It’s that time of year again…the time when you wake up one morning to the awful look of your lawn being overtaken by weeds.
We understand, it happens to the best of us! But there is still hope, the last thing you want to do is thrown in the towel right out of the gate!
BUT…time is not on your side, you need to ACT QUICKLY to take your lawn back.
There are three things you need to do right now to get you back in the saddle:
1. Mow! That may not be what you want to hear…but you have to get out there and mow. As of right now we have two weeks before April arrives…so plan on mowing TWICE between now and then. Why mow? The grass isn’t even growing! That is exactly why...your grass needs a jump start to come our of dormancy, and cutting some of that dead thatch off the top will allow it to come in faster. Thick, flourishing turf is a wonderful weed suppressant, so you want to help your turf get established as soon as possible.
Also, unlike turf, many weeds don’t like to be mowed. It weakens the weed and allows the establishing turf to choke it out.
2. Post emergent herbicides. Go out and purchase a good BROAD LEAF post emergent herbicide. We recommend a product like Three Way or Trimec. These products are extremely effective against broad leaf weeds, and they will not harm your turf. Why only broad leaf post emergents? Two reasons: One, grassy weeds are tough to deal with. The products used to treat them are either very expensive, or not very effective. Secondly, and most importantly, most of the grassy weeds you are seeing right now are cool season, meaning they will be dying off as soon as temperatures warm up. So rather than spinning your wheels and wasting money, target the easier to kill broad leaf weeds and let nature run its course with the grassy weeds. BUT…step two will only help you if you follow step three…
3. Apply a pre emergent NOW. Steps one and two will help with everything you are seeing right now…but if you do not put a pre emergent down right now, you will be back to square one in a matter of weeks and you will be battling weeds the rest of the year. THIS is the step that has to be done before the end of the month. The average soil temperature in our area right now is 63 degrees. Once that reaches 75+ degrees, all weeds will have germinated and you will not be able to prevent them. There is still time. There are still seeds that have not germinated, you need to kill them now! Every day counts, and by the end of this month it will likely be too late.
Here are your three steps to take. Do this, and your summer lawn will look vastly different than it does right now. Get out there and take action!
