Pre-Emergent Weed Control in Cleveland
By Rick Pietrick
Spring is a time in Cleveland when the snow begins to melt (hopefully), we get a taste of warmer temperatures, and our flowers and plants start to bud and bloom. For many of us, spring is a welcome sight after the cold snowy winter months. It is also the best time to start protecting your lawn against weeds and crabgrass.
Even if your lawn is relatively weed-free, seeds from other plants in nearby yards have traveled through wind, air, or animal activity and rested in your yard. These seeds lie on the topsoil and wait until the temperature is warm enough (spring/summer) to germinate and begin to populate an area. The most effective way of controlling weeds in a turf lawn is with pre-emergents.
Pre-emergents work by stopping weeds before the plant has an opportunity to grow and develop. Best Greening Services is the only lawn care company in northeast Ohio that applies two crabgrass pre-emergent applications in spring.
Applied in spring along with your much-needed spring fertilizer, pre-emergents work by establishing a barrier on the topsoil preventing existing weed and crabgrass seeds from germinating. By applying two pre-emergent applications in spring, Best Greening Services can extend the performance of the pre-emergent into the hot summer months of July and August when crabgrass is in its peak growing period.
Lawns with thick, consistent turf coverage tend to have best results with pre-emergent applications. Areas with bare patches of dirt will be susceptible to weed and crabgrass in the hot summer months and should be re-seeded in the fall. You may still have weeds so Best Greening Services also provides post-emergent sprays to handle any crabgrass or weed escapes in the lawn.
What if you wanted to re-seed this spring but are worried the pre-emergent will stop your grass seed as well?
Pre-emergents will typically block grass seed from growing as well, so a complete over-seeding of the lawn in spring is not recommended after the application of a pre-emergent.
However, if your lawn has bare spots of dirt, these areas can be seeded after using a pre-emergent. To void the seed blocking barrier, just take a hard rake to the bare areas and break up the first layer of topsoil. Once, the topsoil has been disrupted, the pre-emergent will no longer affect the grass seed applied and it’s safe to replant grass.
