Tag: weeds

Organic Gardening Solutions – Tips and Tricks

Posted on July 6, 2011 in Organic Lawn Care

What can I Do about Slugs?
Having problems with slugs? Go on a nightly slug hunt in the spring. Pour a little bit of table salt on the slugs. Keep this up for a few nights and your slug problem should decrease dramatically. Another alternative is to sink a cup of beer into the ground near plants that have been damaged. Slugs love beer, but can’t get out of the cup!

How can I Keep Animals out of my Garden?
Use red pepper spray and many critters won’t come back for seconds. It makes the plants just too spicy for rabbits, mice, birds and squirrels. Mix 3 tablespoons of Tabasco sauce and 1 teaspoon dish soap. Add this to 1 quart of water.

What is an Organic Way to Kill Weeds?
Vinegar can kill most weeds but it can also kill your plants. Do not pour it on weeds in your grass or you’ll end up with dead grass spots. If the weeds are close to other plants, try using a paint brush to brush the vinegar on the weed’s leaves.

Check out our weed control services for more information at www.blaircountylawnservice.com/services/weed-control

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Weeds are indicators of soil problems.

Posted on August 15, 2010 in Lawn Care Tips, Lawn Disease

Plants voluntarily grow in locations that they are well suited to. Forests develop in fertile soil and overtime the plants growing in the forest change. This is because the plants are adding and subtracting from the soil and making the conditions different, changing the group of plants that can be successful within that environment. A location that was once suited for an Aspen or a Larch will someday be home to an Oak because of these changes. Scientists can often tell the condition of a forest by the plants that are thriving. The same is true with a lawn.

We can tell the health of a soil below a lawn by the weeds that are successful in the competition for space. Weeds are defined by most as “plants out of place”. They are advantageous plants growing in locations that they are well suited for. Weeds in a lawn are a problem because they are not as effective as grass in achieving the outcomes that are desired from maintaining a lawn. Safety, erosion control, water purification, water infiltration, atmospheric carbon reduction and other environmental benefits that are the result of lawn grasses are reduced by most weeds.

The best defense against weeds is a healthy lawn, because grass can easily out-compete weeds when conditions are maintained in the grasses favor. Nutrient deficiencies, nutrient excesses, soil compaction, acidic soils, excessive shade, wet soils and many other problems can be detected by what plants are successful in infiltrating a lawn. Below is a list of some of the common names of indicator weeds (scientific name in parenthesis) that can help determine what issues are making your lawn less than perfect. Correct the problem that creates a competitive advantage for the weed and you will have an easier time getting the lawn results you are looking for.

Weeds Associated with Different Soil Problems

Acid soil: sorrel (Rumex species), sow thistle (Sonchus species), prostrate knotweed (Polygonum aviculare), lady’s-thumb (Polygonum persicaria), wild strawberries (Fragaria species), plantain (Plantago major), rough cinquefoil (Potentilla monspeliensis), silvery cinquefoil (Potentilla argentea), hawkweeds (Hieracium aurantiacum and pratense), knapweeds (Centaurea species), bentgrasses (Agrostis species)

Alkaline soil: field peppergrass (Lepidium virginicum), goosefoot (Chenopodium species), gromwell (Lithospermum officinale), true chamomile (Anthemis nobilis), bladder campion (Silene latifolia)

Wet or poorly drained soil: horsetail (Equisetum arvense), sedges (Carex species), lady’s-thumb (Polygonum persicaria), joe-pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum), silvery cinquefoil (Potentilla argentea), curly dock (Rumex crispus), mosses, Pennsylvania smartweed (Polygonum pensylvanicum), tall buttercup (Ranunculus acris), creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella), Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), lance-leaved goldenrod (Solidago graminifolia), meadow pink (Lychnis floscuculi), jewelweed (Impatiens pallida), coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), sweet flag (Acorus calamus), ground nut (Apios americana), annual bluegrass (Poa annua), common chickweed (Stellaria media), crabgrass (Digitaria species), goosegrass (Elusine species), ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium vulgatum), violets (Viola species), yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus)

Dry soil: Virginia pepperweed (Lepidium virginicum), rough cinquefoil (Potentilla monspeliensis), potato vine (Ipomoea pandurata), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), black medic (Medicago lupulina), red sorrel (Rumex acetosella)

Compacted or heavy soil: wild garlic (Allium vineale), dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), broadleaf dock (Rumex obtusifolius), creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens), plantain (Plantago major), annual bluegrass (Poa annua), common chickweed (Stellaria media), goosegrass (Elusine indica), knotweed (Polygonum aviculare), mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium vulgatum), prostrate spurge (Euphorbia supina)

Soil with a hardpan or hard crust: horse nettle (Solanum carolinense), pennycress (Thiaspi arvense), quack grass (Agropyron repens), field mustard (Brassica nigra), morning-glory (Ipomoea purpurea), pineapple weed (Matricaria sauveolens)

Previously cultivated soil: Lamb’s-quarters (Chenopodium album), plantain (several species), ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), purslane (Portulaca oleracea), dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), chickweed (Stellaria media), pigweeds (family Amaranth), carpetweed (Mollugo verticillata)

High fertility soil: chicory (Cichorium intybus), pigweeds (family Amaranth), purslane (Portulaca oleracea), dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), lamb’s-quarters (Chenopodium album), burdock (Arctium minus), pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), butter print (Abutilon theophrasti), Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota), annual bluegrass (Poa annua), bentgrasses (Agrostis species), Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule), yellow woodsorrel (Oxalis stricta), crabgrass (Digitaria species), mallow (Malva neglecta), purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

Low fertility soil: plantains (Plantago species), red sorrel (Rumex acetosella), white clover (Trifolium repens)

Shaded soil: annual Bluegrass (Poa annua), common chickweed (Stellaria media), ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium vulgatum), nimblewill (Muhlenbergia shreberi), violets (Viola species)

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10 Steps to Become CrabGrass Free

Posted on June 28, 2010 in free lawn care help, Lawn Care Company, Lawn Care Tips
  1. Like all weeds, the number one crabgrass prevention is maintaining a healthy lawn. Make sure that your beautiful grass is thick enough to cover your yard. Without sunlight reaching the soil, crabgrass can’t take root.
  2. Don’t mow your grass too low as crabgrass will take advantage of the increased sunlight at dirt-level. Two and a half to three inches should be about right.
  3. Try to remove crabgrass as soon as you see it. Crabgrass is so fertile that an innocuous appearance can quickly turn into a full-blown grass patch.
  4. Mulch the soil after removing crabgrass. This helps ensure that whatever roots remain don’t take seed and ruin your lawn grass later.
  5. Heavily water the area you are weeding before removing the crabgrass. The dampness will loosen up the dirt and make removal easier.
  6. Make sure you get the entire root. Crabgrass is a tenacious weed. In the right conditions, its roots will grow wherever they touch soil.
  7. Only use chemicals as a last resort. A herbicide that only kills crabgrass doesn’t exist, so other plants will always be vulnerable to chemical treatment.
  8. Pre-emergent chemicals do exist, but it is hard to decide when is best to apply these preventive chemicals. If you apply them too early, their effects will fade, and the crabgrass might take hold later. If you apply the chemicals too late, the crabgrass may already be there.
  9. Always use gloves to protect your hands when gardening, especially when using chemicals,
  10.  Be reasonable. Crabgrass is difficult to ever completely root out, but you can get most of it and enjoy a beautiful grass lawn

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Know what Feeds Your Weeds

Posted on June 17, 2010 in Lawn Care Tips

Every weed tells a story about your soil. Crabgrass likes compact soil. Cinquefoil likes poor dry soil. Dandelions like high pH. Use your soil test as a guide to make conditions favorable to turf and unfavorable to weeds. Many plants you might consider weeds are beneficial to your lawn and useful to humans. For example, clover helps make nitrogen available in the soil, and plantain can be applied to the skin to soothe insect bites. And a diversity of species leads to lawns that are more hardy.

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