Avoid Weeds in Your Lawn – A Handy Guide
As we approach spring, you may find yourself worrying about that which has been impossible to avoid: weeds popping up in your lawn. No matter where in Florida you live, weeds will find their way into your lawn and garden if not carefully prepared! In this article, we will go over a variety of helpful hints on how to remove and, even more important, avoid weeds this year. From the best type of grass that can prevent weed growth to gardening practices, we have you covered.
Prevention – Avoid Weeds in Your Lawn
Weed prevention season ranges from February to March, as this window is right before growing season making it an optimal preventative treatment time. Let’s look at a few key ways to prevent weeds:
Maintain a Healthy Lawn
This is the biggest thing you can do to help prevent weeds. By building up a strong root system and healthy grass for your lawn, you can help minimize the damage that can lead to weeds being able to grow. You can achieve this by limiting the foot traffic on the lawn, having a regular watering schedule, keeping your grass properly mowed, and choosing grass that is less susceptible to weeds (like Zoysia grass or Bermuda grass). Keeping your lawn healthy will minimize the ability of weeds to take root and grow.
Pest Control
Certain pests love to get all up in your lawn and do damage, making the perfect environment for weeds to take root and grow. Make sure you have a plan in place to prevent them from finding a home in your lawn or getting rid of them if you spot them.
Pre-Emergent Fertilizer
Another method to stop weeds before they start is to start the growing season with a healthy dose of a pre-emergent fertilizer. This fertilizer is meant to both nourish your lawn as well as prevent weed seeds from growing by way of a targeted herbicide. Ideally, you should do one round in February/March, and then another a few months later for those weeds that are on a later growth cycle.
Treatment
If you still find some weeds making their way into your lawn, there are a variety of ways you can stop their growth and get rid of them.
Consistent Care
Keeping with your regular mowing schedule will help keep the weeds from being able to grow and flower enough to spread their seeds. While this doesn’t make for an immediate solution, it’ll help hide them and keep them from coming back.
Sunblock
If there is a particular area of your lawn that is struggling with weeds growing, try using a sun-blocking membrane to cover the area and stop the weeds from being able to grow. This non-chemical solution will get rid of the weeds without damaging the area too much, especially if you have grass that can handle the shade.
Manual Pulling
If you have just a few little problem plants invading your lawn, then you can simply remove them. This is a great way to avoid weeds in your lawn without chemicals. Make sure you get the entire root system of the weed, so it can’t regenerate, and then plug up that hole with a piece of new grass. Viola! Instant fix.
Herbicides
The tried-and-true method of killing weeds, you can always hit them with an herbicide. You can talk with your local professionals to find out what the best herbicides to use for the specific weeds you’re struggling with would be, as using the wrong kind can damage your lawn.
As you can see, a weed-free lawn isn’t impossible to achieve! It just takes a little bit of work and a lot of love. If you’re worried about doing it right, you can always call in the professionals!
Hudson Ranch Sod grows a variety of sods and can supply you with enough grass for a single house, or an entire golf course. Contact us today for the latest pricing and availability. We hope you enjoyed this article on how to avoid weeds in your lawn.
