Best Plan for Crabgrass prevention

[MntkaFishin]

I realize that this is an ongoing discussion, but I need a total plan for my problem.

I have two large areas in my backyard that every year by the end of July become very dry and the grass turns dormant, even though I water the areas around 1 inch/week. At about the same time I deal with large areas of crabgrass that start to emerge (even though I use the pre emergence). I pull the crabgrass and over seed the area every year to no avail. This year I'm throwing around the idea of letting the crabgrass grow to a certain point and then just killing off the entire area and starting over from scratch.

My questions are 1) What is the best type of grass seed to plant for areas that are full sun? 2)Once crabgrass is fully established, what is the best way to get rid of the stuff? 3) Should I just not worry about it and go fishing more?

[LwnmwnMan2]

To answer your question completely, there's a couple of things that need to be known.

First, how big of an area, and how much do you want to spend??

If it's not that big, or you don't care how much you spend, I'd highly suggest digging up the area and replacing with sod. This means tearing all of the turf that's in there, crabgrass and good grass, regrading and laying the new sod.

It'll be the quickest way to crabgrass free lawn.

If you want a cheaper and probably easier way, I'd suggest going 1 of 2 routes.

You CAN control crabgrass this time of year, and although the chemical looks like it's expensive, if you get a couple of guys to go in on it, it's not too bad.

Do a search for "Drive 75". I know you can get it at a Lesco service center. There's one in Burnsville. I'm sure you can get it at different places, just not sure off the top of my head.

This will control what you already have.

Next spring, use a pre-emergent with Dimension in it. Again, Scotts, Big-Box stores, all those will work, just giving you an idea of what we use on commercial properties.

Do a split application, meaning do your entire yard around mid May, but then do the areas that you're having problems with (ie the area you're describing) again mid June. You'll need to run a different fertilizer on the rest of the year, or if it's not that big of a yard, you'll probably be able to just use the pre-emergent fertilizer for the whole thing.

Yes, the 1" of water / week is a good rule of thumb, but the heat / stress pretty much crept up on everyone this summer, and it probably should have been more like 2-3" per week.

The yards that I maintained were still stressed, even at 1.5 hours / zone / 4 days / week.

You probably don't have to restart the whole thing with the sod, although if this area gets dried out very quickly, chances are it's not very good soil under that turf area.

Also, about another 6-7 weeks and we'll get a frost, maybe a little longer, you're a little farther south than I am. Once that happens, then the crabgrass is done this year.

If it bothers you alot, track down the Drive, tackle what's already there. Then try a double application in the spring. Yes, you're going to have to mow like mad, but come July / August, your crabgrass should be much less.

Not to promote one company, but I know that Lesco carries a 0-0-7 fertilizer with pre-emergent control, so you're not getting any Nitrogen with it. This will help out tremendously with spring top growth.

Your best bet is to do a decent winterizer fertilizer, once mid September, then mid October, and that way your grass will already have the Nitrogen needed in the spring. This way you can use a little heavier dose of the pre-emergent without having to mow every other day in the spring, or risk burnage.