Getting Rid of Crabgrass
Quick Facts
Problem/Diagnosis
Crabgrass was introduced into the United States in the mid 1800s as a grazing crop for livestock. Native to Europe, unfortunately the lawn weed has now found a home in yards and gardens, as well as crop fields, orchards and golf courses across the country.
This warm-season, annual grass loves summer as much as we do—thriving in a full, hot sun. It also likes to colonize, with an aggressive seeding pattern and rapid growth that can take over our yards before we even notice it.
Crabgrass thrives in semi-tropical and temperate zones. That’s why you can find this stubborn weed in all parts of the United States—including Hawaii and Puerto Rico. It pops up each year in early to mid-spring and is gone by the first frost in the fall.
The reason crabgrass is such an eyesore is that it spreads—rapidly. Crabgrass germinates from April through September in most areas of the country, with high-growing, branching stems, but it can also adapt to live close to the ground in mats. As a groundcover, it will spread and put out roots within a season. If allowed to flourish, it will choke out surrounding grasses and form depressions in your lawn. The depressions will eventually be reseeded and the crabgrass will spread even farther in the next season, especially if it gets a lot of water. Once it’s established, crabgrass will tolerate higher temperatures and dryer weather conditions than the grass you want to keep.
Solution
The first step to controlling crabgrass is to grow and maintain a healthy lawn with proper mowing, watering and fertilizing. A dense, strong lawn will help keep the weeds out. Hand-pulling one or two patches or individual outbreaks before this lawn weed produces seeds can help. And to make weeding easier, water your lawn first. But if you have a full-blown crabgrass outbreak, hand-pulling weeds can not only become back-breaking work, but may make the problem worse as you can unknowingly spread additional crabgrass seeds.
Bayer Advanced™ All-In-One Lawn Weed & Crabgrass Killer Ready-To-Use takes the pain out of weeding our lawn. It not only kills crabgrass, it also eliminates more than 200 other types of lawn weeds. Choose from a ready-to-spray, concentrate or ready-to-use style, depending on if you need to spot-treat a few select weeds or cover the entire yard.
Bayer Advanced™ All-In-One Lawn Weed & Crabgrass Killer Ready-To-Use won’t harm your lawn when used as directed.
Always read and follow label instructions.
Products Mentioned In This Article
Bayer Advanced
