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Do My Own Lawn Care - Liquid v. Granular Pre-Emergents

By DoMyOwn staff

Paul discusses the pros and cons of Liquid and Granular Pre-Emergents.

 Do My Own Lawn Care - Liquid v. Granular Pre-Emergents Video Play

Video Transcript

Yup! Still dormant.

I mean, I guess I shouldn't complain too much because I can at least see my dormant grass. A comment on our last video, someone had said that they are still buried under inches of snow and I'm sure they would give anything to be able to see their dormant lawn. So, my hear goes out to all of you up north still buried under the devils dandruff, other wise known as snow.

And real quick, just wanted to show you the difference between a yard that has been treated with a pre emergent in the fall and spring versus a yard that has not. You can see the weeds starting to pop up because we've had some unusually warm weather and these seeds are starting to kind of freak out and think it's time! Time to sprout up. But you can see because they haven't treated with a pre emergent this is the problem that they've got going on. And my yard use to look like this before I started putting down my pre emergents and tackling my weed problems and all of that kind of stuff. But now because I've got that protective barrier, I've inhibited or prevented a lot of weeds from sprouting up and causing a problem.

And because we're in that time of the year to get the pre emergents and get them put down in our yard, customer service staff is getting a lot of great questions when it comes to pre emergents, and one of those questions is what is better, liquid or granular. So let's talk about that. Let's dive into the debate of which is better, a liquid or a granule pre emergent for the yard.

Now, there are pros and cons to each and that's what I want to try and cover in this video. So first up, let's talk about the pros and cons of a granular pre emergent.

With a granular pre emergent, they're easier to put down. There's no mixing involved and really, there's kind of no measuring involved either. Now I say there's no measuring involved but you still have to do a little bit of math and figure out how much you need to put down in your yard, but really that's about it.

With most granules, it will tell you right there on the bag the amount of square footage that it covers, so it kind of takes the guess work out for ya. You just empty the bag into your spreader, calibrate it, and get to walking. That's really all there is to it. So in that regards, it saves you more time versus a liquid.

And granules are a great option if you have a smaller lawn.

No for the cons, with granules, it's hard to get an even application in the yard and not miss any spots. One of the biggest areas you've got to keep in mind, is along side walks and drive ways. This is where they tend to break down the most. And the reason for that is, this is where water runs off and collects, it's also where your edging, which breaks down the soil where that protective barrier that pre em offers should be, thus breaking down that barrier, and the heat from the concrete can break it down even faster. So keep that in mind when choosing between a liquid and a granular. You want to make sure that your getting a nice even application along your sidewalk and your driveway, or any areas that you have concrete meeting turf.

With a granular you have to almost water it in immediately. It won't start to take affect until you do. And even after you've watered it in, it's going to take some time for those granules to break down, get into the soil and start to go to work on those seeds that are trying to germinate and prevent them from sprouting up.

So now let's switch over to liquids and talk about the pros and cons there. Pros, with a liquid, you can get a more even application over the entire lawn. You have more control, you can be more precise. Also with a liquid, you tend to use a lot less product. So, in that regards, it tends to be a lot cheaper. You can take a liquid a lot further than you can with a granular.

Liquids are going to take less space. They're condensed in a bottle that you can put up on a shelf or in a storage cabinet.

Now on to the cons of using liquid pre emergents. One down side to a liquid is you have to actually measure it out, in a tank, with some water, agitate it, mix it all up, and then spray it out versus the granular again that you simply just empty the bag in a spreader and get to walking. But really we're only talking about a few extra minutes, so it's really not that big of a deal.

And, yeah, you have to actually measure out and mix the liquid in a tank with some water, and this tends to hold a lot of people back because they have the fear that they're gonna either over mix or under mix the product.

Hey, I get it! It's understandable but if you just read the label, you wear your ppe, you take your time, you should be fine!

And our amazingly awesome customer service staff can help you out with that if that's what's holding you back. They can help you figure out those mix rates, tell you how to do it. They'll walk you through the whole process. They're awesome. High five to them!

And with a liquid, you have to keep something in mind on a day like today when it's windy, and that's drift. We recommend and try to avoid drift at all possible to be safe and responsible. The last thing that we want to happen, is we're spraying out our liquid pre emergent, a gust of wind comes through, it drifts off into an area that maybe we've over seeded in, or we've just put down some seeds of a plant that we're trying to grow, and it gets into the soil and prevents those seeds from germinating.

So I hope throwing all these pros and cons of both liquid and granular pre emergents has helped you out. It's helping you make a decision. But I'm curious, what are some other pros and cons that maybe I missed or didn't touch on in this video, sound off in the comments below, let us know!

And like I say in every video, if you have any other further questions on this topic leave those in the comments section below as well, you can email them over to our customer service staff or pick up the phone, give them a call. They're seriously amazing. I can't brag about them enough!

And if you're not already subscribe to the channel by clicking this button, you can click this playlist to see all the videos in the Do My Own Lawn Care series and click this play list to see all the videos in the Do My Own Gardening series.

And it looks like I'm about to get dump on with some serious rain, so as always, thanks for watching!