Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange
Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [crabgrass]

Common name for Digitaria, a creeping grass that can become a problem weed.

Crabgrass (also written as 'crab grass') is the common name for Digitaria, a genus of about 300 species of .

The two main problem species are Digitaria sanguinalis and Digitaria ischaemum. Both of which have high growing branching but can adapt to grow close to the earth in mats.

Where allowed to flourish, crab grass will choke out the surrounding grass and leave depressions in the .

Digitaria sanguinalis

Photo of Digitaria sanguinalis by Matt Lavin.

24 questions
47
votes
3 answers

What's an organic way to discourage crabgrass from a large "lawn"?

I have a large area that's infested with crabgrass. I'd like to use organic methods to encourage the grass mix over the crabgrass. The fact that it's a large area means I can't afford to apply (nor do I want to) herbicides. The soil is acidic and…
bstpierre
  • 41,452
  • 7
  • 111
  • 235
20
votes
1 answer

How is crabgrass removed from lawns?

I have some crabgrass in various patches in my lawn that I would like to remove. At the same time, I would like to fill in some patches (and the crabgrass locations) with new grass seed. I can buy some fertilizer with crabgrass preventer, but I…
Sean Earp
  • 425
  • 3
  • 8
15
votes
4 answers

How do I quickly remove crabgrass without too much manual labour?

My backyard is being overtaken with crabgrass again. It started later this year than last. In the early spring, I rented a de-thatcher/powerrake and cleaned up the year of a lot of dead material (to promote growth of "regular grass"). I also…
Brian
  • 1,093
  • 3
  • 10
  • 17
11
votes
4 answers

Should I bag lawn clippings from a crabgrass-infested lawn?

I know all the recommendations are to NOT bag the lawn (assuming a mulching mower), however, given a crabgrass-infested lawn (approx 50% surface coverage is crab grass), is it better to bag the clippings and dispose of them rather than let them…
Brian
  • 1,093
  • 3
  • 10
  • 17
8
votes
1 answer

How long should I wait after overseeding, before I apply pre-emergent weed preventer?

I aerated, overseeded and applied starter fertilizer last Sept 15th. Would I be safe to apply a pre-emergent such as Scotts fertilizer with Halts pre-emergent this spring, or would some of the grass seeds from last fall still be germinating and/or…
Eric
  • 81
  • 2
8
votes
1 answer

Are both of these patches crabgrass?

I have what appears to be, two types of crabgrass growing. One with thicker, longer, higher blades. Another with skinnier, shorter blades. I have seen the "real crabgrass video", but still not able to determine if this is truly crabgrass or not.
Brian
  • 1,093
  • 3
  • 10
  • 17
7
votes
3 answers

Lawn border to stop grass growth

I have a type of crab grass in my yard, I live in a warm climate, Latin American to be exact. It's always been a pain to keep the grass out of the walkways and out of the garden in a neat fashion. What I have done in the past is to dig trenches…
jfreak53
  • 283
  • 3
  • 8
6
votes
1 answer

What are the benefits of solarization?

I am trying to cull crabgrass from my desert yard. I live in central Arizona. The crabgrass will grow in intense heat and seems very robust. It tends to grow more rapidly in shaded areas of the yard during summer but will also grow to some extent…
Citizen
  • 582
  • 1
  • 3
  • 18
5
votes
4 answers

How soon can I apply pre-emergent herbicide after a dormant overseeding?

I live in Ohio and I dormant overseeded in early January. So far, it has worked wonderfully. A lot of the new seed is coming up but some weeds have started to germinate as well. I normally put down some pre-emergent, like Halts, but I waited to…
Evil Elf
  • 2,932
  • 3
  • 21
  • 29
5
votes
1 answer

Getting Rid of Crabgrass

A good sized portion of my backyard had to be reseeded 2 years ago after the septic drainage was replaced. The new grass has now come back in but there are large areas (10'x20') of crabgrass in it. What's the best way to go about getting rid of this…
John_Henry
  • 153
  • 3
5
votes
3 answers

How can I remove crabgrass from a Zoysia lawn, and flower beds?

We just bought a new house in Orlando. The home is great but we noticed crab grass taking over and a few other weeds. I'm a total noob with grass stuff, although I'm researching all I can. The grass type is Zoysia. Trugreen recently came and did…
Jay S.
  • 51
  • 1
  • 2
4
votes
2 answers

New construction, horrible lawn

We moved into our new house in late March and started with mud. The builder put down seed with a hand spreader and put straw down on the sloped parts of the yard. He then told me to only water it every few days but not if it rains. I moved from a…
Alan Ivey
  • 141
  • 3
3
votes
2 answers

How to get rid of crab grass and weeds from my lawn

Spring has just come here in Virginia and my front lawn is a mess. I have more crab grass and weeds than grass! I need some help as to what should I be putting in my lawn? Should I just buy Scott's spring treatment or is there someone better out…
Omnipresent
  • 299
  • 1
  • 3
  • 7
3
votes
1 answer

Will my Kentucky Bluegrass die if I let nature have its way?

Photos below show the three species which have taken over my half-acre yard in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I believe these are Kentucky Bluegrass (60%), Crabgrass (30%), and Creeping Charlie (10%). The last two are not desired, but I could just keep…
bobuhito
  • 215
  • 1
  • 6
2
votes
2 answers

Issue with grass that has a lot of crab grass. What do I do?

I recently filled in some low spots in my lawn with soil and seeded. The grass I planted has now sprouted a lot of (I think) crab grass. Do I need to rip up and re-seed? Or, would a simple chemical treatment work? It is pretty widespread in the…
EagleBahn
  • 31
  • 1
1
2