Learn how to get rid of crabgrass and achieve a healthy, weed-free lawn.
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Chances are, if you have a lawn, you havecrabgrass!
This fast-growing weed thrives despite heat, humidity, or drought conditions.
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Crabgrass first appears in the spring, but new plants keep germinating throughout the summer, says Waltz.
As an annual weed, crabgrass is killed off by the first frost.
But by then, youve got hundredsand probably thousandsof seeds sitting there waiting to germinate next year.
Even worse, the seeds can remain viable in the soil for years.
That means mow your grass at the proper height for your species and fertilize and irrigate correctly.
Also, if you had crabgrass this year, verify to apply apre-emergence productnext spring.
Identifying Crabgrass
Crabgrass is one of the most common (and most hated!)
weeds found in lawns.
Crabgrass germinates when soil temperatures reach 55F for a few days.
The seedheads have fingerlike spikes that arise from different points at the top of the stem.
While most crabgrass spreads by seed, some species root by creeping stems, or stolons, says Waltz.
