How to Save your Lawns and Pastures from Spring Crabgrass

For farmers and homeowners alike, spring crabgrass is both a fact of life and a menace. For the homeowner, crabgrass can ruin the aesthetic of a carefully tended-to lawn, not to mention rack up maintenance costs. For the farmer, it chokes out more nutritious forage and destroys carefully cultivated pastures—pastures that are directly tied to a farmer’s livelihood. And fodder seeds and pasture seeds certainly aren’t cheap.

Crabgrass is a tenacious beast. Once it has got a foothold anywhere, it runs rampant. Getting rid of it is like taming a wildfire. Therefore, it’s best to make sure crabgrass never sprouts in the first place. Products that prevent this plant from sprouting are called pre-emergent herbicides, or simply crabgrass preventers. These products work by preventing crabgrass from even breaking through from the seed (germinating).

When to Apply Crabgrass Preventer

The best time to apply crabgrass preventer? Well, that depends. Crabgrass generally germinates around late May in colder climates like the Midwest; that said, factors such as the amount of springtime precipitation (rain or snow), variations in soil moisture, and sunlight levels can all change how early the green menace will sprout. With a late May germination in mind, many homeowners and farmers apply their crabgrass preventers in early spring—May 1 is the average date.

However, as stated above, there are many variables that will affect when crabgrass sprouts, and many years require applications to deviate from this average. Using an arbitrary time to plan your lawn and pasture care can result in your crabgrass preventers petering out before they’re needed, rendering them ineffective and thus costing you money. What, then, is the exact way to know when to apply these products?

Testing the Soil Temperature

Simple: soil temperature. Ideally, when applying crabgrass preventers, the ground should hold between a 55 and 60 degree temperature for multiple, consecutive days. Determining the temperature of the soil is easy.

1)Mark a two-inch section from the bottom of the screwdriver.

2)Plunge said screwdriver into the ground and remove it, making a 2-inch deep hole. This is called making a pilot hole and prevents damage to your soil thermometer.

3)Follow the label on your soil thermometer to take the reading.

Consider an Online Seed Store

Elk Mound Seed is your one-stop shop for crabgrass preventers, as well as cover crop seeds you can plant to help manage the emergence of crabgrass in future years. To learn more about our products and what they can do for your lawns and pastures, contact us at (715) 879-5556 or peruse our online stock.