If weeds were raging on the young lawn, it was time to declare an immediate war on them. Otherwise, immature grass will be squeezed out by a more powerful root system of weeds, and when they enter the phase of insemination, it will become much more difficult to remove them. Make sure that weed control on the lawn will become one of the points of constant lawn care, because even through a three-year turf, dandelions, wheat grass and other perennials can break through.
The beginning of the struggle six months before sowing the grass
According to the rules of agricultural technology, the first battle is given to the weeds even when they are just beginning to prepare a site for creating a lawn. Those. the owner outlines the boundaries of the future lawn and heartily spills its surface with continuous action herbicides that destroy all the vegetation without exception. Such drugs include Agrokiller, Tornado, etc.
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The action of herbicides appears 5-7 days after spraying, and the plants gradually dry. After 2 weeks, you can dig up the earth, select all the roots of weed perennials and roll the site without sowing it. It is further expected that a fresh crop of weeds will emerge on the finished field, they are sown with the same herbicides and left alone for a month until the chemistry is completely decomposed.
During the preparation of the site for sowing lawn grasses, the soil is treated with herbicides twice: before digging in and after the appearance of the first weeds
Grass sowing begins no earlier than a month after the spill with herbicides. Otherwise, the poison stored in the ground may partially destroy the seeds.
As you can see, the preliminary struggle is stretched in time, and it is better to start it either in the summer, and sow grass in the fall, or in August-September, leaving the lawn for the winter "under steam" and sowing in early spring. This method of treatment burns out annual plants, which especially bother the lawn in the first year of life. But the roots of dandelion, wheatgrass, plantain can still remain in the soil even after such a tough chemical weeding.
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Weed control in the first season of the lawn
If weeds were not pretreated, then in the first season they will actively begin to conquer a place under the sun from thin shoots of grass. Honestly, even after herbicides, harmful "neighbors" will still appear, but not in such numbers. Therefore, the struggle continues, but becomes more careful in order to preserve the young greens.
Cosmetic haircuts: inhibit annual growth
To destroy annual weeds on lawns, try to mow them together with grass before flowering. In this case, they will not have time to form seeds and disperse them around the site. The roots of annuals will not die out from the cut, but the plant will become weakened. Repeated and subsequent mowing will finally "finish off" the pests. Mow the lawn as it grows, but not less than once every two weeks.
Advice! Try to carry out the first mowing only when the blades of grass rise to a height of about 7 cm, otherwise it will be difficult for them to recover.
Rake combing: destroys creeping undersized weeds
In addition to annuals, there are creeping plants that do not fall under the height of the haircut and quietly develop further. This includes wood lice, bindweed, etc. They fight with them by combing the lawn with a rake. When mowing with trimmers, you still have to rake the grass remaining on the lawn, but nothing needs to be collected for the lawn mowers. Therefore, the owners specially comb the lawn to undermine the roots of creeping plants and to scrub the felt, which accumulates near the roots of the grass. Felt form dried grass blades. If you do not remove it, the quality of the lawn will become worse, and bald spots may form.
Implements and accessories for war with perennials
The most terrible enemy of the lawn is perennials with powerful rhizomes: thistle, dandelion, plantain, etc. You won’t take them with scythes and mowers, because sleeping buds will instantly wake up on the roots, which will grow an even more powerful plant. This type of weed in the first year of life of the lawn is removed only by hand. Moreover, it is necessary to take out so that the entire root is stretched. The slightest residue will form a new weed.
If it has not rained for a long time, then pulling out perennial weeds with your hands is useless: some of the roots will still remain in the soil
If you carry out the whole procedure with your own hands, then the only convenient time is after prolonged rains. The soil should be soaked so that the roots simply slip out of it. But it happens that the weather did not provide you with such an opportunity, and time does not tolerate. In this case, use garden tools designed to dig up such weeds. There are several options available.
Weed extractor. Designed by the German company GARDENA specifically for gardeners who, for health reasons, cannot weave bent. It has a length of 110 cm so that weeds can be removed in a standing position. The principle of operation: insert the tip into the center of the weed, scroll and pull along with the plant. The fixture is expensive, but experienced gardeners claim to be worth it.
The principle of operation of the weed extractor is simple: you insert the pin into the ground with force, scroll through 180 degrees and take out the plant along with the root
Shovel for eliminating rhizome weeds (second name - root eliminator). The shape is similar to a children's scapula, only the working part is narrow and elongated up to 30 cm. The metal is curved at an angle to cover the weed from different sides. It goes deep into the soil, lifting the plant along with the roots, but in order to drive the tool into a perennial lawn, you will have to apply considerable force. This tool is produced by both GARDENA and the Russian brand Sibrtekh.
The root eliminator easily enters the soft soil of a young lawn, but it must be driven into the tightly bound turf
If you don’t have enough money for such a purchase, take a metal corner half a meter or more in length, sharpen its edge at an angle and weld the handle on top so that it can be taken with both hands (it resembles a sword in shape). You can drive this corner to a sufficient depth and hook even the huge horseradish roots. True, you have to bend down to stretch the plant.
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When using any of the above tools, after removing the weed, an empty earthen hole will remain on the lawn. It must be crushed immediately, and if the diameter is large, then grass should be sown, otherwise the wind will cause new weeds.
Lawn cleaning rules "aged"
Do not hope that in a year the lawn grass will get rid of weeds. With all your efforts, the seeds will still germinate, because there are billions of them in the soil. Therefore, even on a dense rooted lawn, “enemies” periodically appear. If the lawn is already a year old or more - go to chemical attacks with the help of selective herbicides. The most popular is the Lontrel Zood, created specifically for the processing of strawberry and lawn plantations. It destroys all vegetation on the lawn except cereal grasses. Especially good against dandelions. The sites are processed a week after mowing.
If perennials are not scattered throughout the site, but only in certain places, then you can apply "acupuncture." To do this, use a conventional medical syringe into which a ready-made herbicide solution is poured. Insert the point into the center of the weed and release the poison directly into the stem and the beginning of the root. Such a method will allow not overloading the cereals with chemistry, and the dandelion, which was given the “vaccine," will gradually dry out and disappear. At the same time, there will be no empty space on the lawn that will have to be sown.
Herbicides are sprayed not all over the lawn area, but locally, in places where weeds are accumulated, so as not to poison grasses with chemistry again.
Why is the lawn overgrown with moss and lichen?
If mosses and lichens became the problem of the lawn, then their appearance provoked poor care and waterlogging of the soil. Try to improve aeration first by piercing the turf with garden views or with special foot aerators. Feed grass and grow. And if this does not help, you will have to think about drainage ditches from the edges of the lawn.
Often, mosses and lichens disappear from the lawn after you have a constant aeration by piercing the turf with a garden fork once a week.
Mosses often attack a lawn located in a shady place. If trees create shadows, try pruning them lightly and thinning the branches. And so that your lawn gets even greater benefit from weed control, make liquid fertilizer from them and periodically feed the grass.
