How to rid your lawn of Crab Grass

Crab Grass is the frustration of many lawn owners each summer. It’s tolerant of full sun, deep shade, heat, humidity, drought and heavy rain. If it didn’t turn brown during winter and leave ugly brown spots you wouldn’t be too concerned, but it does. You can try and kill the grass, but often the seeds remain to cause havoc year after year.

If you have a very large patch of crab grass and it is green just leave it while the weather is hot and other lawns will be a little difficult to establish. Just ensure that you mow before the three-prolonged seed stalks mature, as this will cause even more problems further down the track.

At this time of year the best thing you can do is plan. As soon as the weather begins to cool down you need to take action. Purchase a crab grass spray, suitable to the variety of lawn you have at your local hardware or lawn care supplier. The crab grass may require numerous applications so make sure that you allow time for this. When the offending grass turns brown you will need to pull it out, ensuring that you get any living grass plants that remain and have spread out. If any of your regular grass around the treated area looks to be dead or dying you will need to remove that too.

Depending on the size of the hole left in the lawn, you can either lay some new turf or allow the existing lawn to regrow over the space. As the new grass begins to grow it may be wise to apply a fertiliser with a crab grass preventer. This fertiliser can be used over the entire lawn, but definitely needs to be applied to the new growth. Applying this type of fertiliser will stop any dormant seeds from germinating and the crab grass to reinfest.

During summer keep an eye out for crab grass growth and either pull it out or make a plan of attack for when the cooler weather rolls in.