Crabgrass Control

Crabgrass invasion in your lawn makes an unpleasant sight and can be really bothersome at times. Who wants to see unsightly patches of crabgrass in their lawns? Although complete eradication of crabgrass from the lawns is next to impossible, there are several ways to minimize it and prevent its future growth. Crabgrass control is something that the lawn enthusiasts and landscapers are most concerned about during the warmer seasons.

What is Crabgrass?
Crabgrass, scientifically known as Digitaria spp, is a warm season annual grass weed that is commonly found in lawns and gardens. It mainly thrives in hot and dry conditions and gets dormant or semi dormant during the cooler months. It has wide, flat leaf blades and stems that spread low on the ground, however, they can reach up to a height of 3 feet. A type of crabgrass, known as smooth crabgrass, grows no more than 15 inches in height and spreads on the surface of the ground. It is considered as one of the serious lawn pests as it can quickly take over the entire lawn.

How to Control Crabgrass?
Crabgrass is a summer annual that propagates by small seeds. A single plant can produce as much as 150,000 seeds each season. These seeds remain dormant until mid May and germinate in late spring and early summer. Full exposure to the hot summers allows the plant to grow healthily all around. The best way to control crabgrass would be to destroy the seeds and stop the crabgrass growth. Keeping your lawn dense and healthy is another way to prevent the invasion of crabgrass. Following are some ways to maintain health of your lawn that will help in control of crabgrass. Have a look at them:

• Avoid fertilizing your lawn in summers or spring, instead do it during autumn, so that it fills in and keeps sunlight off the ground.
• Sunlight is essential for crabgrass seeds to take root. Raise the level of the lawn mower or cut the lawn grass at the level of the mower as taller grass provides shade and keeps the sunlight away, thus keeping the seeds of crabgrass from germinating.
• Remove any patch of crabgrass immediately, to avoid it from spreading in other areas. Pull out the weeds and destroy the seeds.
• Irrigate or water your lawn heavily once a week instead of frequent light irrigation.
• Crabgrass is allergic to healthy soils, so promote health of your lawn to keep crabgrass away. Aerating it periodically, by soaking the lawn deeply helps in loosening of the soil. Dig out the roots of crabgrass if any to remove it completely from your lawn.
• If all the above control measures fail to give satisfying results you may have to take the help of herbicides. However, keep in mind that chemical herbicides are not specific in killing only crabgrass. Other plants in your lawn may be vulnerable to herbicides so use it with caution. You may use pre-emergent weed killer early in the spring and repeat the applications if necessary.
• Another crabgrass control measure is to reseed thin patches in the lawn during late summers. Be careful, if you have applied the pre-emergent weed killer as it may kill the newly seeded grass too.

Follow these simple methods to get rid of crabgrass and keep your lawn healthy! I'm sure you would want to make your lawn the envy of the neighborhood! All the best!