3 Tips to Prevent Crabgrass from Harming Your Lawn
by GoGreen Lawn Services
Crabgrass can cause headaches for many West Chester homeowners. It can take over your lawn and cause your walkways to crack. Luckily, there are solutions for combatting it before it gets out of hand.
Do you know how to spot crabgrass?
Crabgrass (Digitaria) is a weed named for its tenacity and hardy nature. When you see crabgrass, you will know what you are looking at, because the weed is low to the ground and has many bent stems. Because the weed is so low to the ground, lawn mowers and general lawn maintenance will often miss this weed.
So, how do you prevent crabgrass from taking over your yard and lawn? Here are a few tips.
Start crabgrass prevention in early spring
Unless you are planning to reseed your lawn, you can work to prevent crabgrass growth as soon as spring starts to appear in West Chester. Because crabgrass germinates in the warmer spring days, you can stop the weed from growing before it starts. If you’re reseeding your lawn, you won’t want to take this step. Using a preemergent herbicide stops the growth of the seeds, so it would be counterproductive to use it if you’re also reseeding your lawn.
Fertilize your lawn throughout the year to keep it strong
Giving your grass strong roots can help thwart crabgrass. By fertilizing your lawn throughout the entire year, you can give it what it needs to develop strong roots and good defenses against the crabgrass that would otherwise take over. Great lawn health will help form the best – and most organic – shield against this invasive species.
Avoid pulling weeds out from the top
It’s important that you don’t pull weeds out from the top. This can shake seeds, but it also fails to get the root of the weed out of your lawn. That means the weed will just keep growing back in the same spot until you find a way to destroy the roots. Instead, use a weeder tool (It kind of looks like a giant flathead screwdriver with a notch on the end) to dig out the roots.
Alternatively, you can save yourself all the trouble of dealing with the crabgrass on your own, and instead, you can call in the lawn experts at West Chester’s Go Green Lawn Care. We’ll get rid of your crabgrass problems using our reduced-risk products while allowing you the time to get out there and enjoy the weather. Contact us today for a free estimate.