Landscape Tips

Dear Turtle Creek Homeowners & Residents,

Crab Grass is like that one relative we all have that never seems to go away for long.  They may go away for a while, but they always come back.

Now is the time when Crab Grass is going dormant, but unless you take action, it will come back next year.  Worse than that, it will bring friends!  The following article, provides some great tips about what we can all do to kill those pesky fall and winter weed and to help ensure a thick and health lawn next year.

Your Turtle Creek Board

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Start fight against summer weeds earlier

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 9/18/03 Walter Reeves

Walter Reeves is a TV and radio gardening show host and former DeKalb Extension agent. His column on gardening advice appears weekly.

One of the sourest phrases that can be directed at a child or adult is "I told you so!" Whether you touch a hot match, leave tools out in the rain or lift cinder blocks all afternoon, someone is usually ready to exclaim, "I told you so!" when you complain about the experience.

In my line of work, I'm forced to reluctantly deliver "I told you so!" when gardeners ask me about their problems with annual weeds. The theory of controlling them is simple: Maintain a vigorous turf so they can't get established . . . and use a pre-emergence herbicide if they get ahead of you.

Bob Krieger wrote me recently to ask about controlling crab grass. "We're having pretty good success with our Bermuda grass lawn but the crab grass is overtaking it," he related. "We put down pre-emergence herbicide twice this spring but now we have about fifty percent crab grass in our lawn. Will the crab grass die over the winter and not be a problem next spring?"

I didn't use the "I.T.Y.S." phrase when I replied . . . because he probably followed my timing instructions last spring. For several years, I have repeated the mantra "Summer weeds: March 15. Winter weeds: Sept. 15."

If you battle weeds in your lawn, you know what I mean: Put out your crab grass preventer in mid-March and your winter weed preventer in mid-September.

Bob's question, though, made me do a little research. He put down a pre-emergent twice this spring and still didn't get good control. Why?

I realize now that my mantra will have to be discarded.
 
Crab grass seeds, you see, germinate when spring soil temperatures tend upward from 50 degrees. Weed scientists use 52 degrees at 1/2-inch deep as the trigger point for their application of pre-emergence herbicide.

Gerrit Hoogenboom oversees a network of 50 weather stations across Georgia for the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. I was able to get from him the soil temperature data from Cherokee Town and Country Club in Dunwoody. What I found shocked me!

The data show that soil temperatures reached 52 degrees on Feb. 24 in 2000, Feb. 25 in 2001, March 14 in 2002 and March 4 in 2003.

My timing advice has been wrong! To get good crab grass control in Atlanta, you should apply the pre-emergent on March 1, not March 15. Otherwise, the seed will sprout beforehand . . . and most pre-emergence chemicals do not control crab grass seedlings.

In Bob's situation, the crab grass will die this winter -- but the seed it has already dropped will sprout next April, and he could have even more of the weed next year. So what should he do?

All of the following products give excellent control of crab grass:
 Benefin (Amaze, Balan, Crabgrass Preventer).
 Bensulide (Betasan).
 Oryzalin (Surflan).
 Pendimethalin (Halts).
 Dithiopyr (Crab-Ex).
 Prodiamine (Barricade).

The key is the timing. Pre-emergence herbicides must be applied before crab grass seeds germinate. If Bob and other lawn owners choose one of the products above and put it out on March 1, 2004, I think summer crab grass control will be much better.

My second date (Sept. 15) still stands. Put out a pre-emergence control for annual bluegrass, henbit or chickweed on that date, and you'll avoid my winter weed "I told you so!" next spring.

Remember, read all herbicide labels thoroughly to be sure the product can be used on your particular turf and that it controls the weed(s) you are trying to manage.

Here are some helpful links regarding lawn care:
 

* http://www.lawncare.com    This site provides the following information:

              Get customized lawn care advice for your region. From mowing to weed control, we'll give you a check list for lawns in your neck of the

               Woods by clicking on the “what to do now” link below.

   *  what to do now

 * http://turtlecreek-hoa.com/tc/documents/Crabgrass%20Prevention.pdf