Have you ever noticed a spider-like weed throughout your yard? This may be crabgrass, a tough-as-nails weed that invades homeowner’s luscious lawns. It’s rough to the touch and resistant to force such as uprooting and lawnmowers.
While there are many identifying factors for crabgrass, the most obvious is that it is extremely unattractive. Not only is it unsightly, but because each plant produces around 150,000 seeds, it also spreads like wildfire. This is why it is essential to act quickly on crabgrass to prevent its regrowth.
Thankfully, you will be able to identify crabgrass in your yard in no time. Its large body and lengthy blades stand out from the finer grass species. Much like a crab, crabgrass has a heavy, disproportional body. It is compacted with all of the stem shoots as well as thousands of seeds when it is mature. Its blades are crab-like as well because they flare out from the body and can be up to 5 inches long!
Not only can you take steps toward crabgrass prevention, but our team at MissionGreen is ready to prevent crabgrass in your yard once and for all. Here are 6 steps to get rid of crabgrass.
1. Use A Manual Weed Puller
First things first: It’s time to pull those obvious crabgrass monsters out of your lawn. Thankfully, manual weed pullers are cheap, quick, and efficient. It’s easy to order one off of Amazon or Home Depot for as little as $20. Crabgrass grows absurdly strong roots when it is mature, so a manual weed puller will add a boost to tear it out of the ground while avoiding damage to the surrounding grass.
2. Use Pre-Emergent Crabgrass Control
A pre-emergent control product works to prevent crabgrass from sprouting. At MissionGreen, we pride ourselves on offering the most effective pre-emergent crabgrass control for early spring. It keeps the crabgrass from germinating, so throughout the spring and summer, your lawn will remain lush and weed-free.
3. Reseed Any Empty Lawn Patches
Now that your lawn is free of crabgrass, there’s plenty of space to plant and nurture new grass seeds. Disperse the seeds using a lawn spreader or a rake in all of the now-empty lawn spots. After 4 to 6 weeks from germination, fertilize your turf to ensure it grows deep, hardy roots that will withstand crabgrass in the future. For planning purposes, at MissionGreen we strongly recommend fall seeding. New seedlings may germinate in the spring, but they’re highly unlikely to withstand the hot, dry weather conditions of summer.
4. Following an Appropriate Watering Schedule
Proper watering only benefits the health of your lawn. When it comes to watering your lawn, it is crucial to only water at the rate at which the soil can absorb the water below its surface. The optimal time to water your lawn is in the morning, between the hours of 5 and 10 AM. Keeping this occurrence to once or twice a week is best, as this schedule will help increase the depth of the root size later on. Once watering is complete, be sure to inspect the rooting depth within the soil by using a soil probe or shovel. A healthy, thick lawn will help prevent the opportunity for crabgrass and weeds to grow.
5. Apply a Post-Emergent Crabgrass Control
Post-emergent control products are the most impactful solution for weeds that have already matured. As soon as the product comes into contact with the weed’s foliage, it immediately begins to destroy the tough leaves of the crabgrass, preventing photosynthesis from continuing. Once the plants die, dispose of them in a trash bag to prevent any loose seeds from scattering.
6. Uproot Any New Seedlings
If any new crabgrass seedlings emerge in the spring, it only takes a gentle hand pull to uproot the young plants. The seedlings are easy to identify by their stalkiness and leafy shoots. Finally, your lawn is crabgrass-free and ready to withstand weeds in the future!
Ready to take your lawn to a new level? If crabgrass isn’t the only nuisance weed in your yard, MissionGreen also offers broadleaf weed control to ensure that only green, healthy turf dominates your lawn. Our MissionGreen Lawn Care Program will prepare your spring lawn for the seasons to come by only using the most environmentally responsible practices.
Email support@missiongreenservices.com or call (413) 998-7829 to learn more about our spring lawn services and crabgrass prevention. Head over to our Living Green blog for other helpful articles.
