It might feel like you’re doing everything right for your Louisville lawn and you still can’t completely escape weeds. It can be frustrating to invest time and energy into your lawn only to see those pesky weeds pop up.
For that reason, you might be looking for weeding hacks that can help keep invaders away.
While we wish there was a magic bullet cure that would get rid of weeds, the truth is, it’s a process. Any quick fixes to control weeds are probably lawn care myths that you shouldn’t believe.
For instance, while it’s true that you could apply salt, clove oil, or vinegar to weeds and kill them, it’s probably going to kill your lawn, too!
Most of the time, hacks and tricks are simply too-good-to-be-true…or potentially even harmful to your lawn.
While they aren’t quick fixes or top-secret cures we can tell you about, instead, you should focus on the following tips to control weeds if you’re serious about making the best choices for your lawn.
Again, it’s a process when it comes to effective weed control. That’s why one of the important steps that you should be taking is improving your lawn’s soil health.
Weeds are often a symptom of an underlying problem, which is poor soil. Weeds typically thrive in conditions in which healthy turf would struggle such as low pH or compacted soil.
If you want to produce a healthy lawn, you need healthy soil.
One of the ways that this is achieved is with routine professional lawn fertilization. You want your lawn to be rich with nutrients and thrive with microscopic organisms that help improve its conditions. Keeping up with regular fertilization is key.
Power sending can also help improve soil health by breaking up thick layers of dead grass, old roots, and compacted organic matter and ultimately planting and growing healthier grass.
It’s also important to remember that different weeds are going to thrive at different times of the year. You must take a varied approach to weed control so that you are using different weed control products at different times.
Some products are going to be better at certain points of the season than others.
This also includes both pre-emergent and post-emergent controls. While pre-emergents work prior to germination, post-emergents will help address break through. Strategic timing is key.
Whenever possible, you want to aim for preventative weed control in which you are avoiding weed growth in the first place. Pre-emergent products help do this for grassy weeds.
We talked about how a varied approach is important, but so are the actual products that you’re using. Not all weed control products are created equally. There could be well over a dozen different products to choose from, all at various cost points, but also at various levels of results.
If you’re not keeping weeds out of the yard, it’s possible that it has to do with the quality of the weed control products.
The truth is, sometimes lawn care companies even skimp on products to try and make more money. But you want to make sure that you’re working with a lawn care company that is investing in high-quality, commercial-grade weed control.
By no means is that to say that you’ll never have a weed again if you pay more for weed control. But as with most things in life, you get what you pay for with products to control weeds. Some simply work better than others.
Finally, it’s really important to recognize how much good lawn care habits can affect weed control. Things like proper watering and proper mowing can have a significant effect on weed growth.
For example, mowing the lawn too short is a common reason why homeowners sometimes see unexpected weeds popping up. When you mow the lawn too short, it puts a lot of stress on the grass. In fact, that can lead to thin spots and bare areas. And when this happens, those become the perfect locations for opportunistic weeds to creep in.
Weeds LOVE thin areas of the lawn where they don’t have to compete with thick, healthy turf.
We advise raising the mowing deck to four inches. While we know that people love a short lawn, it’s not going to be as healthy.
It’s also important to keep up with mowing regularly so that you don’t have to mow as much all at once. The goal is to cut no more than a third of the grass blade at a time. More than that can be stressful.
And, you also want to keep up with watering. When a lawn is struggling from drought stress, this creates an opportunity for weeds to sneak in.
At the end of the day, the best way to deal with weeds is to hand those worries over to a lawn care professional who can take care of them for you.
At Limbwalker, we are focused on using some of the best practices mentioned in this article.
That means that we take a multi-faceted approach to weed control with different products used at different times of the year. That includes a combination of pre-emergent and post-emergent controls…and even specialty controls when warranted for targeting specific weeds.
But just as importantly, we’re focused on preventative weed control with all of our efforts as we know that a healthy lawn is one of the best ways to defend against weeds in the first place. We are focusing on curating excellent soil health so that our clients can grow thick and healthy lawns. This includes using top-quality fertilization products.
Along with that, we’re helping to set our clients up for success by making cultural recommendations in regard to any of the lawn care tasks (like watering and mowing) that they handle on their own.
We know that the best lawns come from a healthy partnership. We truly value the relationships that we build with Louisville homeowners and want you to know that we’ve got your back. Weeds can be a huge source of frustration, but we’re here to help take that burden from your shoulders.
Working together, we can start to win the war against weeds!
Are you ready to have a thick and healthy lawn that’s getting everything it needs at your Louisville, KY home? Get in touch with us to get a quote for our lawn care programs, which include three lawn care pricing options.