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How Do I Kill My Weeds Without Killing My Grass? - Weed Control Tips

By DoMyOwn staff

How do I kill my weeds but not my grass? In this video, we'll walk you through the importance of using the right selective post-emergent herbicide to keep your turfgrass safe.

 How Do I Kill My Weeds Without Killing My Grass? - Weed Control Tips Video Play

Video Transcript


Hi I'm Trisha with DoMyOwn.com.  We often get asked a lot of questions about how to kill weeds in your grass that won't also kill your turf grass. I'm here today to tell you how to do that.

Typically step one will be figuring out what type of grass your turf is because not all products are safe for use on all types of turf. Say if you have a cool season or warm season grass, and even specific types of those types of grasses, so we want to make sure that we recommend a product that's not also going to kill your grass. 

Step two is identifying the type of weeds you are trying to treat for. Say if you're treating for grassy weeds like crabgrass, barnyard grass, sometimes Bermuda grass in a cool season turf, or if you're treating for broadleaf weeds like dandelion, clover, henbit, and many others. The next thing is also sedges because sedges can be difficult to control and not all products are labeled to control them as well as grassy and broadleaf. 

Not all products are labeled to control all three types of weeds, so you want to make sure that you're selecting the right product that matches your target weeds.

With post emergent herbicides, you also have the option of a selective herbicide or non selective. Selective means that it's only going to kill the target weeds that are listed on the label and it will not harm the tolerable turf grasses that are listed on the label.

With post emergent herbicides it's important to pick a selective herbicide that is right for both your turfgrass and the target weeds to ensure that they're both listed on the product label. This will ensure that you don't kill your grass but effectively eliminate the weeds. 

Or you have the option of a non-selective which will kill just about anything that it's applied to, which will include your turf. So you gotta take care with these types to try and only spot treat the weeds directly. 

Timing is also really important when you're dealing with post emergent herbicides. You want to make sure that you're timing it when the target weeds are actively growing and healthy but that you're not applying it during certain times of the day and in certain temperatures. This includes really hot times of the day when the weeds and your grass are already heat stressed as well as when you're under any kind of drought conditions, because that will cause the herbicide that you use to not be absorbed by the weeds really well and you can also a risk injuring your lawn. 

So in summary, in order to kill your weeds and not your grass you'll need to know your grass type and the weed you are trying to treat for.

You'll then be able to select a post emergent herbicide that will kill the target weeds and ensure that you do not also kill your turf. 

Another important part of your lawn care program is applying a pre-emergent. Pre-emergents are applied before weeds germinate and can be based on the type of weeds that you're needing to prevent as well as where you are. So it's important to make sure that you get it down before the weeds germinate. 

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