Winter weeds in your lawn

Hi everybody how are your lawns going?

As Autumn turns into winter we are starting to see weeds emerging in your lawn. With the extra moisture around, with less competition from summer active lawns (as they go into winter dormancy) and with fewer mows per month weeds find the conditions irresistible.

With the weather cooling down,  weed seed bank stored in the soil from previous years beginning to germinate and grow, bringing back those annoying weeds you try so hard every year to get rid of.

One of the most common winter weeds is winter grass, sour sobs and, the common broadleaf varieties such as creeping oxalis, thistle, dandelion, clover and bindi eye. Have a look at Amgrows handy Weed Identification Chart to identify your weeds

There are some things that encourage excessive weeds like excessively low mowing, lack of fertilizer and inadequate watering which slow the growth of your lawn and in turn its health. Remember the best strategy to fight weeds is a healthy lawn – the stronger your lawn is the harder it is for weeds to compete. Poor control measures historically can also lead to a larger seed bank increasing numbers of weeds this season germinating when the conditions are right. ( like now)

A good method of getting on top is by the use of high-quality selective weed killers.

Broadleaf Weeds:

For broadleaf weeds like creeping oxalis, thistle, dandelion, clover and bindi eye., use a product containing MCPA and Bromoxynil such as Amgrow Bin-Die. This sort of chemical is considered a selective which means it is specially designed to be sprayed over the entire lawn and not harm it. It will only target the weeds. Generally speaking, broadleaf herbicides take around 10-14 days to kill the weeds and sometimes needs to re-applied after a few weeks as more seeds germinate.

Wintergrass:

I have seen quite a bit Wintergrass emerging lately as the weather begins to cool down. Wintergrass can be controlled by using a selective herbicide such as Amgrows winter grass killer. Follow the directions carefully and make sure you get an even application over the whole lawn area. Wintergrass killer is a selective herbicide and is safe to use on couch and buffalo lawns. If you have winter grass growing in Kikuyu, then you can’t use a winter grass herbicide to control measure. Your only option here is to use a pre-emergent herbicide such as BOW AND ARROW or EMBARGO early in the season which will kill the seeds of the winter grass weed before they have a chance to germinate. 

But alas its always hard to completely get on top and you probably will always have some uninvited guest in your lawn but had pulling can help to prevent a further increase to the seed bank later in later years