Landscape

Getting Pre-Emergents Down before Grassy Weeds Germinate

The days are getting longer and the grass is starting to green up. And that means it’s soon time to put down pre-emergent herbicide before grassy weeds, such as crabgrass, germinate in the soil.

Do you know which fertilizer with pre-emergent weed control is best for your clients’ lawns?

 

What Is Crabgrass?

Crabgrass is the primary grassy weed that homeowners deal with every spring. It germinates in April when soil temperatures reach 55ºF - 60ºF overnight for five nights in a row.

Crabgrass sticks out in turf because it’s flat and will grow outward along the ground. Your lawn care goals for your clients should be growing a healthy stand of turf that crowds out weeds, especially crabgrass.

Crabgrass is lime-green and course. There are two types of crabgrass, smooth and large. Most northeastern U.S. lawns have a smooth (hairless) variety with a purple base, rolled stems, and course leaves.

Crabgrass seedheads look like fingers, distributing hundreds of seeds into the air.

Crabgrass is a warm season annual weed, and it’ll germinate one more time in late summer, where the seeds will overwinter in the ground. Mature crabgrass plants will die after the first fall frost.

Fall crabgrass seedlings will germinate in April and continue growing throughout the summer. You need to put down pre-emergent weed control to stop these pesky weeds in their tracks.

Learn more: 11 Grass Seeding Tips to Get Your Spring Season Off to a Great Start

 

Professional Pre-Emergent Herbicide

As a professional lawn care company, you need a commercial pre-emergent herbicide that forms a barrier in the soil to prevent crabgrass seedlings from germinating. The tricky part comes in when you need to reseed a lawn because any pre-emergent herbicide will block turfgrass seed from growing as well.

It would help if you had a pre-emergent that blocks crabgrass seeds but won’t block turfgrass seeds. Fortunately, LebanonTurf has two types of pre-emergent weed control blends that come with their fertilizer combination products:

• Prodiamine is a unique herbicide because it blocks crabgrass and other grassy weeds, but it won’t impact already established turf. You can find this weed control in the combination fertilizer, E-Blend 16-2-3 60% MESA 50% biosolids with 0.38 Prodiamine.

• Dimension® is another exclusive weed control product that prevents annual weeds, such as crabgrass and broadleaf weeds, from sprouting while allowing established turfgrass to grow normally. Our E-Blend 16-2-3 60% MESA 50% Biosolids with 0.15 Dimension provides the nutrition that springtime turfgrass needs while preventing grassy annual and broadleaf weeds from growing.

Our combination fertilizers provide the nutrients that your clients’ turfgrass needs while maintaining a weed-free lawn. Meanwhile, you can give cultural management tips and tricks that encourage a thick turf cover that prohibits weed growth on your customers’ properties.

Read more: How Combination Lawn Care Products Can Save You More than Time

 

Help Your Lawn Care Customers Practice Good Cultural Management between Visits

As a professional landscaper, you know the damage or neglect that a customer can do between your visits to their property.

Knowledge is power, according to Francis Bacon, an ancient philosopher. You can empower your customers to take care of their lawns, making your job easier and making your clients happier with their properties.

You can share these tips on a factsheet that you distribute to your customers, in an e-newsletter, and on your blog. Remember, your customers will need to be reminded of these tips throughout the growing season.

Here are some tips that your lawn care clients need to know about taking care of their yards between visits—and that they can reduce the number of weeds growing in their yards:

1. Remind your customers that these tips will help them have a thick, green lawn with hardly any weeds.
2. If some of your customers mow their lawns, explain that they should only take the top third off their turf. Of course, this rule of thumb changes depending on the type of turfgrass growing on their property.

3. Let your clients know they should mow their lawns before noon before the sun is at its highest point or wait until early evening.
4. Remind your clients to have their lawn mower blades sharpened every year, so the turf gets a clean cut with each mow.

5. Encourage your customers to invest in an in-ground sprinkler system that’s set up to water their turf in the early morning hours.

6. Warn your customers that too much water not only wastes it but harms the turfgrass as well.

7. Provide core aeration and dethatching services to relieve compacted soil. Remind your clients that these lawn services promote healthy turf.
8. Provide lawn service packages that provide regular fertilizer, weed, and insect controls to ensure thick, green turf throughout the season. Explain the importance of regular fertilization with insect and weed controls in your newsletter, blog, and social media posts.

In addition to educating your clients on smart cultural practices between visits, you should only invest in lawn care products that provide nutrition and protection to the properties you serve.

LebanonTurf’s E-Blend products will prevent annoying grassy weeds like crabgrass while growing turfgrass. You can get your LebanonTurf products at your local distributor.