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Are you tired of dealing with the pesky problem of crabgrass? From their sporadic spread to their aggressive attempts to take over your lawn, everything about these invasive weeds is a headache.
And just when you think you’ve got them under control, winter comes around and leaves you wondering – when does crabgrass die in winter? But really, does crabgrass die in winter? This is a question that can leave even the most seasoned gardener scratching their head.
But don’t worry – we’re here to help. In this guide, we’ll answer all your questions about crabgrass and its lifecycle, including when it dies off in winter and how you can prevent it from coming back in the spring.
Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or a beginner, you’ll find valuable insights and tips to help you take control of your lawn and keep it looking its best. So, are you ready to say goodbye to crabgrass and hello to a beautiful, healthy lawn? Let’s dive in and discover the secrets of successful weed control.
Does Crabgrass Die In Winter?
Contrary to some people, crabgrass does not die off in winter, but as the winter season approaches. The brilliant crabgrass seeds instead stay dormant in the soil, waiting for another warm season again before germinating.
Crabgrass’s death occurs in the early days of the fall season. Even at that, they still would not die unless they were being hit by the first frost and must have shed off their seeds.
In layman’s language, this is bound to occur around October – when overnight temperatures are around 32°F or even colder. It is around this period that the life cycle of crabgrass is expected to end.
Crabgrasses usually die after their season elapses, when winter approaches.
Easiest Ways To Kill Crabgrass
Trust us, and you cannot afford to play it easy with crabgrasses. Either you kill them off or watch them stage a complete take-over on your lawn right before your very eyes.
If you, like so many others, are fed up with this menace called crabgrass, here are a few helpful techniques that you can adopt to get rid of them for good.
1. Get A Crabgrass Herbicide Killer
There is a need to be specific about the right kind of crabgrass herbicide killer that would get the job of eliminating them for good.
A herbicide with Quinclorac or Fenoxaprop-p-ethyl as its primary, active ingredient is bound to do the job excellently well. An excellent example of such herbicides is Drive XLR8 which contains quinclorac or Acclaim Extra with Fenoxaprop-p-ethyl.
The herbicides are to be applied on existing crabgrasses actively growing on your lawn. A strategic use of these herbicides will be to direct their application to young crabgrass just before they can shed the crabgrass seeds in a thousand places.
The wisdom in doing this is that you will avoid a re-birth of the crabgrass after you must have successfully killed them.
If they succeed in shedding their seeds before dying at your hands, they invariably have succeeded in planting their successors, who will take over when they germinate.
The good thing about the herbicides mentioned above is that they will eliminate other weeds like clover and many more broadleaf weeds.
2. Kill Crabgrass Using Non-Chemical Option
It is understandable if you would rather kill crabgrasses on your lawn using non-chemical means. Chemical options for the eradication of crabgrasses are effective, no doubt, but they also cause a lot of collateral damage.
For instance, the healthy grass surrounding the area where it will be sprayed will also have to die alongside the crabgrass. One simple and natural way to kill crabgrass would be to have them dug out.
There are several tools that you can use to get this done, like the weed puller, or if the crabgrass area is not so big, you can have them pulled with your hand.
Other effective ways of killing crabgrass are by preventing them from emerging altogether. As they say, “prevention is better than cure.”
You can prevent crabgrass from growing with these straightforward techniques below:
3. Using A Preventer Herbicide
There are very potent crabgrass-preventer herbicides that you can use to keep them at bay. When going for one, look for those that contain Prodiamine (Barricade) or Dithyopyr (Dimension).
Herbicides with these active ingredients will help you build a healthy, lush lawn. A lush lawn is thick and dense. It is usually challenging for crabgrass to thrive in such lawns seeing that it leaves little or no room for them to grow and take over.
A healthy and thick lawn is you holding down your space, dominating the area by scaring off crabgrass and other weeds with its presence.
The application of this preventer herbicide should be strategic.
Have them applied first during the early spring season. At that time, there is a high possibility that the temperature of the soil is yet to get to 55°F.
Re-apply once again when the soil temperature rises to 65 – 70°F.
It will increase to that level during late spring or early summer.
Why Does Crabgrass Have To Be Killed?
Crabgrasses are a nuisance, that’s why.
Crabgrasses are not exactly like other types of weeds you must have heard about or had to deal with at one time or another.
The degree of the devastating effect that they have on your lawn is more than enough reason why they should not be allowed to flourish.
What are these effects, you may ask?
Read on as we discuss them below.
They Are Fast-Growing Weeds
Crabgrasses grow fast. One minute you see the low-growing weeds looking all harmless. The next minute, they are even overshadowing your healthy grass.
It Takes Up Space
Due to their fast-growing nature, they tend to be rudely invasive and take up every space that they can find, even if they have to knock over your healthy grass in the process.
The effect of this happening is that your grass stays choked up and will not be able to grow correctly.
They Forcefully Take Over The Soil
Crabgrasses are fierce. In the twinkle of an eye, they take over your lawn and have all its soil to themselves.
The effect?
This development leads to the depletion of the power of the soil. It weakens the soil immensely and causes it to be less rich than it was initially.
As a result, your healthy grass is left to struggle for and, in some cases, deprived of the soil’s nutrients.
You can stand up to these ‘bullies’ that parade as weeds and stop them from taking over your lawn by ensuring the following:
Allow your grasses to grow well enough to shade the soil. This would not be good for the crabgrasses as they grow best under direct sun.
Strategic watering of the grass, too, would also help.
Strategic watering involves less watering during the active growing season of crabgrasses to deprive them of the much-needed moisture that they need to germinate. Instead, it will end up destroying their seeds.
A well-aerated soil is yet another way to frustrate the growth attempts of crabgrass.
This is because they like and thrive best in compact soil.
Do you know what else you can do at this stage of aeration?
It is to employ the strategic application of fertilizer.
The application of fertilizer will increase the nutrient capacity of the soil and would enable the healthy grass to grow well and fast enough to strongly take over the area before the growing season of the crabgrass begins.
At this point, it will be challenging for them to sprout up, much less overpower the grass.
Final Note
Crabgrass is a weed like no other. They are as popular as they come, but what is surprisingly not widespread is the way to go about controlling their emergence and spread or eliminating them.
Most people would rather wait for them to die naturally after completing their life cycle. If you fall into this category of people, kindly be reminded that just like every other annual grass weed, they will return the next growing year.
Crabgrasses will usually die off just as winter approaches. That should give you enough time to put the necessary measures to stop their re-emergence.
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