Is there anything I should/can do now to prevent crabgrass?

[Anonymous]

Last summer was our first summer in our new house. The backyard has beds and lawn-- the crabgrass overtook the beds and grew in random spots around the yard. I know this sound bizarre, but I can't remember if we mulched the backyard beds (we definitely mulched the front yard beds). Is mulching enough or should we put down some sort of fertilizer? I am loathe to put pesticides in the ground, but the crabgrass was not a pretty sight and involved back-breaking weeding.

[Anonymous]

The only real way to prevent crabgrass is to put down Halts or similar, and the window for doing that closed probably a week ago. Some will say corn gluten is a natural alternative, and it does work, but it needs to be applied on a specific date and that too has probably passed.

The alternative now is a post-emergent herbicide, or hand-pulling. Next fall, renovate the lawn and let the grass grow a little longer. Longer grass crowds out the light for crab-grass. Also, when renovating de-thatch and aerate, that also will keep the crab-grass at bay.

[Anonymous]

With the cold winter, I don't think it's too late to put down corn gluten. (There was snow on our lawns just yesterday!) I'd do that this weekend; sooner if you can do it during the week.
Make sure you buy enough. Corn gluten works as both a fertilizer and/or a weed preventer. For weed prevention, you put down twice as much. You should also put down a second round six weeks later.
(This is not that hard to do. Don't be put off by people who say corn gluten is too much bother to be worth it--it's not.)

Of course, you can't re-seed and put down weed preventer at the same time. I just re-seeded so will have to wait 4-6 weeks for the corn gluten. That won't prevent the first growth of weeds, but it will still help for later in the season when the crabgrass really hits.

[Anonymous]

PPs-- thank you so much.

[Anonymous]

+1 on the corn gluten

[Anonymous]

The link below explains a little bit about organic lawn care. Of note, there is a very tight window of when to apply for weed control. Basically, the seeds begin to germinate when soil temps reach 50 degrees. That has already happened in our area, although as PP notes the recent cold may delay some of the germination.

Bottom line - there are other things you can also do to prevent crabgrass, applying corn gluten is one very expensive, very tricky way to do it. I am probably 85% organic in my home and garden, but I do use pre- and post-emergent crab grass control on some parts of my lawn, because those are really the only things that I know will work.

http://www.safelawns.org/blog/2010/04/corn-gluten-meal-as-weed-control-20-years-later-the-jury-is-still-out/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 on the corn gluten

The "yard warrior" from WTOP (Mike McGrath) recommends corn gluten. I'll post a link to his page on the WTOP website, but I didn't search it for corn gluten specifically.

http://www.wtop.com/35/2229461/Garden-Plot

[Anonymous]

Have soil temps really reached 50 for a long enough period already? This site suggests we're still in the 45-50 range because of all the cold weather ... http://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soiltempmaps.aspx

Also, isn't 55 the real cutoff for the bulk of germination? I've read that 50 is when the 'precocious' weeds sprout - and only after a ~5 day consecutive period - but 55 is when the masses really start going.

You might ask a garden store if they'd advise applying a pre-emergent (which would be needed ASAP if not too late). Otherwise, just prepare to pull crabgrass sproutlings as they appear ... get to them early and do it every week and you can control them to a large degree ... once they're big clumps and located everywhere you're in trouble.

[Anonymous]

I've always heard you have to put down Halts before the forsythia blooms. Our neighborhood forsythia have not bloomed yet.

[Anonymous]

Preen is a brand name for corn gluten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Preen is a brand name for corn gluten.

Preen also sells all kinds of garden products - be careful picking it out.

[Anonymous]

+! on corn gluten, and I don't think time has passed

[Anonymous]

corn glutten isn't as effective as the normal stuff.

[Anonymous]

I've always read to apply corn gluten when the forsythia blooms and ours is only just barely beginning to bloom today. Corn gluten may not be as effective, but it is far less environmentally toxic than the "normal stuff." I'd rather deal with a few weeds than worry about the possible future effects of herbicides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've always read to apply corn gluten when the forsythia blooms and ours is only just barely beginning to bloom today. Corn gluten may not be as effective, but it is far less environmentally toxic than the "normal stuff." I'd rather deal with a few weeds than worry about the possible future effects of herbicides.

+1