By DoMyOwn staff
Kick start your lawn care with spring pre-emergents that can prevent weeds from popping up in your lawn. Pre-emergents work by putting a barrier over the lawn to stop seeds from emerging.
Hey everybody it's Heath from DoMyOwn.com. And today we're gonna talk to you about applying pre-emergents. Why should you apply a spring pre-emergent herbicide? The best answer to that is to get an early control on those weeds. The best way to go about it is to prevent those weeds hinting the pre emergent part. The pre-emergent is going to put a barrier over the lawn to stop those seeds from germinating, to eliminate a lot of those weeds from emerging into the lawn throughout the growing season.
When applying these spring pre-emergents, it's important to put it down early. It's important to put it down prior to the soil temperature reaching 55 degrees. So that we can get control over those stubborn weeds like goosegrass and crabgrass and some of the other weeds that may pop up throughout the year like clover and dandelions and that kind of thing. It's important to get it down prior to those emerging, so we don't have to use post-emergents to control those weeds. If you have a forsythia bush, those usually bloom right around 50 to 55 degrees. So anytime the forsythia is blooming that's a good time to put down your first pre-emergent application. Another thing you can do is take a soil probe, and probe it into the first inch to two inches of the soil and get a temperature reading that way. Earlier is always better. The sooner we can get that pre-emergent down the sooner we can stop those weeds from emerging.
The best thing to do is to do a split application with that, so if you're not exactly sure: do your first application early and then try to schedule your second application around the. 55 to 60 degree mark. with that, you're going to get a season-long control on those weeds by doing a split application. It's going to increase the timing of that pre-emergent, so you can put the same amount down in one single application, but doing that split application at the same rate is going to give you a longer control. Another important reason to do a split application is the weather aspect of it. It's going to break down quicker if you get a lot of rain. Another important aspect is the application of it. If you've missed locations on the first application, hopefully you can get it on the second application. So that way, you can get a good barrier down over the entire area.
So when doing your split applications, it's important to pull out your calendar and mark the date of your first application. With that, you'll know from there on, you'll apply your second application normally 5-8 weeks after the initial application. For those warm season turfs that don't go dormant, it may be important instead of doing split applications that you can still do, it may be more important to do quarterly applications, so that's why pulling out the calendar would be really important to you to see exactly when you're applying those pre-emergent applications.
How to apply your spring pre-emergent applications is gonna depend on the equipment you have and the size of your lawn. Liquid applications can be applied, just make sure you're getting even applications all the way through, reading those labeled rates and applying the proper amount per 1000 square feet that you're applying it to. The same thing with a granular. Make sure that you are abiding by that label as well.
We want to make sure we are applying even applications all the way through so we have the same pre-emergent and it all breaks down at the same time. It is important to double swipe along the curbs especially when doing a liquid application. If you're using a granular product, but your spreader guard down when doing those curb applications and that will apply the little extra product you need for it to last in those areas because they do break down a little faster due to weather and climate change.
Some of the common active ingredients to use for spring pre-emergent application are gonna consist of dithiopyr, prodiamine, or pendimethalin. those are very common actives that give you great control over a wide vareity of different weeds throughout the spring and summertime.
If you know the type of weeds that you're having issues with in the spring or summer, it may be beneficial for you to do some research and make sure the pre-emergent you're applying is actually targeting those weeds specifically. If not, you may be able to do a combination of different pre-emergents or find a pre-emergent that specific for that weed and has other weeds listed on the label that you are trying to control. So it's important to read those labels to make sure you're applying the proper product.
Thanks for watching this video! hopefully you have great success in your lawn this year. If you liked this video, check out our other videos by subscribing.
