Do you know how to kill weeds in lawn without killing grass? Every homeowner wants to get a beautiful lawn, but they would have to fight against weeds to fulfill their wants. Weeds are very rascals and grow roots where they get a bit of space; they spread around your lawn, complicating removing them. Some people apply chemicals to kill the weed, but these chemicals destroy the grass also.
It is essential to know what types of weed do you want to kill? Then try to find which process will be better for that. If you’re going with the chemical process, you have to choose the right product to kill the target weed without harming your grasses.
How to kill weeds in lawn without killing grass
Can you kill weeds without killing grass? If you face weed problems but don’t know what to do, this article will definitely help you. In this article, we’ll know the most effective ways to get rid of weeds without doing any injury to the grass. I hope this article will be helpful for those who are going to fight back against weeds. Here, we will cover how to do it properly. So, please read it carefully from first to last.
Read Your Weeds
Sometimes, weeds are beginning to grow from a particular spot of your lawn; there are problems with the site. By solving those problems, your landscape will flourish, and you will get a healthy lawn with grasses. For example, damp or moist soil is best to grow for ground ivy.
Ground ivy can grow in areas that might be shady for grasses. Therefore, you can prevent these weeds by improving the soil drainage pattern of your lawn. To do this, you can aerate your lawn by removing the small sections of it. It will prevent the comeback of ground ivy in the future. You also can remove the tree branches from the shady areas so that the sunlight can reach the soil. In a nutshell, we can say you have to know the types of weeds in your yard then take proper action.
Hand-Weeding
You have to water and mow your lawn correctly to keep it healthy. It will prevent the sprouting of weed. So, you already have a solution to get rid of weeds, but you can also do it by hand. Hand-weeding is one of the best possible weeds removing processes for small size lawns or random weed growth. If you do not have an overwhelming number of weeds on your lawn, hand-weeding would be the most effective against the annual broadleaf weeds.
To get the best result, you should pull them during their young period. It means you have to remove before flowering and producing seeds. And it is the most straightforward process to control those weeds spreading to other parts of your lawn. However, it is crucial to catch perennial weeds as soon as possible. For example, dandelions develop their deep taproots when they become mature, making them harder to pull out by hand.
You have to pull out each weed carefully so that it doesn’t break from the middle. If you do not pull out the entire plant, including the root and root pieces, it will be re-germinated from the rest portion. You have to pull the weeds with their root to stop their reproduction and tell them goodbye forever.
Generally, it would be easier to pull weed by hand when the soil is in a damp or moist condition. You can also use tools like a dandelion digger which will help you to get the root easily and probe deeper into the soil. After killing the weed, you must have to recheck these spots to be sure. New weeds couldn’t fill those spaces again after filling those spots with grasses.
Best ways to kill weeds in lawn without killing grass
Pull out the perennial weeds when they are young. After the rain, the soil becomes moist, which is the perfect time to pull out the weed by pushing your sharp spade into the soil. Angle the spade downward toward the center of the weed to make the surrounding soil loose. Now, pull these weeds upward with the tools. Do it gently so that the root doesn’t break off. After pulling out the weeds, including their roots:
- Smooth out the soil and add some compost with it.
- Sow some grass seeds there.
- Keep the soil moist until the grasses are about 1 inch tall.
Use A Weeder: You can use a weeder, which will help you to remove weeds from paving stones in your patio or walkway. Weeder contains L-shaped stainless-steel blades that fit perfectly between the bricks and pavers to reach those weeds and pull them out.
Use A Scuffle Hoe: The scuffle hoe is also known as oscillating or action hoe. It gets this name from its hinged and double-edged blade rocking back and forth. It creates a push-pull speed. The sharp blade slice the weeds at their crown. To ensure the death of the weeds, you can do this repeatedly to deplete their roots from their food. The seeds of weeds do not come to the surface and never sprout for cutting them shallowly.
Flame the Weeds: You can use a gas-powered flamer that can destroy the weeds by flaming them. The heat of the flamer kills the weeds by popping their cell wall. Single-pass with the flamers is enough for killing young annual weeds. It seems to you that they do not look burned, but they will die within a few hours.
You have to be careful so that you do not burn grasses. A flamer can be the best tool when the weeds grow randomly into your lawn. You can also use it to remove unwanted grasses from your garden. Before using flamers, make sure that the area is not too dry. To avoid starting a fire, you can water the ground lightly. Do not apply the flamer onto the flammable mulch.
Herbicides: Most people choose herbicides as their first option for killing weeds, but we suggest using herbicides as a last option. If your lawn is affected by a vast number of weeds, chemicals can be the best option. You can also apply herbicides on some particular type of weed that is harder to remove. But read the given instruction carefully before using the chemicals; otherwise, it can be the cause of harm to the grass and other plants you want to keep.
Choose weed killers that are labeled safe for grasses and effective on those weeds you want to kill. You will also get information about when and what condition is suitable for using this herbicide. Some herbicides are only produced to work at a specific temperature, while other work at a particular season. Two different types of herbicides are available in the market. Let’s know about them:
Pre-emergence herbicides: The pre-emergence herbicide kills the weeds before they come to the surface of the soil. Generally, this type of chemical is designed to target crabgrass. Typically, these pesticides are artificial or synthetic. This type of weed killer is helpful on the seeds of the weed. You can use these weedkillers in the seasons when the weeds are stored as a seed into the soil.
You may also get natural and non-toxic versions of pre-emergent herbicides that are mainly made of corn gluten. They are safer for the grass and the soil than other pre-emergence herbicides. However, you have to apply them before the effects of weeds are fully noticed.
Post-emergence herbicides: Do you know what kills weed permanently? Post-emergence herbicides are suitable to kill actively growing weeds. It doesn’t work on seeds. These chemicals come in contact or systemic forms, i.e., these herbicides only kill the weeds that contact them. They work quickly and effectively to fight against the annual weeds.
Systemic herbicides enter inside the root system of the plants and kill them from the root. They are more effective than the contact herbicides on the perennial weeds. If one treatment of systemic weed killers cannot kill the weeds completely, you must repeat the treatment once again.
However, you can also pick non-selective or selective systemic herbicides. Selective weed killer is applicable to kill specific weeds. Still, the non-selective herbicides can kill anything green or grow actively. If you don’t want to kill the grass on your lawn, do not use non-selective herbicides.
Final Words
Learning how to kill weeds without killing any grass is essential to get an evergreen lawn and garden. You have to know which form of weed-killing would be best for you. If you apply the wrong weed-killing method, you may lose those plants you want to keep on your lawn to increase their beauty. To get a better result, you can use more than one method in the same area of your yard. We believe you can utilize the knowledge you have gained from this article to get rid of weeds without killing grass and get a healthy lawn.
