Education ·Jun 15, 2021

Creeping Charlie & CrabGrass: Four Ways to Eradicate Lawn Weeds Safely

How do you eradicate lawn weeds safely? It’s a good question, and there are a few answers, depending on your methods. Weeds such as Creeping Charlie and Crabgrass can ruin a lawn. A healthy lawn is weed-free, or as close to weed-free as is possible.

The major question to solve is how to eradicate lawn weeds safely? Remember, you will have kids, pets, and wildlife in the garden over the summer and fall months - precious visitors you do not want to harm.

You can spend a lifetime trying to keep the lawn free of weeds. If you stay on top of the problem, eradicating Creeping Charlie and Crabgrass can be easy. However, when the weeds grow freely for a few years, killing them becomes a big problem. At Fence Armor® we know the damage lawn weeds can do and how to stop them from growing.

Some of the ways you can eradicate lawn weeds safely include:

Know your enemy before going to war
Apply the correct herbicide
Eradicate lawn weeds organically
Keeping the lawn healthy is another approach

Let’s take a closer look at each point.

Know your enemy before going to war

If you do not know your enemy, then how do you know how to combat them? With this in mind, you need to identify the weeds in your lawn to eradicate the lawn weeds safely.

Creeping Charlie is also known as Creeping Jenny or lawn ivy. It has green, kidney-shaped leaves and grows all year round, and does not die off in the winter. Flowers of Creeping Charlies are purple to blue in color, and the leaves give a telltale mint scent when crushed. The tough plant can survive all weather conditions and makes for a formidable opponent.

Crabgrass dies off in the fall after bursting in life during the spring. It grows in large tufts which seem to appear out of nowhere. The stems of the grass spread out from the center and look like crab legs, thence the name. Crabgrass grows quickly in a warm summer and produces thousands of seeds as it dies away in the fall.

Both Creeping Charlie and Crabgrass are easy to identify, giving you an advantage when it comes time to wage war.

Creeping Charlie's

Apply the correct herbicide

If you are going down the chemical warfare route, make sure you are correctly armed. There is not any point in spraying the wrong herbicides and expecting great results.

If you do spray the wrong herbicide, you could do more harm than good.

When looking to eradicate lawn weeds safely with herbicides, take a look at the side of the box. Creeping Charlie is a formidable opponent, and you need a solid weapon to defeat it. A herbicide containing Dicamba or triclopyr is effective for spot eradication. It is usually best to treat the plants in the fall or early spring if possible. Quinclorac is best for eradicating lawn weeds like Crabgrass. Applying the herbicide as the growths emerge in the early spring is the best plan.

Do not apply a general herbicide that may kill the lawn grass along with every lawn weed.

Choosing the right herbicide's

Eradicate lawn weeds organically

There is a choice of organic herbicides available to eradicate lawn weeds safely. Ask the store owner when you are looking to kill Creeping Charlie or Crabgrass.

A mixture of vinegar, salt, and water can be effective on Creeping Charlie and Crabgrass, and other lawn weeds. You need to time the application to early spring and spray just before rain, to give the mixture a chance to penetrate the soil. The mixture is only for direct application as it may kill other plants and grasses.

A good, old-fashioned but effective method is digging out the weeds. You need to start as they appear in spring and keep on top of the work during summer. To fully eradicate lawn weeds, you will need to get all the roots and flowers before they seed.

Covering the Creeping Charlie and Crabgrass to eliminate the light can also kill the plants. Try newspaper, dark canvas, or a weed cover for best results.

Pulling weeds

Keeping the lawn healthy is another approach

Weeds love a poorly kept and unhealthy lawn. They will grow in damp spots and the bald patches around the yard. Creeping Charlie loves a bit of cover to thrive, such as from trees and bushes.

You should seed the lawn regularly to ensure constant grass growth. Cutting the lawn to the correct height will keep the weeds under control. Trimming the weeds as they grow stops them spreading. Remember to use Fence Armor® post guards to protect your fence posts from trimmer damage.

Regular watering feeding will encourage grass growth and remove the spaces weeds love to thrive in on the lawn.

Pruning back the trees and bushes will allow in more light and air. The healthy lawn grows well in a well-watered and aired garden.

If there are areas where the overgrowth is too much for the lawn, consider digging up that space. By making a new flower bed there, you will be taking away a patch where damaging weeds once grew.

Planning and caring for the lawn is the best way to eradicate lawn weeds safely before they take over the grass.

Healthy lawn

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A healthy garden is an ideal place for the family. At Fence Armor®, we know how to eradicate lawn weeds safely. Protecting your fence should be part of the plan. Ask our experts for advice. Call us today for all your fence protection needs.