Lawn care causes crabgrass?

[Kurt Tappe]

I live in a townhouse with a lawn that is connected to the neighbors on either side of me. I know for a fact that these neighbors perform no lawn care other than occasional mowing. I, on the other hand, put down weed & feed twice a year, overseed, and apply lime when necessary.

So guess whose lawn has been taken over by crabgrass?

The infestation literally stops at the property line. My (former) lawn is 90% crabgrass while my negiligent neighbors have attractive grass.

The obvious conclusion is that my efforts are somehow causing/allowing the crabgrass to flourish. I wait until the lawn is pretty high to mow--no scalping is taking place. I have not put pre-emergents down...but neither did the neighbors. Could the weed & feed be weakening the grass enough that the (apparently immune) crabgrass can take hold? If so does this mean the whole weed & feed concept is a farce?

Thanks for thoughts,

-Kurt

[Marley1372]

weed and feed does not kill crabgrass. It only kills broadleaf weeds. Has it been hot latley where you are located? If so and your lawn is a cool season grass, fertilizing in the summer wont help your lawn, and actually can help the crabgrass(a warm season grass).

No, you just have to understand what herbicides work on what kind of plants. Grass plants are usually not affected by "weed and feed" or "lawn weed killer" products. You can apply them all you want and they wont touch your crabgrass. There is really not much you can do now other than keep up on your mowing and make sure that the crabgrass dosent flower and set seed for next year.

Toad

[ellis]

Some do. Read the label to be sure.

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[Suzie-Q]

-> I live in a townhouse with a lawn that is connected to the neighbors on

-> either side of me. I know for a fact that these neighbors perform no

-> lawn care other than occasional mowing. I, on the other hand, put down

-> weed & feed twice a year, overseed, and apply lime when necessary.

->

-> So guess whose lawn has been taken over by crabgrass?

->

-> The infestation literally stops at the property line. My (former) lawn

-> is 90% crabgrass while my negiligent neighbors have attractive grass.

->

-> The obvious conclusion is that my efforts are somehow causing/allowing

-> the crabgrass to flourish. I wait until the lawn is pretty high to

-> mow--no scalping is taking place. I have not put pre-emergents

-> down...but neither did the neighbors. Could the weed & feed be

-> weakening the grass enough that the (apparently immune) crabgrass can

-> take hold? If so does this mean the whole weed & feed concept is a

-> farce?

Just to give you a heads-up for next year. There is a product that will prevent crabgrass. I think it's made by Scotts and it's called a pre-emergent or something like that. You spread it on the lawn in the early spring and it is supposed to prevent crabgrass from taking root.

Sorry I have no advice for your current problem.

[Lee]

Our lawn areas were grossly neglected by previous owners and we have an astounding crop of crab grass as well as many other weeds. we have used some roundup, but i am a bit hardheaded about using chemicals, and our yard is fairly small, so have been pulling them by hand and sprigging centipede in the bare spots. it is helping. but it will take a while. got more time than money. maybe 5 or 10 years barring accidents

I use dandelions for tea and in my herbal decoctions and would you believe.. not enough of them in this neglected yard to hardly make a tea! have to raid the neighbors yard to keep enough on hand!!! a shame crab grass can't be used theraputically or in place of spinach! LOL!!

lee h

[Wil]

Keep one thing in mind, true Crab Grass is an annual grass, not a perennial. This years crab grass will not be your problem next season. It is this years seeds that will germinate next year. So controlling Crab Grass means to prevent the seeds from germinating the next season. Pre emergent lawn treatment early spring should help prevent the previous years seeds from germinating. Also a good healthy crop of dense truf grass will also squeeze out crab grass and help keep seeds from germinating. When you mow your grass, set the mower deck higher than it is now, unless you already mow high. Cutting your truf too low will give your neighbors crab grass the sun it needs to germinate. Keep your lawn thick and lush to prevent it crab grass from growing in your lawn.

Here a several links that may help.

am not sure which product has pre emergent in it. If it is Weed And Feed make sure it is applied at the right time for your zone. Look for the words pre emergent on the bag. And apply it at the recommended time. Weed and feed applied here has helped control run away ground covers such as ajuga. It is doing something good but you need the right product for the job you want done.

Take a specimine of the grass you are calling crab grass, to your county extension office to make sure it is indeed crab grass. There are other grasses that are invasive that look similar to crab grass. For example, Bermuda Grass creeps and spreads where it is not wanted. Bermuda grass seed is found in some grass mixes. [yikes]

Wil

[Doug Kanter]

During cool weather, dandelion leaves are tasty in a salad. When summer heats up, they get bitter, but otherwise, they have about as much zing as escarole. The supermarket sells dandelion leaves for an outrageous price. Silly.

[Doug Kanter]

While house hunting during the past few months, I asked the owner of any house that was of interest whether they used chemicals on their lawns. Thinking back to the owners with the nicest lawns, the answer was "no" about

50% of the time. Makes you wonder why some people bother.

At least a half dozen times between April and October, our local paper runs articles in which it interviews people from the Cornell Cooperative Extension. These people explain that the vast majority of lawns are cut at the wrong height, and that adjusting to the correct height will produce EXTREMELY happy results in a lawn that doesn't have any major problems. It seems very few people read these articles.

It's all silly anyway. We inherited the lawn tradition from the British, who have much better growing conditions (cooler, more moisture). In many areas of this country, the stuff would die or be crowded out by plants which actually belong there, unless we continued spending inordinate amounts of time coddling and mowing and weeding and feeding.

[Phisherman]

Bare sunny ground = crabgrass

Overseeding greatly reduces crabgrass, but that takes a least a year or two.

[theoneflasehaddock]

Of course the whole weed and feed concept is a farce.

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theoneflasehaddock