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When I was a child, I loved to pick
Dandelions. The pretty
yellow flowers were small, colorful, and looked nice tucked
behind my ear! However, if one had popped up in the front
yard, my hair accessory would have been considered an
atrocity!
I often feel sorry for weeds. They are plants too. In fact, if
you flipped through a botany field guide, you may be surprised
at the plants you find classified as weeds!
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Dandelion |
But simply put, a
weed is really defined as a plant out of place.
Clover in one
persons flowing lawn may be considered fashionable, whereas on
another, not. Golf greens are often covered with bentgrass,
but if it crept up in some yards, it would be considered a
weed. While perhaps pretty on their own, weeds stick out like
a sore thumb in yards because they may be of a different color,
size or texture. This is distracting from the beauty of the
otherwise sprawling green turf. Aside from aesthetic values,
weeds can also drain nutrients from grass and other plants,
and this competition of resources can thin what should be
lush. And what's worse is that weeds are fighters. They can
withstand conditions that your wanted greens cannot, so they
are almost inevitable!
Treating weeds begins with correct identification. There are
two classifications of weeds: Grassy and Broadleaf. These are
further broken down into groups like perennial, biennial, and
winter and summer annuals. These, as you may gave guessed,
depict their growing patterns. Grassy weeds are, as they
sound, like grass. However, they are unwanted grass, or grass
that is growing in a different type of lawn. Some examples are
annual bluegrass, barnyard grass, crabgrass, creeping
bentgrass and foxtail. Broadleaf weeds may appear more to be
what most people picture weed-like growth to be. Since they
are broad, they are more easily distinguished. Some examples
are yarrow, knotweed, chickweed,
clover,
ground ivy, thistle
and my favorite, the dandelion.
Once you understand what is growing in your lawn and decide
that it is unwanted, you can treat it and/or control it. Weeds
can actually be controlled by your lawn care maintenance. If
you maintain a dense and vigorously growing lawn, you are
already combating the problem. Weeds can be a sign of
underlying problems in the environment beneath. So by just
killing them, you are simply putting on a band-aid, not
solving the problem. For example, some weeds grow in
situations of compacted soil, such as knotweed. You can also
control the growth by taking better care of the grass, rather
than focus on the weeds. You can raise or lower the mowing
height, change the frequency of mowing and changing the amount
of time between irrigating. Also, you can increase or decrease
application of fertilizer and aerify the soil. This will
maintain better grass, thus keeping the growth dense and
vigorous, which as discussed above, does not attract weeds.
In addition to culture practices, sometimes the assistance of
chemicals is needed to control weed growth. In that case,
there are several types of herbicides that can be used.
Preemergence herbicides will affect seeds that are
germinating. Since they are best used two to three weeks
before the seeds start to grow, these work best to combat
annual weeds. Postmergence herbicides are used, as their
prefix implies, after the weeds have sprouted. Since they must
be absorbed through the leaves, this types of herbicide works
best with a spray. These can be used at any time, but are most
effective when the weed is still young and growing. Selective
postmergence herbicides are usually used to control annual,
biennial and perennial broadleaf weeds, as they will not
damage grass. But, they can kill trees, shrubs and flowers.
These have to be used in proper conditions as well, with no
rain in the forecast for two days to follow, air 60-80 degrees
and no winds. Finally, non-selective postmergence herbicides
kill all types of weeds, and are best used to spot treat
grassy weeds that are not affected by the selective
herbicides.
So next time you see a Dandelion plant growing, don't make a
wish and blow the seeds toward in the direction of a lawn
fanatic, they may not get the perfectly manicured lawn they
wished for!
FREE information on how to have the yard of your green
dreams, visit All About Your Lawn today! It's FREE! Click
here:
www.AllAboutYourLawn.com
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