Where does Crab Grass come from?

We were really confounded this year by the amount of crab grass present in the rear yard of a customer. Though we have talked about crab grass recently our conclusion of how this infestation occurred is important to keep in mind.  

Last year, when there was some crab grass spread to the rear yard, we blamed it on our mowing practices. This year we changed up how we mowed the lawn and were far more aware of weed transference due to a dirty lawn mower.   We cleaned the lawn mower more regularly and noted more closely what the machine was used for. We were of course diligent to get the crab grass out before it turned to seed so we knew that there should have been less this year.  What we ended up with was more crab grass and it was really confounding.  

On further inspection it was recognized that there was some new construction of a walk in the rear yard. This meant that foreign materials were brought to the rear yard and amongst this material was sand and screening. The latter two materials are notorious for having tons of crab grass seed present and are as bad or worse than the road sand used by the city. One bucket of material spilled or, if there was just a bit left over, it was spread out to "top dress the lawn". This would have been enough to create this year's infestation.  Just a note, I too would likely have done the same thing or one of my workers may have. It really is not a bad practice depending on the volume of material.

The conclusion was again proven to be the likely cause when we experienced a huge infestation of a customers year who had just installed a pool and new deck.  The infestation was all around the perimeter of the construction site. The quote from us for getting rid of the weeds was quite high and as this was a country property he had resources to kill them city folks don't have. My worry is is that unless you get rid of every seed head that was formed and actually pull them out before you pick up mature seeds with shoes and lawn mowers this infestation will not end. This will become a yearly event of spraying and then reseeding the lawn. Pull them out folks.

Crab Grass

This short blog is just a reminder to everyone that crab grass season is here. Crab grass can quickly destroy a lawn so the following tips at handling it are important.

The first tip is call us. We could use the money just like everyone else and the job is done right. I don't mind gloating a little even over the irony that the cost of the work of removing crab grass manually is far cheaper than the price historically charged by using chemicals. Gloat, gloat and more gloat...Schepers property Maintenance does a more thorough job.

There are those who will insist on doing it themselves however and here are some tips. The first is know your enemy. Crab grass seeds are rife in the sand used by the city in the winter. Knowing this information you can watch your blvds and along the edge of the drive for the weed to start.

The second tip is easy too. If you see crab grass growing in your back yard or somewhere else in your yard then you likely are the culprit that brought it there. You cut your front lawn first and then, when cutting your back yard, you transplanted the seed. Cut the area that has crab grass last and you will avoid spreading your work to other areas of your lawn.

Finally, crab crass is an annual and it is therefore easy to get rid of. Cutting the plant just below the surface or pulling all portions of the plant is enough. No special tool is required. Finally, as long as you get the plant before it turns to seed you are generally ok. Don't forget to reseed and reed up on our blog about the tricks for that