Applied Scott's Turf Builder

Hello need2know. Ken here in the Chicago area. Thanks for your question.

To give you correct information, I need to know where you live (city or town/state).

I need to know whether you have a cool season grass or a warm season grass.

If you live in the northern half of the country the problem is solved one way. If you

live in the southern half of the country the problem is solved a different way. Get back

to us and we can get your crabgrass problem solved. Take care.

http://lawncare.about.com/od/typesofgrass/Types_of_Grass.htm

I live in southern New Jersey - zone 7a.

Hey need2know. Ken here again. In zone 7a you can grow all the

cool season grasses and one warm season grass, zoysia. I’m going

to assume that you have a cool season grass. If you have zoysia,

let me know. Now let’s get rid of the crabgrass.

The first thing to do is water the lawn (crabgrass) really well for two

or three days to get the fluids flowing in the crabgrass. If the fluids

aren’t flowing, you won’t get a kill. Then go into your local Home Depot and get

Bayer Advanced All-in-One Lawn Weed and Crabgrass Killer.

Attach to your hose and spray the lawn. Make surethere is no rain for 24 hours.

Then keep up your watering schedule to makesure the herbicide gets to the roots

and kills the crabgrass. If you have zoysia grass you should reseed right away.

If you have a cool season grass, wait until September to reseed. As always, cover the seed

with no more than a quarter inch of seeding soil to keep the birds off and maintain moisture.

I hope this helps. Good luck and take care.

It certainly will be difficult to be sure there will be no rain for 24 hours - there always seems to be a "chance" of thunderstorms with this hot humid weather we've had all summer....

Hey need2know. Ken here again. 24 hours is just a general rule. Go for it

And spray. You will definitely get some effect. Good luck and keep in touch.

I applied the Bayer product on Monday - some of the weeds are wilting, patches of clover are yellow, crab grass appears the same as before I applied the porduct.  Couple of questions:

How long before the crab grass starts to wilt and die?

The patches of clover were farily large - what do I do once they're completely dead?  Do I rake them away and reseed?  If so, how long do I wait to do so?

THANKS!!!

Hey need2know. Ken here again. It’s hard to say how long it will take. I would

keep the crabgrass well watered. This will keep the fluids flowing and get you

a quicker kill. Be patient.

Once the clover is dead you want to hard rake the dead areas to remove the clover.

Wait until Sept. to reseed. At that time hard rake again and put down your seed.

Cover with seeding soil no more than a quarter inch in depth. That will help with

moisture retention and keep the birds off too.

Remember to keep the soil evenly moist to help with germination. When it comes time to reseed,

give us a post back and we will walk you through the process. Take care.

Now have lots of brown patches in my yard but other places look like nothing was applied - weeds and crabgrass still growing.  Can I reapplied the Bayer product to those areas?  The first application was a weed ago.  Or, am I better off using a product that I apply directly to the weed?

I also have loads of nutgrass - what porduct is good to kill that?

Hello again need2know. Hortman here. In the areas where it looks like

nothing was applied, is the soil dry? The fluids in the weeds need to be

flowing to carry the herbicide to the roots to kill it. If dry, water it for a couple

of days to get the fluids flowing, then hit it again with the Bayer product.

As far as the nutgrass/nutsedge is concerned, it thrives in overly wet soils. You

can kill it with Ortho Ready-to-Use Nutsedge Killer for Lawns. Also aerate the

lawn area to improve drainage. If the soils have a lot of clay, add gypsum to help

break up the clay for better drainage. Keep at it and you will have a great lawn.

Take care.

Crabgrass will send up seed head shoots from the clumps. One thing that will really help going forward.  Everytime you mow your lawn, spend a few minutes before you cut, pulling out these shoots.  If you don't, you will spread them across your lawn, and the problem may get worse.