Winter weeds in lawn
By Felder Rushing
Most gardeners are being faced this month, like it or not, with a hard choice regarding winter weeds in the lawn. No matter your preferred approach of weed-free, wildflowery, or doing bits of both in different areas, your lawn is changing weekly and it is time to decide and manage which way it goes.
Hands down, lawn care is the garden maintenance chore that takes the most time, effort, equipment, and money, even if all you do is mow or pay someone to mow for you. But what for centuries was just a mow-what-grows approach became, in just my lifetime, an obsession with the advent of effective chemical weed killers and fertilizers, fueled by horticultural, social, and marketing blitzes.
And it is still desired by a lot of folks, sometimes even mandated by HOA rules. Nothing wrong with wanting satisfaction in a job well done, but though golf course perfection is attainable, it comes with non-stop costs.
To have the best shot at a clean, uniform, weed-free lawn, there are three important things which must be done first: mow at the right height for your type of grass (high for St. Augustine and centipede, all the time); water at least once a month during prolonged summer and fall droughts (never more than once a week – and yes, I know what I am writing); and fertilize lightly no earlier than April and no later than early September. These three things are the keys to thick, healthy lawns, which means less attention needed for herbicides which are the distant fourth in weed control effectiveness. Make plans this year to do these three things.
And by the way, weed and feed combinations are not recommended by lawn researchers, because on Southern lawns it’s either too early for the fertilizer or too late for weeds. Really.
If you do all that and still have weeds, understand how herbicides work. First, most do not control all kinds of lawn weeds; what may kill grassy weeds may not control broadleaf weeds and vice-versa. Second, herbicides are often specific to some lawn types and can damage other types of grasses. Know what kind of grass and weeds you have and always read the label before buying or applying herbicides.
As for what to use, there are two approaches. Pre-emerge herbicides have to be applied before weed seeds sprout, so put them down early - September or October for winter/spring weeds, March or April for summer weeds. And they have no effect on perennial type weeds like dandelions, oxalis, wild onions and the like.
To best control perennial weeds, apply a post-emerge spray, which works best on small, actively growing weeds, not on full-blown flowering plants later in the season. Spray early before the weeds get mature; keep in mind that this is basically a form of chemotherapy, which works best early, and with two or more applications a week or two apart rather than one large dose which can damage the lawn.
So, if you prefer a weed-free lawn, you ought to work on having a healthy lawn in the first place, and then carefully use appropriate herbicides. For this spring’s weeds, use your sprayer sometime in the next few weeks, then make plans to mow right, fertilize (no earlier than April; yes, I am very sure), and water every few weeks in the summer, not more than one good deep watering a week.
No matter your approach - golf course perfection or mow what grows - lawn care practices are important to understand. But, like baling a leaky boat, it takes regular attention. Get to it.
Felder Rushing is a Mississippi author, columnist, and host of the “Gestalt Gardener” on MPB Think Radio. Email gardening questions to rushingfelder@yahoo.com.
