There are some people out there that might tell you that pre-emergents just don’t work, that they are a waste of money.
Maybe they had a bad experience with a service, or they put out a product that just didn’t seem to make a difference in weed growth.
With pre-emergents there are a number of factors that come into play for how effective they will be, or if they will even work at all.
If you want your pre-emergents to work, here are the top three things you have to get right:
Timing: I’ve talked about this plenty of times before…timing is everything with pre-emergents. If you put it out too late, weeds will have already sprouted and you won’t be able to prevent them. The timeframe for the fall is the middle of September through the end of October. Weather plays a big part in timing, but weather is not predictable…so it’s best to avoid scheduling around it. Just stick to the six weeks from mid September-late October.
Application rate: In order for a pre-emergent to work, you have to apply the right amount of product. We see this mistake most often with granular applications…just throw some granules across your lawn and hope it works.
You have to know how many square feet of turf you have, then you have to read your label to determine how many pounds of product your lawn needs.
The same goes for liquid products…but you’ve got the extra step of getting your mix rate right.
Get this wrong, and your pre-emergent will not work.
Water: Two neighbors put out a pre-emergent…the same product, same time, same application right…yet come spring one lawn is full of weeds and the other is not.
How does this happen? It’s pretty simple…water. One person watered in their application, and the other did not.
You have to water your pre-emergent applications in, or they will not work. Whether it’s liquid or granular…water, water, water.
Water is what activates these products and soaks them down into the soil which creates the pre-emergent barrier.
Skip watering and your pre-emergent is guaranteed not to work.
Hope this helps!
