There are lots of questions this time of year with regard to weeds that have made their way onto homeowners’ lawns. As you may have heard before, the best defense against any weed is a healthy lawn. Weeds, unlike our cool season lawns, tend to start performing now with the arrival of warmer summer weather that we see following the May Long Weekend here in Ontario. So now is the time we have to start paying special attention to some of those things that favor your lawn’s success over any weeds that may be trying to establish. If the lawn is fertilized regularly, irrigated properly, and mowed accurately, any weed seeds that may be present, will not get the opportunity to germinate because the lawn is stronger and in better health.
A common myth that we hear often from the field is that my weeds are a result of my neighbor’s weeds because they don’t do anything to look after their lawn. This in fact is not the case, your weeds are your weeds, and your neighbor’s weeds are your neighbor’s weeds. While the seeds may travel around, the weeds themselves do not. Weed seeds actually need any opportunity to germinate where they fall, so the trick is to not give them the ability to germinate, which is why it is so important to have a thick lawn starving the waiting seed of sunlight while providing sufficient competition from the lawn around them. It is when the seed finds that space to germinate at this time of year that it is able to thrive as the temperatures start to increase.
So when and how are weeds best dealt with if I see them on my lawn? This answer unfortunately is no longer as simple as ‘we just treat them’. As stated already we start with ensuring that the lawn is properly watered & mowed along with the support of our custom blended fertilizer all year round contributing to 80% of the weed control you are seeking. Watering once to twice a week providing one inch of water to the lawn each time, and mowing regularly no shorter than 3 inches will aid in creating a favorable environment for your lawn’s growth versus your weeds. Our Fiesta ™ applications can help further assist the compeition against the tougher weeds that still persist within a healthy lawn. Temperature is also something to consider later in the summer when your lawn, which favors cool-season temperatures, will be under quite a bit of stress. Fiesta is typically not applied when temperatures start to see 32 degrees to avoid causing too much additional stress to the lawn. This is also why our Fiesta-only application is performed either in the late spring or late summer/fall. It lowers the weed’s defense system at the same time the lawn is in its best condition to overgrow them and accept more aggressive Fiesta applications.
Curious to learn more about our programs or our recommended maintenance practices? You can visit our website any time or contact our office.
