Natural Green Lawn

Many of you are getting the idea that natural lawn care is really the way to go, and that is pretty exciting to me. I don’t mean to beat the dead horse here, but natural lawns look better and last longer when cared for and handled properly: and I will continue to say that!

But there are always going to be problems that crop up in our lawns and we need to be mindful of how to work through them in a responsible way. One of those issues is CrabGrass! Crab grass is an annual weedy grass that invades lawns from seeds deposited in the soil by previous years plants. Since crab grass is an annual, a single plant lives one year and just before winter, it drops seeds, which grow the following spring.

So How Do We Control CrabGrass Naturally?

Most hardware and big box home improvement stores carry lawn products that contain pre-emergent herbicides that basically stop grabgrass seeds from germinating in the later spring. For lack of a better term, these crab grass pre-emergents form a barrier at the soil line that keeps the young seedlings from every seeing the light of day. These herbicides are very effective, but they are not natural.

Natural Organic Crab Grass Control

The only natural crab grass control that I recommend is Corn Gluten Meal. Corn gluten meal has been used since the early 1980s as safe, natural lawn fertilizer and crab grass preventative. It is one of those “wonder” products that provides many benefits to lawns. It is a source of very slow releasing, no burning nitrogen, inhibits mold and fungal growth in soil, deters some types of lawn invading insects, and most importantly, inhibits the growth of your crabgrass and weeds.

There are just a couple things to keep in mind if you plant to use corn gluten meal as your chosen crabgrass preventor.

1) because it is organic/natural, corn gluten meal must be spread at a very heavy rate. Natural and organic products require very large doses to be effective. I recommend you spread corn gluten (the one I recommend below) at a rate of 10 lbs or product per 1,000 square feet of lawn area. This means that a 5,000 sq foot lawn would require a 50 pound bag for a single application.

2) timing is everything with corn gluten meal. As a fertilizer, you can use it anytime during the year, but to get the benefits of its crabgrass inhibiting properties, you need to apply it pretty much as soon as the snow is gone in early spring. This way, as temps rise, the stuff will get into the lawn where we want it.

The final thing to remember about corn gluten meal as a crab grass preventer is that time is a factor. What I mean is that the more times you use it, the more its inhibiting properties will build up in the soil and you will get better and better control each year. natural lawn care takes patience!

Planting grass in spring time is a tricky situation. Seriously guys, if you are going to plant grass seed in the spring, you really need to read this entire article first.

Planting Grass Seed, Growing Grass Seed In Spring

Before I tell you how to plant grass seed, I need to have you consider your situation. First off, is it early spring right now or later spring? The reason I need you to answer that is because before we worry about grass seed, we need to prepare for crab grass. Yep, that’s right, good ole annoying destructive crab grass.

What Is CrabGrass?

Crab grass is an annual weedy grass that germinates in lawns beginning in the mid-spring. The seeds of crab grass will begin their lifecycle underground when the soil temps touch the low to mid-50s. Once grab grass germinates and begins to grow in the later spring and early summer, it is a tough kill at best. I have seen it completely destroy entire lawns when left unchecked.

The good news is, however, that you can stop crab grass before it germinates by putting down a pre-emergent herbicide that basically forms a burrier at the soil line that halts the crab grass germination process. The issue is, that you have to get this pre-emergent down PRIOR to the actual germination. In most cases, I recommend you apply crab grass preventer in April. Can you see how this can effect our good grass seed we want to plant? yeah, because the same preemergent that stops crab grass seeds from germinating will also stop out Kentucky Bluegrass or other seed.

Why Is Crab Grass A Concern When Planting Spring Grass Seed?

Most lawn grasses grown from seed take anywhere from 7 days to 3 weeks to germinate and establish themselves. During the the young seedling stage, the new plants are highly susceptible to extreme temperatures, as well as pesticide applications. As mentioned above, preemergent for crab grass also kills/stops young and new grass seedlings.

So How Do We Plant Grass Seed AND Stop Crab Grass?

There are grab grass post emergent controls made just for those of you who want to seed in the spring time. These special formulations are designed to kill young but already germinated crab grass. This means that you will NOT use a pre-emergent for crab grass, rather, use these product to kill crab grass AFTER it pops up… This way you can seed in early spring. See below:

Now you need to be careful here, timing is everything. If you are going to seed the lawn, make sure you seed in later March so you can kill crabgrass safely in later May. This gives your young grass seed time to germinate and it will be able to resist the chemical you use above to kill the crab grass.

Some of you might be wondering why I am not talking about the natural way to kill/prevent crabgrass, and I have not forgotten about you. There are natural crabgrass preemergents, and we will talk about those in a future lawn tips article.