Most people who do not live in San Diego seem to misunderstand our climate. We actually do have seasons instead of just one long summer, and springtime is one of the best times of the year. This is especially true when the winter rains come to an end and we can look forward to months of almost continuous sunshine. It’s also a time when our plant life tends to sprout just like anywhere else, with our flowers blooming and our grass growing.
Unfortunately, that’s not positive news in every sense. While it’s obviously wonderful to see our perennials come back and our grass begin to grow quickly once again, it’s also the time of year when one of the biggest foes of San Diego homeowners arises – crabgrass. Crabgrass is a scourge on any lawn, and if it’s not controlled immediately it can and will spread quickly and dominate a lawn to the point where the desired breed of grass is all but eliminated.
Crabgrass is best handled by preventing it from ever getting to this point as opposed to attempting to fight it after it has taken hold of a lawn. One of the best preventative steps that you can take to deal with crabgrass before it becomes a headache is to seed your lawn heavily in the spring so that your desired grass will grow and establish itself firmly. Crabgrass tends to take advantage of open spaces, and its seeding pattern is such that it will spread quickly into these vulnerable areas.
You can also deal with crabgrass by setting your lawn mower a bit higher than you normally would otherwise. This will prevent the sun from hitting any crabgrass seeds which provide those seeds with an opportunity to germinate. This will also provide your desired grass to grow taller, longer, thicker and ultimately stronger.
Of course, the next step you will need to take in dealing with crabgrass is to get down on your hands and knees and pull out what you see. However, you need to be thorough with this step and pull the crabgrass out so that the roots are removed. Simply pulling off the top of the blades will only provide it with an opportunity to come back quickly and perhaps to spread. You will know crabgrass roots when you see them – they are white towards the bottom and have a brown bulb.
Unfortunately, this may not be enough for every homeowner, as crabgrass has managed to survive for a reason – it is a tough and durable plant. You may need to purchase some herbicide and spray it off of your lawn, but doing so could be risky because of chemical exposure and because of the potential to burn out other areas on your lawn.
If you would like to really bring down the hammer on unwanted crabgrass and weeds, contact the San Diego landscaping professionals at Juniper Landscape Company today to learn more about how we can help you.