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Act Now to Revive Lawns
Homeowners may notice an invasion of weeds in lawns weakened by the extended dry spell that hit most of the Midwest.
“Weeds are opportunists. With lawns being weakened from the drought there is lots of potential for weeds to come in,” said Brad Fresenberg, University of Missouri turf specialist.
Whether and when to apply herbicides depends on the type of weeds in your lawn, and whether you need to reseed areas killed by dry weather, he said.
“Summer annuals we typically see — like crabgrass that may have escaped the pre-emergent (herbicide) in the spring or summer annual broadleaf weeds like spurge or carpet weed — will frost out come October, so I would not be too concerned about those,” he said.
If lawns have a lot of perennial broadleaf weeds like plantain and dandelions, now is a good time to control those with a broadleaf herbicide, he said.
Timing of such broadleaf herbicides is important. The first two weeks in September are the best time to start reseeding cool season grasses he said. If applying a broadleaf herbicide for dandelions and other weeds, wait at least three to four weeks after the application before putting down new grass seed, or the young seedlings can be damaged.
Grass areas exposed to full sun and drought all summer may not come back without extra attention during overseeding.
Running a dethatching unit in several directions with the blade set at about a quarter of inch into the soil will bring up dead material and work up a seed bed. Lightly rake in a starter fertilizer along with the new grass seed that matches your lawn.
Other areas of the lawn that have thinned out lightly from the lack of moisture may also benefit from vertical slicing and overseeding to thicken the grass through the fall of the year.
It's important to keep lawns thick and healthy, Fresenburg said, as thin lawns make room for more weeds throughout the winter and summer annuals next spring.
“As the soil cools down in the 60s and upper 50s a lot of our winter annuals like chickweed, henbit and even annual blue grass germinate. This may be a very good year for winter annual weeds, especially in lawns that were thinned out by the drought,” he said.
Mowing and irrigation can also help grass compete against weeds, or give the weeds the advantage. Mowing high (usually three to four inches) helps lawns compete with weeds such as crabgrass. Less frequent, deep-soak watering that maintains a dry surface layer provides turf grass with a competitive advantage, he said. The opposite — frequent, light irrigation — encourages shallow-rooted weeds and weed seed germination.
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Last Update:
November 15, 2007
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