Home » Search » crabgrass » Weed control
knotweed (2) Apply knotweed filter
DROUGHT DAMAGE SHOWING UP THIS SPRING
Here are some interesting pictures from Rob Elder of Omaha Organics showing the impact of the drought this spring on Omaha lawns. Damage this bad is a problem for the lawn care people. You will have to spring seed, but that means that you cannot put down a standard preemergence herbicide. These spring seedings generally turn to crabgrass and other annual weeds by midsummer. You can use siduron, which will allow bluegrass and ryegrass to emerge and give you some relief from the annual weeds. If you are planting straight Kentucky bluegrass, Tenacity (mesotrione) can help with the annual weed problem. However, both methods are expensive and difficult to do in a commercial operation.
I suspect that these area were primarily perennial ryegrass before the drought. This is what we are seeing in our area. The bluegrass lawns came back pretty well after the drought because of their rhizome system underground. Whereas perennial rye thinned out and stayed that way.
Hopefully we will get more moisture this year and return to more normal conditions for the Midwest.
drought, crabgrass, Weed control, herbicides
CRABGRASS APRIL 2
I did another check for germinated crabgrass today, April 2. I'm starting to see more of it peaking through in protected areas on campus. This is weeks earlier than normal.
I am not seeing it in rural areas or more exposed areas on campus yet.
Nick Dunlap got the first applications of our preemergence timing trial out this morning. It includes Baracade and Dimension at label rates. We will apply again on previously untreated plots on April 16 and May 1. I'll let you know what we see. We are not seeing any germinated crabgrass at the research station yet.
I previously recommended that you consider going two weeks early this year, which would be about April 15 in central Iowa. If your areas are protected sites in an urban environment, I would recommend applying as soon as you can. We will do Reiman Gardens this Wednesday, which is earlier than we have ever made applications to that site.
Remember that crabgrass is very susceptible to frost. If we get a late freeze, which I still think is likely, the problem will take care of itself. In the absence of a freeze, however, we could see a lot of crabgrass this summer.
Germinating crabgrass, courtesy of Andrew Hoiberg.
crabgrass, Weed control, herbicides
CRABGRASS MARCH 23
I received these pictures from Grad Student Andrew Hoiberg on March 23. They were taken in a very protected area by animal science on ISU campus. I did another check of the areas on campus where I see crabgrass first each year on the morning of March 24 and still see no crabgrass germinating in these areas. I'll keep you posted on other developments.
These are the real thing. It is large hairy crabgrass. Notice the pointed leaf tip and the fine hairs on the leaf margin.
I would like more pictures from around the state as you see crabgrass emerge. I will get them up on the blog. This does appear to be one of the earliest springs in my 33 years here in central Iowa.