Tackling the Number One Threat to the Yard of Your Dreams: Weeds
(StatePoint) If you’re a homeowner who takes pride in your lawn, you know how big a headache weeds are.
To help you achieve the yard of your dreams, Exmark has partnered with Jason Creel, the owner of Alabama Lawn Pros, on a new video offering tips and insights into tackling weeds.
Here are the major categories of weeds to be aware of:
Grassy weeds, like crab grass and goose grass may look like regular turf grass, but they’re not nearly as uniform.
Broadleaf weeds, like dandelion and clover, stand out with their wide leaves, bright flowers and seed heads.
Sedges, like nutsedge, looks like grass, but instead have a solid, triangular stem without nodes.
Weeds can also be categorized by their life cycles:
Some weeds, like spurge, are annual weeds. They sprout, grow and die in one season. Then there are perennial weeds, like oxalis, also known as yellow wood sorrel, or nutsedge, and they come back year after year from that same root clump. It’s also important to know if you’re dealing with warm or cool season weeds.
Warm season weeds germinate in the spring and die out in the fall and cool season weeds are typically going to germinate in the fall, mature the following spring and die out as the weather gets hot in the summer.
“These varying life cycles is why weed control is a year-round battle. But thankfully, it’s not as difficult as it might sound,” says Creel.
For most lawns, a preemergent herbicide application in the spring and then again in the fall is the first line of defense, however, the timing shifts every year, so for best results, watch the weather, not the calendar. If your weeds have already sprouted, that’s where your post-emergent herbicides are going to come in. Whenever spraying any kind of herbicide, wear personal protective equipment and follow the label.
For more insights, watch “Types of Weeds and What to Do About Them,” a new episode of “Done-In-A-Weekend Projects,” an original series from lawn care equipment manufacturer, Exmark. To watch the video, visit Exmark’s Backyard Life, a unique multimedia destination focused on helping homeowners improve their outdoor living spaces. There you can also download additional tips and view other Exmark Original Series videos.
