Advice for maintenance for home lawns

Have winter weeds taken over your lawn? The seed (for next year’s crop) mature in late winter and early spring. The grassy winter annuals include annual bluegrass and little barley. Broad leaf winter annuals include henbit, common chick weed, pepperweed, Carolina geranium, buttercup, wild garlic, and Shepherd’s purse. Seed from last year’s crop of summer weeds are present and will germinate in March.

To control existing winter weeds in the dormant lawn and very early March:

Use a post-emerge herbicide to kill existing weeds, and

Keep your lawn mowed closely at recommended heights for your types of lawn grass.

Most winter weeds cannot tolerate close mowing and will be stressed, damaged, or even killed by mowing heights used on warm-season lawns.

Plan to use a pre-emergence herbicide next fall to kill next year’s crop. If you have had several winter weeds to mature and produce seed, you will certainly have the potential for a big weed crop next winter. Make notes and plans now.

Do not fertilize lawns with warm-season grasses in March. Winter weeds are in “prime time.” Warm-season turf is dormant, or nearly so. To fertilize in these months only encourages rampant weed growth and seed production. Warm-season grasses are not yet actively growing and do not benefit from early spring applications of fertilizer.

Plan to use a pre-emerge herbicide in late winter to control summer annuals that will be sprouting then.

If you need further information about controlling weeds in your lawn, contact us at the Polk County Extension Office at 770-749-2142 or uge2233@uga.edu.