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Hope everyone is keeping an eye on the soil temperature or just be on the lookout for your local forsythia as a good indicator. It's the one application that more than pays for itself for the remainder of the year. So your lawn looks decent or in good shape now and you figure that you'll just put down some fertilizer and then come June or July you start to see all this weed type grass and you wonder what is taking over your lawn...Crabgrass
There are a number of brands and products out there my preference for the past several years has been less go given their solid performance record and excellent value. For those choosing to avoid any spring fertilizer take a look at Lesco 0-0-7, although this version requires two applications one early spring and another and early summer.
Personally I am using Lesco's 15-0-0 with Dimension.
I just put down my crabgrass pre-emergent and I am getting ready this week-end to start killing the crabgrass that survived the winter from last year. We just bought the house last year and unfortunately we live next to a vacant lot with lots of crabgrass and buffalo grass.
I just put down my crabgrass pre-emergent and I am getting ready this week-end to start killing the crabgrass that survived the winter from last year. We just bought the house last year and unfortunately we live next to a vacant lot with lots of crabgrass and buffalo grass.
I suspect what many people call crabgrass in our area is really dallisgrass or goosegrass, both very difficult to kill.
Actually I find Bahia grass just as annoying, and the only thing I have found to get it out of my Centipede is a product called Vantage grass killer.
Excellent! Did you use Lesco or Scott's or some other brand?
With the warm temps coming this weekend it won't be long.
Quote:
Originally Posted by grampaTom
I just put down my crabgrass pre-emergent and I am getting ready this week-end to start killing the crabgrass that survived the winter from last year. We just bought the house last year and unfortunately we live next to a vacant lot with lots of crabgrass and buffalo grass.
Currently sitting at 38-39. But we have a week of high 60s low 70s coming with night time temps only dropping to high 40s. I'm thinking by Thursday soil temps could be hitting 50 so I might put down today or tomorrow.
It really comes down to a timing issue as you don't want to put crabgrass preventer down too early and lose that valuable time but likewise you don't want to be too late with it.
Picked up 3 bags of 15-0-0 Dimension .21% at $33 per bag.
Crabgrass begins to germinate when the average daily soil temperatures reach 57 to 64 °F at a one-inch depth although large quantities of crabgrass seedlings will not start germinating until soil temperatures increase to 73 °F or above at a one-inch depth. (http://purdueturftips.blogspot.com/2...germinate.html)
Quote:
Originally Posted by ericp501
Yup I just came across this link that shows soil temps
Currently sitting at 38-39. But we have a week of high 60s low 70s coming with night time temps only dropping to high 40s. I'm thinking by Thursday soil temps could be hitting 50 so I might put down today or tomorrow.
Q. So what about organic control of crabgrass (which so many readers have been writing in about lately)?
A. I get this question a lot at this time of year, too—“What do I do?”—and it’s really a matter of what you did or didn’t do back in April, May and June. If you’ve got crabgrass now, there’s not much you can do besides pulling it out.
Don’t get too wrung out about killing crabgrass in August, because it’s going to be dead at the first frost, anyhow. It’s an annual grass.
But make sure you don’t let the crabgrass seed hit the ground. I don’t usually like to remove clippings from the lawn, but if you have a lot of crabgrass seed, bag your clippings when you mow the crabgrass this time of year, to gather those seeds, and put them deep in the woods or in a well-heated compost pile.
Step 2: overseed those areas now. [Paul was speaking in late August; in the Northeast, for instance, mid-August through mid-September is prime seeding time].
And get all your raking done this fall.
Crabgrass seed needs light to germinate. In April or May, when you mow too low or rake too vigorously, you create the ideal situation for it to germinate.
Next spring don’t mow till the lawn is more than 3 inches tall—and again, do all your raking in the fall. It doesn’t need much light, but just a burst of light, so if you mow too low in the spring and rake like crazy, all you’ve done is stir up the crabgrass seeds and open up the light.
The other time that crabgrass takes off: when people mow too low or scalp a patch in summer, opening up the light canopy in the lawn, and more crabgrass seeds germinate.
At Glenstone, we mow the lawn at 4 inches high. The crew always wants to go low, but I’m always saying no, no, no, no, no—not till into October here in Maryland (in cooler climates you can go lower a little earlier, and by that I mean down to 3 inches, and maybe 2 and a half).
Then don’t leave your lawn too long heading into winter because it’s a great haven for field mice and snow mold—so it’s a good idea to do that final mowing low, and clean up the lawn then.
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Lesco 15-0-0 Dimension
