Why your lawn needs pre-emergent weeds-control?

Weeds Control

The temperature has stayed cool for a couple weeks.  On our weed control calendar, it is the time to apply pre-emergent treatments to your lawn.  Winter is not weed-free.  Rember the dandalion and bluegrass that invaded your yard in the spring and summer? Those weeds don't just grow in the spring and summer. They have been lurking in your yard way before that.  Now it is the time to stunt their growth in early stage.  Pre-emergent treatment, as the name suggests, does just that.  Pre-emergent is designed to eliminate the weeds before it emerges,  or in another word, before the weed germinates, and are an effective preventative method for controlling weeds. 

Pre-emergents establish a chemical barrier that will not kill established plants, but will prevent weeds from successfully growing.  Different types of weeds requires different pre-emergent. 

Benefits of Pre-emergent

  • Pre-emergent is designed to stop the weed from growing.  Some people may say that you can simply put down new soil or mulch to bury the weed seeds. However the weed seeds can remain viable many years. When the chance comes, the weed will still popup. Pre-emeregent breaks the cycle of regrowth and kill the weeds permanently. 
  • Weed control is a year-long effort. Pre-memergent application and post-emergent application work together to kill the weeds.

Common Winter Weeds That Affect Georgia Lawns

Typical winter weeds include the following.

  • Annual Bluegrass (Poa annua),
  • Common Chickweed (Stellaria media),
  • Dandelion (Taraxacum) ,
  • Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule),
  • Speedwell (Veronica arvensis) and many more.  

Annual winter weeds grow slowly throughout the winter and start rapid growth when temperatures rise in the early spring.  In the Fall, when temperature begins to cool, these weeds beging to emerge from seeds that have been dormant since spring time. 

Winter weeds infestation not only spoil your beautiful yard aesthetically, more importantly it damages the warm-season turf grass for the coming the spring green-up. Weeds compete with turfgrass for for sunlight, soil moisture, nutrients and space, which may cause your desirable turfgrass to suffer while weeds flourish.  Even when winter weeds die, it could leave large bare spots that can easily be infested by summer weeds such as crabgrass and clovers. 

Pre-emergemnt Treatments Timing

Pre-emergent applications should be made prior to weed emergence.  Individual weed seed varies by size, maturity, and depth in the ground. So the time for them to germinate also vary.  There is not a specific date by which the pre-emergent must be applied.  In Georgia, we typically apply pre-emergent in September through November. 

Now you understand the concept of pre-emergent.  Ready to do it?  Fill out our contact form to get a Free estimate or give us a call at 404-557-3212.