Crabgrass

Your best defense against crabgrass is a thick, healthy lawn. Crabgrass is an annual grass that sprouts in the late spring especially where there is bare soil, water, and sunlight. The plant is light green, has wide blades and hugs the ground. It continues to grow all summer and doesn’t really become ugly until late summer when it spreads seeds. After spreading seeds, crabgrass is killed by the cold winter, but the seeds remain for next year.

Getting rid of crabgrass is difficult because it keeps growing all season, spring through fall. New plant growth, developing seed heads, and mature seeds will all be present on a plant throughout the warm seasons.

Mowing the crabgrass won’t stop it, or even slow it down. It will grow more flat, rather than upright. But it keeps producing seeds, week after week until you control it or cold weather arrives. Crabgrass is prolific. It can produce over 150,000 seeds per plant. These seeds won’t germinate till the next season. It may seem like new plants are popping up from the current seeds. Actually, this just reflects the long window in which crabgrass will start to grow. Any attempt at getting rid of crabgrass has to take this into account.

Moyer Indoor | Outdoor believes that the best way to prevent crabgrass from taking over your lawn is by being pre-emptive. Each of our  Programs provides year-round protection for your lawn, keeping weeds and crabgrass at a minimum. We apply a pre-emergent herbicide with fertilizer in the early spring. The fertilizer helps thicken the turf, which helps squeeze out crabgrass. The pre-emergent herbicide creates a chemical barrier at the surface of the soil.

It may sound easy, but if it is applied too soon, micro-organisms and natural processes in the soil break down the herbicide, and by the time it is needed much of the product has lost its potency. If the combination is applied too late, you may miss the early stage of germination when the herbicide works best. There is nothing in pre-emergence herbicide that kills crabgrass seedlings once they have sprouted.

If you have had a particularly bad crabgrass problem, there are chances that the crabgrass will continue to germinate later in the summer. Crabgrass can thrive in areas next to driveways and sidewalks because they absorb heat causing the soil around them to get warmer and encourages the growth of crabgrass.

Not all lawns respond the same. Moyer applies ONLY selective products that won’t damage your lawn while destroying weeds. Our goal is to keep your lawn healthy and thick so that crabgrass has little change of invading your turf.