Weed Grasses in Your Lawn

Here’s the bad news.

Completely eliminating weed grasses in your lawn is unrealistic. There is no easy way to prevent weed grasses from establishing in the lawn.

And once weed grasses are established, there is no easy way to remove them. With broadleaf weeds, there are selective herbicides that can be used to kill the offending weeds without killing the surrounding grass. Unfortunately, there are no chemical controls that distinguish between desirable turf grasses and weed grasses.

What you can do

• Remove invasive grasses early before they get established. A good lawn can be preserved with just a few minutes a week of hand pulling small new seedlings.
• Shade the root zone by mowing higher. This will help reduce weed seed germination (weeds need sunlight to germinate).
• Be realistic: lawns won’t grow well in areas that are overly wet, dry or shady. If you don’t want weeds to establish, plant a groundcover that will do well in those areas.
• If weed grasses have become large, you can dig them out, fill in the holes and reseed the area.
• A last resort for lawns with very large patches or numbers of weed grasses: treat with a non-selective herbicide. This will kill all grasses, not just weed grasses. It will then be necessary to reseed the entire area.
• Call In Harmony for assistance. Our technicians can suggest cultural practices to improve the health of your lawn and increase its resistance to invasion by weed grasses.

What In Harmony can do

• Apply an organic fertilizer. A good fertilization program helps keep colors even so weed grasses are not as apparent.
• Aerate your lawn to help keep it healthy.
• Overseed as necessary to fill in weak spots and help lawn color.

References

• Common-Sense Pest Control: Least-toxic Solutions for Your Home, Garden, Pets and Community. Olkowski, W., Daar, S., and Olkowski, H. The Taunton Press, Newtown, Connecticut. 1996.
• Ortho’s All About Lawns. Meredith Books. Des Moines, Iowa. 1999.