Best Way to Remove Lawn Weeds

Posted on January 28th, 2022

The lawn is the crowning glory of a well-maintained property. Unfortunately, all it takes is a single weed growing out of your yard to ruin the beauty you’ve worked so hard to cultivate. Not only are they unpleasant to look at, but they also rob your lawn and plants of valuable nutrients and moisture. However, as many property owners know, keeping your lawn weed-free is no small feat. So, how do you get rid of weeds permanently? 

Here are some of the best methods to apply to rid your lawn of pesky weeds.

Pull Lawn Weeds Out The Right Way

Hand-weeding is one of the easiest ways to get rid of weeds from your lawn, especially if your area is small. But it’s not recommended to just remove weeds from lawn soil and pull them out. The plant might break off from its roots, from which a new plant will grow pretty quickly. There is a proper way to ensure that weeds don’t grow back immediately.

For perennial weeds like dandelions, it’s best to dig them up while they are still young. Use garden tools like a sickle-blade or a dandelion digger to pry the plant from the soil. Angle the blade down toward the center of the plant and loosen the dirt around it. Hold the plant near the base and pull it upward carefully, so you don’t break the roots. If your soil is dry and hard, wet the ground before pulling to soften it up. 

Use Flame Weeders

Flame weeding is an effective control method to get rid of weeds. This method works for most annual weeds and some perennial weeds. A wand connected to and fueled by a propane tank produces a controlled flame that is passed over weeds in order to kill them. But the main goal isn’t to burn the plants to a crisp. Instead, the intense heat given off by the flame is used to destroy its cell walls, causing the plant to eventually die in the process.

Although flame weeding is a slow process, it’s still an effective way to control weed growth using a more targeted approach without posing any risk of runoffs killing your grass. But as a reminder, never use a flamer when your lawn is dry or in planting beds that are covered in flammable mulch.

Apply Herbicide

Applying herbicides is an effective method to remove weeds from lawn areas. However, without proper planning, you might just do more harm than good. Before applying herbicides on your lawn, it’s helpful to know what kind of herbicides there are:

• Selective herbicides can kill some plants but won’t harm others.
• Non-selective herbicides don’t discriminate, killing all plants they come in contact with.
• Pre-emergence herbicides target seeds and keep them from growing.
• Post-emergence herbicides target fully grown plants to destroy them from within.

Most available herbicides are a combination of two qualities. For instance, Benefin is a selective pre-emergence herbicide often used to target crabgrass as it grows. Meanwhile, glyphosate is a non-selective post-emergence herbicide used for the spot treatment of most weeds. Make sure to check the label of herbicides before application to determine the best treatment for weeds on your lawn.

Organic herbicides are also available as natural weed killers. Some examples include corn gluten, which stops crabgrass and other weeds from growing roots, and acetic acid, which kills part of the weed it touches but travels through the weed body to destroy the entire plant. Make sure to consider the pros and cons of these herbicides before you decide to use them to remove weeds from lawn areas permanently. Also, it’s best to use them as a last resort when none of the other methods have worked.

Control Weed Growth Naturally

Proper lawn care is still the best way to keep weeds under control. Sticking to a strict lawn maintenance schedule helps keep lawn weeds away while ensuring a lush, green lawn. Here’s what a strict year-round lawn maintenance schedule looks like:

• During spring, pick out all the stray weeds by hand and apply pre-emergent herbicide to keep seeds from germinating.
• Mow your lawn regularly, making sure not to cut more than a third of the grass height. This allows ample surface area for sunlight absorption, helping them become more resilient.
• Dethatch your grass using a rake to remove the accumulated debris between each blade of grass.
• Re-seed bare patches of soil.
• Water the grass regularly and apply lawn fertilizer to encourage grass growth.
• Aerate your lawn to build healthy soil.
• Mow your lawn before the winter and fertilize one last time to prepare it for dormancy.

Talk to the Experts

Keeping your lawn green and weed-free is a challenge for property owners everywhere. The best way to eliminate weeds is by applying a combination of the methods above while also sticking to a rigorous maintenance schedule to keep them away. Removing weeds can be a seamless experience when you call in the experts at Turf Unlimited. Call us today at (888) 649-9919, or send us a message here to get started on cultivating the lawn of your dreams.