Getting Rid of Weeds For the Selling Season
As the selling season approaches, many homeowners – and not just those looking to sell their homes – are beginning to think about their lawns and landscaping. If you’re selling your home this year, you’re going to be up against a lot of competition and landscaping is a huge part of your home’s curb appeal and thus its overall value. Remember, curb appeal is the buyer’s first impression of the home, and in addition to its exterior they’re also going to be attracted towards (or repelled) by the landscaping and lawn.
Weeds, in particular, are something most homeowners battle year-round, but they rear their heads when the weather warms up and can throw a wrench into your landscaping aesthetic. Some are notoriously difficult to get rid of, so as you ready your home for listing, you want to make sure you can deal with weeds in one fell swoop as you sculpt your lawn without spending undue time and energy that’s needed elsewhere in the complex process of selling.
Weeds can and often do affect even the most carefully maintained of lawns, and they usually arrive either by wind or carried in by birds. They can also hitch a ride on borrowed yard equipment, grass seed, organic soil amendments, and even clothing or the fur of pets.
There are two basic groups of weeds: grasses and broadleaf weeds. Some are annual, which means they sprout, flower, reproduce, and die within one season. Perennial weeds, on the other hand, can live for several years and these tend to be a recurring pain for most sellers. The control methods you choose will depend on what type of weed you are dealing with, and they include both treatment and prevention.
If you only have a few weeds in a relatively small area of grass, mechanical removal is often the easiest, especially if this is a matter of fixing your lawn up for sale. You can do this by using hoes, shovels, or even pulling them by hand. Usually, if it’s just a few offenders, taking hem out by hand is usually best because a shovel, depending on the area, can leave nasty scars on your lawn.
You can also use herbicides, but it’s important to select one that will target the weed you are dealing with and not harm surrounding vegetation. It does you no good to kill a large patch of your lawn just to get rid of a few weeds. For example, if you use grass killer on the crabgrass or growing in your hybrid Bermuda lawn, it will kill any grass it comes into contact with, including the stuff you want to keep. Stay away from broad-spectrum herbicide because it may very well kill anything it touches.
In most cases, the best defense against weeds in lawn areas is a healthy lawn. Well-maintained turf grass tends to shove out most weeds and regular mowing will remove the growing tips of the weeds. If you need to apply chemical weed control, don’t do it on newly laid sod or freshly seeded lawns because they’re going to be fragile against the chemicals; use chemical control only on strong, healthy, well-established grass systems.
In gravel areas you’re likely to have an easier time with chemical methods because there’s less risk of killing anything you want to keep. In general, any foliage poking through a gravel driveway or walk path is an eyesore, so you’ll be fine getting rid of anything growing there (plus, the only plants likely to be hardy enough to grow in gravel are going to be weeds anyway). Both annual and perennial weeds can be controlled with the application of something called a post-emergent herbicide.
Post-emergent herbicides control weeds that have already sprouted and are actively growing. The most common products for this application contain Glyphosate or Glufosinate as active ingredients listed on the label. These herbicides work by absorbing through the leaves of the plants down to the roots, where they disrupt the weeds’ growth process. These products are non-selective so they’ll kill any growing vegetation, both grass and broadleaf plants, but in general it’s safe to assume that you don’t want any growth in gravel areas anyway.
Pre-emergents are designed to prevent weeds from growing in the first place, and again they’ll work well in gravel areas. Where you can sometimes get away with a post-emergent in a grassy area, a pre-emergent is a bad idea if it’s a young or freshly seeded lawn because it will prevent your grass from growing and can sometimes interfere with sod taking hold. The most common pre-emergent herbicide is the chemical oryzalin. Ask the sales staff at your local hardware store or nursery for assistance if you are unsure which product is a pre-emergent. Apply twice a year: in the spring for summer weeds and the fall to control winter weeds.
Remember, chemical methods should be used only if mechanical ones won’t work or to prevent recurring problematic weed growth. Many are total or complete vegetation killers and can wreak havoc on your lawn if incorrectly applied. They can remain in the soil for many years and leach into surrounding areas, which can seriously inhibit or otherwise affect the ability of other plants to grow.
Be careful when using products that contain 2-4-D, because they’re designed to be applied when the temperatures are below 80 degrees. On warm days, this product can evaporate and cause damage to surrounding vegetation as it drifts through the air. Always follow label directions exactly! In a lot of cases, less is usually more. The average homeowner applies 9 times more chemicals to their property than a farmer does on the same size land, so take care to resist the urge to overdo it. Overuse can damage your lawn, surrounding ecosystems, and even put your family or pets in danger.
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– Get It Right Solutions