If you are a homeowner, weeds around your property might be one of your worst nightmares. Among being unattractive, weeds can begin to compete with your healthy turf, making it more challenging for grass to grow and thrive. So what is the best way to get rid of weeds?
While most people recognize that weeds can be a year-round problem, you might not know that means your approach needs to be varied depending on the season. Different weeds require different solutions—at different times of the year! Weed control tends to be very involved, and when something isn’t working, you need a different solution.
Keep reading to learn more about pre-emergent vs. post-emergent weed control, including what some of the differences are and when these different approaches are warranted.
What’s the difference?
Weed control products can be broken down into two primary categories: Pre-emergent or post-emergent weed control. While pre-emergent weed controls work by preventing weeds from germinating in the first place, post-emergent weed controls kill weeds that have already come out of the ground.
Pre-emergent Weed Control:
- Kill weeds before you see them
- Inhibits germination & sprouting
- Typically used late fall and late spring
- Applied before weeds grow
- Provides a barrier around seeds, preventing them from germinating
- Proactive approach
Pre-emergents don’t work on all weeds but they do work very well on crabgrass. For that reason, pre-emergents play a large role in lawn care programs. Pre-emergents work by creating a barrier near the surface of the lawn that prohibits seeds from germinating. They do this by inhibiting a particular enzyme. Pre-emergents are engineered to not affect already established grass plants.
Post-emergent Weed Control:
- Kill existing weeds by traveling down plant stalk into the root system
- Weeds must be actively growing for post emergents to work
- Used at different times throughout the year
4 kinds of post emergents:
- Systemic post-emergent: absorbed into plant and kills from root up
- Contact post-emergent: leaves coating on plant to prevent photosynthesis
- Selective post-emergent: targets certain weeds while leaving grass alive
- Non selective post-emergent: destroys everything it touches.
The Process of Weed Control
There is no question that knowing when to use pre-emergent vs. post-emergent weed control is important. But due to the wide variety of weeds that take over Florida lawns, a thorough weed control program must go further than that.The truth is, weed control is more than just targeting weeds with products.
You want your lawn care process to also focus on good soil health with products like fertilizer and bio-stimulants that help grow a thick lawn. A thick, healthy lawn is a natural defense against weeds!
Sometimes, your weed control arsenal needs some updating or rotation. It’s not uncommon for homeowners, or even some lawn care companies, to use the same products again and again. Throughout the year, and depending on your lawn, a successful weed control approach needs to be specially tailored.
Generally, a lawn care program that promotes a healthy lawn will also make a difference in your weed control efforts. This includes services that will promote the thickness of your lawn, like fertilization and aeration.
Aeration, which is the process of pulling small cores of soil throughout your lawn, allows more oxygen, water, and nutrients to penetrate deep into the soil and down to the root zone. This is best done at the time of seeding in order to give your grass seeds the best chance at germination.
What is the best way to control weeds?
Weed control is typically a large part of proper lawn care as weeds are considered unwanted plants. Proper identification and some understanding of how and why weeds are present in a lawn are important when selecting the best suppression strategy.
Having regularly scheduled lawn care can give you a thick, healthy lawn, giving less space for weeds to grow. Weed suppression should be a carefully planned and coordinated program to keep you and your family safe, and to ensure you don’t negatively affect the parts of your lawn you work hard to keep healthy.
Rather than spending money DIYing with products you are unfamiliar with, which can ultimately make things much harder to control in the long run, contact a professional lawn care company in your area to help you identify the weeds you want to get rid of, and then find a weed control program that will work!
Maintaining a healthy, beautiful lawn all year long is a hard task for any homeowner, especially with all the pests living in Florida. That is why Brock Lawn & Pest Control has very well-trained, licensed technicians and an exceptional program that will tend to your yard for the entire year. Our lawn program is designed with 6 timely applications to provide the proper balance of nutrients that your lawn needs. Having regularly scheduled lawn care will allow these nutrients to provide you with a strong, healthy growing lawn.
How It Works
- Pre-emergent to slow down weed germination
- Insecticide for damaging insects (chinch bugs, mole crickets, sod webworms, etc.)
- Disease control including brown patch fungus, dollar spot, large patch fungus and more
- Weed control for the wide variety of broadleaf weeds and sedge weeds
- Fertilization in both liquid and granule form to stimulate density
- Complimentary driveway and sidewalk clearing after service
We are ready to help take back your lawn with offices in Panama City, Panama City Beach, & Fort Walton Beach, Florida, proudly serving homes & businesses along the Gulf Coast.
