The Skinny on Preemergent Herbicide

The old adage “A good offense is the best defense” couldn’t be more true when trying to keep your lawn weed free. Weeds are the inevitable enemy of your lawn and will take over if nothing is done to stop them. A single weed may be capable of dropping thousands of seeds, and then you hit that weed with the lawn mower and those seeds are spread literly everywhere.  If you have convinced yourself you don’t have a single weed in your lawn, odds are your neighbor does, and a nice breeze will carry those weed seeds hundreds of yards where they can last upwards of 50 years just waiting for the right conditions to take root in your finely manicured lawn.

Fortunately for all of us, technology has lent us a hand at battling weeds. A quick application of a preemergent herbicide product and all those pesky weeds will lay dormant another year. Yes, dormant. See a preemergent weed control product isn’t a pre emergent weed killer. It keeps the weeds from growing which is why it’s necessary for you to put down a pre emergent herbicide product every year.

When to apply pre emergent herbicides:

Simple! March 15th & September 15th. Basically you want to control summer weeds and winter weeds. As soil temperature rise above 50°F the summer weeds begin to take root and begin growing. The major offenders, crabgrass and clover, will not emerge until the soil is consistently over 50°F. If you do live in a warmer area you may need to apply your pre emergent herbicide before March 15th, so it’s not quite as simple as I first made it sound.

Late in the growing season the weeds begin to set new seed. This is where you want to catch any late growth with the application in September. Remember keeping on top of the weeds will save you much time and aggravation next spring when the lawn mowing season begins again.

Caution: Application of a preemergent herbicide to early may cause the elements to dilute or wash away the herbicide and allow the weeds to grow uninhibited. Application of the herbicide after the weeds start to grow will not stop the growth since its already rooted.