Common Weed Problems
Lawn & Turf Tips: Crabgrass, Spurge, Dandelions
Description
Spouts from seeds in early spring, growing rapidly and producing seeds all summer until the first killing frost in the fall. The seeds lie dormant over the winter and sprout in the spring. When a lawn begins to thin out from insects, disease, or poor maintenance, crabgrass is one of the first weeds to invade the area.
Mechanical Control
Hoe and dig out crab grass and leave roots exposed so they dry out. Maintain a well watered, properly fertilized and thick lawn to prevent these weeds from taking a hold in your grass. Do not cut the grass too short as this will keep the soil cool preventing seeds from germinating.
Chemical Control
Kill actively growing crabgrass with an gerbicide containing fluazifopbutyl, glyph sate, or methanearsonate. Older plants are harder to kill, repeat the treatment 2 or more times at 4-7 day intervals, if necessary. To kill seeds as they germinate, apply a weed killer containing DCPA in the early spring 2 weeks before the last expected frost.
Spurge
Description
Numerous long, creeping stems tinged with purple which ooze milky fluid when broken. Euphorbia or Spurges form a low-growing, dense mat.
Conditions
Invades thin, undernourished turf under periodic drought stress; also in cultivated soil.
Cultural Control
Keep the lawn well watered to discourage spurge from invading dry areas.
Chemical Control
Use a pre-emerge in late spring, post-emerge while actively growing. Use mecoprop or dicamba.
Comments
Hard to control.
Dandelion
Description
Reproduces from seeds and shoots that grow from the fleshy taproot. The taproot grows 2-3 feet deep i the soil, surviving even the severest of winters. In the early spring new sprouts emerge from the taproot.
Conditions
Dandelions grow in any soil and are most numerous in full sunlight. Dandelions prefer wet soil and are often a sign of over watering.
Cultural Control
Hand-digging is impractical since pieces of root that are broken off and left in the soil will sprout into new plants.
Chemical Control
Treat an entire lawn with a weed killer containing prop ionic acid: for spot treatment, apply an gerbicide containing 2,4-D and mecoprop. For best results make 2 applications, one in the early summer and another in the early fall. Do not water or mow for 2 days after treatments.
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