Crabgrass? You Must Be Nuts…

The beginning of June in Montgomery Country is a magical time of year.  The kids are quickly approaching the end of their school year, families take their first trip down the shore and enjoy their first of many slices of Manco and Manco’s pizza, and the Phillies usually break .500.  While all seems picture perfect from Elkins Park to Pottstown, your lawn is looking forward to having a wild and crazy summer too. Much like your house in the summer, your lawn will be visited by some unexpected guests.  No, not your son’s ten fraternity brothers who decided to crash, I’m talking about Yellow Nutsedge and other weedy grasses.  These visitors are not technically broadleaf weeds, and certainly don’t confuse them for crabgrass which may also have a spot in your lawn if not treated with a pre-emergent in the spring.  

You really can’t miss Yellow Nutsedge.  It stands out from the grass almost immediately after mowing.  It is a light yellow-green color and the grass blades look like almost like a palm tree.  At full growth, they will easily surpass the height of your typical blends such as fescue and Kentucky blue grass.  This weedy, undesirable grass can be easily pulled from the lawn, however its abundance makes for a very unpleasant Saturday afternoon if you decide to manually remove each and every blade of grass. 

Nutsedge is easy to identify as it quickly grows taller than the desirable grass in your lawn.

Since it is technically a sedge, weed control is virtually ineffective against it.  From our experience, there are very few products on the market that can effectively control Yellow Nutsedge, and all of these products have just become available to licensed lawn care companies and are not available to consumers, given their relatively early stages of development.  Your local lawn care company should carry one of the few brands that can control these nuisances.  

 - Contributed by Norristown native, Harry Bambi, Sales Supervisor

Putting Crabgrass In Its Place

In Montgomery and Chester Counties, crabgrass is a common annual grass that emerges each spring.  It sometimes confused with quack grass, is an undesirable, troublesome weed grass with a coarse texture and unsightly color. It can turn homeowners’ thick, lush, green lawn into thin, weak, patchy one if left untreated.
Fast-moving crabgrass infests lawns across the country and since there are many different weed grasses, it is critical that the undesirable grass be correctly identified. For example, if the coarse, ugly grass infesting your lawn is green as soon as the snow melts in early spring, the weed grass is not crabgrass.  




The following are some helpful facts homeowners should know about crabgrass, the conditions which cause it, and what they can do to help stem the tide if they have it in their lawn. It should be noted that control measures for annual and perennial weed grasses differ, and controlling crabgrass can take several seasons of work so have patience.

• Crabgrass is very difficult to identify early in spring since only plant skeletons are present at this time.
• Crabgrass is best identified in summer or fall for control in fall or the following spring.
• Crabgrass cannot be controlled with broadleaf weed control products.
• Crabgrass favors sandy, sunny locations in a weakened condition. Areas damaged by insects or along sidewalks and driveways are prime targets for crabgrass attack.

A strong, healthy, properly fertilized, mowed and watered lawn provides the strongest defense against crabgrass. Thick, lush, insect and weed-free lawns allow few open sites for crabgrass to establish.

Crabgrass has just started to germinate throughout Montgomery County

Ongoing proper maintenance is also an important step to help rid your lawn of crabgrass. One of the easiest maintenance steps is to remember not to mow your lawn to low. Taller grass will shade the soil and make it less hospitable for many weed seeds, like crabgrass, to develop.Typically, from Phoenixville to Huntingdon Valley, we recommend a 3" cut.

Ongoing proper maintenance is also an important step to help rid your lawn of crabgrass. One of the easiest maintenance steps is to remember not to mow your lawn to low. Taller grass will shade the soil and make it less hospitable for many weed seeds, like crabgrass, to develop. Most grasses do well at a mowing height of 2 inches to 3 inches, and some varieties even higher. 

The fight against crabgrass requires patience and a commitment to creating and maintaining a healthy lawn. It will take some hard work but a thick, dark green, crabgrass-free lawn is well worth the patience and special care.