With summer right around the corner, using a professional lawn care service can help you maintain a healthy, lush lawn. One of the obstacles that can get in the way of that goal, however, is the dreaded crabgrass. When it comes to the best landscaping, Little Rock Lawns has the knowledge and years of experience to tackle crab grass head on. And, the process is a lot more involved than simply using a lawnmower to whack it all down.
What is Crabgrass?
Crabgrass is a weed that sprouts annually and can produce more than 150,000 seeds per plant. It grows from spring to fall and cannot be stopped by simply mowing. It will keep coming back until you kill it or until the cold weather comes.
It’s important to realize that if your game plan for crab grass is to ignore it and hope it goes away, be warned: It will spread and come back even worse the next year. If you didn’t intervene during the last growing season, be prepared to begin early in the next season to prevent it from taking over your yard.
What Can Be Done about Crabgrass?
The way to approach crabgrass is two fold: stop the spread and kill the current plant.
In order to stop this weed from spreading, it’s important to remember that this is a long-term process. Initial interventions aren’t going to be aimed at killing the current plant but rather preventing it from spreading.
Crabgrass is very aggressive and, as I said, produces an astounding number of seeds. It’s important to take the time to perform this first step. Killing the existing plants don’t necessarily guarantee that its seeds won’t pop up again the following season. This is one of the main reasons crabgrass is so difficult to get rid of.
Crabgrass grows flat and not upward like regular grass, which is why mowing isn’t an effective way of getting rid of it. That said, if you use a rake to get the leaves to stick up before mowing, you can eliminate significantly more seeds than mowing alone. Make sure to use a lawnmower that catches the clippings and not a mulching lawn mower which will redistribute the clippings back into the yard, spreading the seeds even more.
Now that you’ve addressed the problem of the plant spreading next season, you can move on to getting rid of the plants that you currently have. You can easily find several products available to kill crabgrass at your big-box stores. These are usually mixed and applied with a sprayer to the crabgrass patches throughout your yard. You can also use pre-mixed formulas that come in spray bottles.
Be sure you look for a bottle that labels the product as “selective,” which means it’s 
specifically formulated to kill crabgrass and/or other weeds. If you don’t take this step, the solution can kill anything it comes in contact with, including healthy grass and plants.
Sometimes, you’ll luck out and the crabgrass plants will die after one treatment. More often, though, you may have to use additional applications. It’s always better to apply multiple treatments than to make the formula stronger, as you don’t run the risk of causing as much damage to surrounding plants.
It’s important also to remove the dead crabgrass. The weed releases toxins that can kill surrounding plants once it’s dead. Immediately disposing of it can give the good grass in your lawn a chance to grow back more quickly. You should also make sure that any bare spots in your lawn are replanted. Any exposed soil is an opportunity for weeds to set down roots.
Can Crabgrass Be Prevented?
In addition to stopping the seeds from spreading, you can also use a pre-emergent herbicide. This product will stop the crabgrass from growing before it even gets a chance to start. It needs to be applied at specific times in order to make sure it’s most effective, so again, check the label.
Professional Lawn Care Services in Little Rock
One of the best ways to prevent a crabgrass infestation is to maintain a strong, healthy lawn. After 17 years of experience in lawn care, Little Rock Lawns knows the best lawn maintenance practices to help eliminate crabgrass.
If you’re suffering from a crabgrass infestation and are looking for the best lawn care, Little Rock Lawns will help you identify, treat, and prevent the problem. We understand the best approach to attack crabgrass and not only get rid of it now, but also keep it from coming back. For professional landscaping, Little Rock Lawns can take care of all the necessary jobs so you don’t have to worry about crabgrass in your lawn.
Whether you need mowing, edging, pruning, or weed eating lawn treatment, Little Rock Lawns is the only local, experienced, full-service lawn care service you need. Don’t hire someone who will just show and mow.
Hire professionals who understand how much planning is involved in keeping your lawn lush, green, and crabgrass free. Visit our website or call (501)257-0323 today to schedule your free professional lawn analysis.
