Too late for crabgrass preventer?

[Steve Bakken]

I always fertilize my lawn with a decent fertilizer like the stuff from Lesco, so my crabgrass preventer needs to be the kind without fertilizer like Scott's Haltz. The only place that carries it around here is our local hardware store and they never stock it until the middle of May. The 16th, this year is when it will hit the shelves. Doesn't this seem a little late in the season? Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Powerstroke]

Yes and no. You can still get pretty good control of the actual yard area if you put it down now. P;aces you may still get crabgrass would be on the edges of driveways and sidewalks that warmed up first.

You can buy Lesco fertilizer with crabgrass pre-M in it.

[LwnmwnMan2]

If you're already using Lesco's fertilizer, then I would suggest getting your crabgrass product there as well, unless you're getting your fertilizers from Home Depot, but using the Lesco brand.

They have a couple of different products. You could get a 19-0-6, with .10% Dimension, so you're applying your crabgrass control at the same time, or if you don't want that much Nitrogen right away in the spring, they carry a 0-0-7 with crabgrass control in it.

As with what Powerstroke said, you'll be fine, for the most part, with your main part of your yard, but the edges along drives, curbs, foundation / landscaping will be too late.

What I don't understand is somewhat bad marketing / stocking by the hardware store. I would think they would know that 96% of people already have the preventer down by now.... why wait so long to stock it??

[Steve Bakken]

I totally agree. Small town hardware store set in their ways I guess. It seems that there are enough locals who wait and buy it from them that they are able to sell it all anyway.