Protecting your lawn from pesky weeds

If you have been traveling through neighborhoods this spring, I am sure you have noticed all the bright purple flowers and light green matted weeds in most of the lawns. These weeds have been the bane of many a lawn owner this spring.

The purple flower weed is henbit, and the green matted weed, which has a small white flower, is chickweed. If left unchecked, they can grow vigorously and choke out wanted grass.

Both are classified as fall/winter annuals. They are growing rapidly right now during the cool part of the spring. They are flowering and producing seed. The seed falls to the ground and remains dormant until fall.

The plant will die when hot weather invades the Heartland. The seed will lay dormant throught the summer and then germinate this fall when cool temperatures ensue. The cycle begins anew. Knowledge of the life cycle will suggest some ways to control this weed and keep it from taking over your lawn.

To kill these weeds in your lawn right now, apply an herbicide called trimec. Trimec comes in many different labels and in different physical forms. For best control use a liquid form. Trimec must enter the plant through the leaves for control. Using a spray will result in coating the entire leaf surface and allow more herbicide to enter the leaf, thus getting maximum results from the application.

You also can apply trimec in a granular form like spreading fertilizer through a fertilizer spreader. When applying granular trimec, you must wet the lawn surface before application. Remember, the trimec has to enter the plant through the leaf. Therefore a granual must fly through the air from the spreader and "hit" a leaf, and then stay on the leaf for several hours to be effective. Since the herbicide has to stay on the leaf for several hours after application, it can't rain for 24 hours after spreading.

You also can purchase trimec mixed with granular fertilizer for your lawn. The fertilizer will give your lawn nutrition, while the trimec kills the weeds.

Eliminating chickweed and henbit now will not eliminate a problem for this coming fall. The flowering chickweed and henbit are "throwing" seeds right now. Trimec does not kill weed seed. There is a good chance your lawn will again be infested this fall.

If you do find that your lawn is infested this fall, make another trimec application at the end of October. This will kill the weeds before they produce seed in the spring of 2014.

You also can help control chickweed and henbit this fall by applying treflan or a treflan/balan combination at the end of August. These herbicides are preemergents; they kill seeds as they germinate. Therefore, when the chickweed and henbit seeds start to germinate, they will be eliminated by the preemergents.

Products such as these can help rid your lawn of weeds. (Laura Simon)

In order to keep chickweed and henbit (along with a lot of weeds) out of your lawn, a program of herbicide applications will have to be made on a continual basis. These applications along with other cultural practices that enhance grass growth are the key for a weed-free lawn.

Send your gardening and landscape questions to Paul Schnare at P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO 63702-0699 or by email to news@semissourian.com.