It’s Time to Get that Pre-emergent Crabgrass Control on Your New City, NY Lawn
The snow is starting to melt and it’s feeling more like spring in New City, NY. In a few weeks, the forsythia bush will bloom and that means it’s time to apply pre-emergent crabgrass control on your lawn.
Are you wondering why crabgrass just can’t take a hint? Why does it keep coming up every year in your Rockland County, NY or Bergen County, NJ yard?
Unfortunately, crabgrass is spread by seed. Although you may be treating your lawn every year for crabgrass control, other properties near you may not be. Additionally, any nearby fields and parks have crabgrass growing freely and those seeds can travel to your backyard.
At Majestic Lawn and Landscape, we recommend that you invest in your lawn by employing the following lawn care techniques:
Make sure that you apply pre-emergent crabgrass control before the weeds start to germinate which is usually mid-March.
Plan to develop a healthy, dense lawn by applying the following management tools:
- Have your soil tested. We can take various samples from your yard to test for pH balance and to make sure that there is enough nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus present. These nutrients, as well as a balanced pH, will encourage your lawn to grow thick, dense, and green. And a thick, dense lawn won’t give crabgrass or any other weeds room to grow in your yard.
- When you get your soil test results back, you may need to add soil amendments to get the soil back to normal. If you have acidic soil, we can apply lime to neutralize it, or if it’s too basic, we’ll add top dressing to get it closer to its optimum pH level. We’ll also apply the right fertilizer to your lawn based on your soil results. And we apply fertilizer only in the spring and fall when the temperatures are cooler. Depending on your lawn’s needs, we’ll fertilize four or five times per season. And we won’t fertilize during the summer because it may burn your lawn.
- Apply the right grass seed blend to your lawn. If you have a lot of shade, we’ll plant grass seed that does well in shade. Likewise, if parts of your lawn get full sun, we’ll apply a grass blend that needs full sun to grow and thrive. And to simplify the process of finding the right grass blend for your lawn, we have a blend that’s good for both sun and shade!
- Make sure that your lawn is mowed on a regular basis. We recommend only taking a third of the grass blade off when your lawn is mowed. By leaving your turf a bit longer, you’ll promote a denser and healthier lawn. We sharpen our blades every morning so our mowers always have sharp blades to make clean cuts that avoid plant injury.
- Irrigate your lawn on an irregular basis. By deeply watering your lawn on an irregular basis, you promote your turf to grow its roots deeply into the soil. Deep root systems will provide moisture to the turf above ground when there’s a dry spell during the summer because the roots can reach the soil’s deep water reserves. We can install an irrigation system for you with a timer so it waters your lawn during the optimal hours of 4–9 a.m. Ask us to install rain and moisture sensors to your irrigation system too. These sensors will stop irrigation during a rainstorm or when the soil moisture level reaches one inch of water. You’ll save money on your water bill as well as conserve it.
- Apply mulch every spring and fall. Mulch not only makes your home look manicured and complete; it also prevents weeds from germinating. We can apply mulch to your beds to give it that finished look as well as protect it from crabgrass and other weeds popping up over the growing season.
- Employ Integrated Weed Management (IWM). Basically all of the above management practices are also IWM. IWM simply means using natural methods to take care of your lawn first and using chemicals as a last resort. By making your lawn healthy and thick, you won’t have as many weeds, including crabgrass, emerging because they won’t have enough room in the soil to develop a healthy root system. Plus, a thick canopy of grass doesn’t allow the weeds to get enough light to grow.
Make sure that crabgrass gets the hint this spring by developing a dense lawn. If you live in Rockland County, NY or Bergen County, NJ, call us today at (845) 708-2988 or fill out our contact form.
SOURCE:
Penn State University. “Forsythias are blooming and thoughts turn to…crabgrass.”
