91% of Americans want to live in an area with nice landscaping, and 71% of them believe their neighbors should keep their yards well-maintained.
When your lawn has crabgrass, then it can really ruin your yard’s aesthetics. Needless to say, your landscaping won’t be pleasant to look at. What is crabgrass? It’s one of the most detrimental things to a lawn. Not only is it ugly, but it’s also very opportunistic and will crowd out your healthy grass.
Thankfully, there are a few ways to get rid of and prevent crabgrass from invading and taking over your lawn. Here are 6 tips to help you out.
1. Use a Crabgrass Preventer
You may not be aware of it, but there is crabgrass seed all in your lawn already. This type of grass is an annual grower, which means it’ll grow at the start of the year and then die at the end. What you need to do is use a crabgrass preventer to kill off the seeds so they don’t even grow at the beginning of the year.
The best times to apply crabgrass prevent are early spring and late winter. It’s best used when the ground temperature is above 60. The best way to tell when it’s appropriate to use preventer is when your shrubbery and trees budding.
Make sure you get every bit of your lawn; if you miss a spot, that’ll give the crabgrass the perfect place to flourish. Do note that you shouldn’t use a preventer if you already have crabgrass growing. You should also avoid using it if you’ve just installed sod on your lawn.
Also, in Montgomery County, the only preventer we’re allowed to use is ones made from con gluten, which is a 100% organic option. Synthetic pre-emergents are banned, unless they’re either on an approved list for commercial use or necessary to control a pest outbreak that is a significant danger to human health or safety.
2. Reapply Crabgrass Preventer When Necessary
As you may have guessed, crabgrass preventer will become less effective as time goes by. This is because like everything else, it breaks down with time. In general, it’ll last for about 8 weeks.
However, if it rains excessively in any period, it’ll cause the preventer to break down even quicker. In addition, the extra rain promotes germination for crabgrass seeds. These two factors will make this weed crop up much more easily.
If it rains a few weeks after applying preventer, you’ll need to consider adding more. This is especially true if it’s rained really hard. However, if the crabgrass has already sprouted, then preventer won’t be of any help.
3. Keep Your Lawn Healthy and Thick
Crab grass is a competing grass, plus it’s a weed. This means if you don’t keep your lawn healthy and thick, it can be very easy for crabgrass to take over your entire lawn.
For good lawn care, make sure to feed your grass good fertilizer once a year and keep it watered throughout all seasons. An excellent time to seed your lawn is during the fall, as the growth cycle will enable your turf to grow nice and thick in the next year. This should make it difficult for any crabgrass seeds to sprout and crowd out your existing grass. You should also seed any thin areas of your grass as soon as possible to encourage growth. This will also further eliminate any space the crabgrass has to grow, as you’ll have as thick a lawn as possible.
4. Have a Good Watering Schedule
When it comes to watering your lawn, the schedule will be different for newly-seeded lawns versus established ones.
For instance, if it’s newly-seeded, you’ll want to water it frequently with smaller amounts of water. Keep this schedule up until your grass is established. Once your grass is established, you need to switch to more infrequent waterings. But when you do water your lawn, it should be with heavier amounts of water. What this does is enable your grass to have deeper root growth. As a result, you’ll get a healthy and thick lawn.
5. Mow Your Lawn at the Right Height
Of course, grass that grows too long can be unsightly. This is why you need to regularly mow your lawn and keep the grass at an acceptable length. However, you need to take care that you don’t mow your grass at too short a length. Crabgrass preventers can only do so much, so you need to do everything you can to prevent further growth.
If your grass is too short, then it’ll make the conditions easier for crabgrass to sprout and take over. So long as your grass is at least 3 to 4 inches tall, the blades will shade the seeds. When they try to sprout, it’ll be much more difficult to, not just because of the shade, but also because of the competition for both nutrients and water.
Manage Crabgrass on Your Montgomery County Maryland Property With Our Tips
Now you have some excellent tips on how to manage crabgrass on your Montgomery County Maryland property. However, the best way to control and eliminate crabgrass is to work with a professional landscaper. Not only can they provide quality grass seed for your lawn, but they can continually perform upkeep for your property so crabgrass never stands a chance. Just leave all the hard work up to them!
Would you like professional help with crabgrass, as well as great DC landscaping? Then request a free quote from us now. We offer a 100% no-risk guarantee!
