The dreaded Crab Grass

[Georgian]

Is anyone else bothered by crab grass? I found a website that gives me some good info on how to stop it from growing. It says, maddeningly enough, that the best way is to have a heathly luxuriant lawn, as crab grass will take hold if you have bare spots, etc.

It's suggestion for killing it, once you have it, is "the use of pre-emergence herbicides." Apparently you need to use these in the spring, before the temperature reaches a sustained 55 F.

My problem is, we aren't allowed to use pesticides in our city. Are herbicides the same as pesticides?

 

[Rawlings]

Sorry to hear about your problem. Herbicides are designed to kill unwanted plant life, whereas pesticides are targeting , well pests! (Plus insecticides do this too.) They are all chemicals though, so I would check with the local authorities about how they categorise these things.

 

[TedBeal]

It wouldn't make any kind of sense if the stores in your town were allowed to sell something that the authorities have banned people from using, so I'd say that if you can buy herbicides, you should be able to use them without incurring any penalty.

 

[linda4]

Here's one way you ca do it to avoind the legal aspects of your neighborhood. All you need is a gallon of vinegar, salt, and soap. Yes, that's all you need to make up this recipe! Mix 1 cup of salt and a tablespoon of soap into the gallon of vinegar and you have your own home made crab grass Killer! What really kills the grass is the acid in the vinegar. But be careful to only apply to the crab grass itself.

 

[pollyannasmum]

I'm curious to know, if it's the acidic vinegar that kills the crab grass, why do you need the salt and the soap? Be great if it works though!

 

[cohen]

I hate crab grass. Yes, I do observe that they tend to populate spots in the grass. My experience so far is to diligently pull these grasses out and then plant good grass in their place.

Tough, but worth it. Once the lawn is filled with good grass, crab grass runs away

 

[Mean Machine]

It does need to be done in spring. The idea is you prevent the crabgrass from growing and further invading the lawn. I dug up all the dead stuff then seeded the bare spots. Works best if you head it off each spring.

 

[Rose]

I love the vinegar, salt, and soap method of killing crab grass. I wonder if that would work with dandelions too? I haven't looked in the stores yet for the herbicide but my guess is it is outlawed. I can understand the municipality wanting to reduce pesticides in the ground water, but it cause major problems for lawn owners. My brother and sister have a gravel driveway, and this year (the ban just went into effect) they have had to give up the fight and let the grass and weeds takeover. And its not easy to mow a driveway believe me.

 

[Hershey]

It's a pain to deal with crab grass, but frankly, we've been lucky for a number of years not to have any. We did have some years ago but finally got rid of it. My problem is that I can't recall what exactly we did to solve the problem. Sorry, but good luck!