I have approximately 400,000 sq.ft.of lawn and about 25% has gone to crab grass before I took over the acount does anyone have suggestions on a quick safe method to get rid of the crab grass....
That's a bummer. Next time, use a pre-emergent before the crabgrass season hits. <p>Anyway, for a solution, I believe Trimec Plus will kill crabgrass. But you want to be careful. It can also kill other types of grasses. Not sure what the rest of the lawn you are referring to is. Where I live, lawns are mostly perrenial ryegrass. Sometimes we get a little fine fescue blended in. Trimec Plus doesn't hurt those. But where you live it may be different. A good rule of thumb, in my experience, is that Trimec Plus kills the "thicker" grasses. But I'd check just to make sure. <p>The second problem you have is dead spots after you kill the crab grass. You'll want to re-seed those areas soon, before weeds or crabgrass come back. <p>----------<br>Jim Lewis - Lewis Landscape Services<br>http://www.lewislandscape.com
For very young crabgrass, Trimec PLUS works okay (and it does get broadleafs too) but it's expensive and can discolor desireable turfgrass.<br>Then along came Acclaim, which works better, especially later in the season.<br>Now they have Drive 75, which is superior at controlling mature crabgrass without disireable turf discoloration.
You need two apps. of 1.5oz. rate of MSMA on 7-10 day intervals to do a good job of killing off the crabgrass. I like to tank mix 1 oz. Trimec and 1 oz. MSMA to kill it all, but that is on bermuda only. We really need to know what type of grass the lawn is. I don't know what your weather is like there, but more than likely the crabgrass from this year is dead. If you put down a good pre-emerge (Barricade) every 60-90 days depending on the rate and amount of rain you should be good for next spring. If some does pop up treat it while it is within the 3 leaf stage to get a good kill.
talk to me about killing crabgrass in Florida when the base lawn is st. augustine (floratam). Baking soda is the only thing that I know works for sure, but doing that any larger than 10sq ft is a major nuisance.
Baking soda? never heard of using that, but I'm interested. Would it work in kentucky bluegrass, effectively? please tell me more, thanks
I have no idea. but get a 8 oz box from the grocery and sprinkly heavily on the grass still wet from the morning dew and see what happens. The grass / crabgrass should look like Tony Montoyas face at the end of Scarface. A nice thick dusting all over. The crab grass will necrotize within 3-4 days. St. augustine will not. Not sure about other grasses.
