but not grasses, while targeted herbicides like crabgrass formulas only attack one or two types of common weeds.
Contact a weed control service if you need help developing a plan to eradicate these unwanted plants from your yard.
