did not get the preemergent down in time and have that crap all over my back yard.

I put preemergent down in the end of february and sprayed Weed B Gone (Southern Lawns) the week after.

Anything else I can do?

Weed B Gone didn't even phase my crab grass, so I broke down and have been spending a considerable amount of time and effort pulling them by hand. It's a little easier to do when the ground is still damp.

I'm trying to get it done before my first mow of the season.

Nothing will get rid of it without killing everything. You can pull them individually or wait to hit it with the pre-emergent next year.

Do these things work at all?


They are getting to be pretty large clumps

if it is a manageable number of spots, i usually and VERY CAREFULLY spray them lightly with roundup, then pull them out a few days later.

now if you have an entire yard with 40+ spots, that may not be feasible.

but yeah, as others have said it is a pain and probably too late to fix now.

Where are you located? Im in the DFW area and I haven't seen the crabgrass come up yet. I have things that look like crabgrass but its just a winter weed. I think we are a few weeks out up here to start seeing it come up....I could be wrong though.

Hopefully it is some winter weed, but looks a lot like crab grass.

BosAG what I have is a bright green "clumps".
this is the closest pic I could find, mine is a bit more compact then this pic

I'm no expert, but that doesn't look like crabgrass to me (or even close). You may be fine.

If it is annual bluegrass it should start dying off in warmer weather. This is what is in my yard.

maybe that is what it is, but it is all over my yard. If I put preemerge down in Oct will I stop that next year?

Short answer...yes. Make sure the pre-emergent targets grassy weeds.

Yeah definitely not crabgrass. I have plenty of the same, should die soon.

My backyard has been taken over by the bluegrass. Suprisingly, it does pretty well even in the summer.

yeah that is it, the annual bluegrass.


what can i do if it does not die off in summer?

MSMA is your friend but the temp has to be between 85 and 95 I think. It really works.

If you want to be sure the Poa dies as the weather heats up go to Home Depot and buy some Image (liquid) and apply it to your yard. It will kill mature Poa, but it will take 3-4 weeks at least.

Also, there is a product called "Certainty" that I used on my lawn this year. It stops the growth of annual Poa and turns the plants yellow. Takes about 3 to 4 weeks for this to happen.

I definitely will put out pre-emergent this fall.

I have used Image in the past with various degrees of success. I now use the MSMA method with my Bermuda. Once we warm up, as stated, I will hit the entire yard with a strong MSMA solution. Have found that it will kill the Poa and pretty much all the other weeds. The Bermuda will brown for a few days. After several days I fertilize and about a week later everything looks great.

Friend turned me onto this method a few years ago and it seems to work well. MSMA is MUCH cheaper than Image or anything similar.

[This message has been edited by Absolute (edited 4/6/2010 12:11p).]

Do regular home improvement/big box stores (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) sell MSMA? I'm assuming it will be an ingredient in a handful of products they have, but was curious what some of those were.

I have a similar situation (will post a pic when I get home to verify) and would like to put down some MSMA, but wondering if I'll have to go to a nursery to find some.

Yep. It is a bottle of liquid. A bottle will last you years.

Okay, here are some pics -

Is this bluegrass, crabgrass or something else entirely?

I mowed quite low on Saturday night and this stuff has already sprouted up to 4-5 inches (over 2 days).





[This message has been edited by JDCAG (edited 4/7/2010 8:36a).]

It's not annual Poa. Blades are too wide for poa.

Surely there are some Turf Grass mgmt majors on here.

That looks like dallisgrass to me which can be killed with MSMA. buy a bottle of it and a plastic sprayer at HD/Lowes and spray when weather is warm. Will kill it and surrounding bermuda, but the bermuda will come back.

here is a link with pic
http://www.uncommononline.com/Uugly.htm

edited to add link

[This message has been edited by Driver8 (edited 4/6/2010 11:55p).]

Yeah dallisgrass or a fescue

Here is the tall fescue


[This message has been edited by Aggie_Eric98 (edited 4/7/2010 8:21a).]

So I can just apply some MSMA when it is warm enough - will that take care of fescue also?

I put down some weed b gone and it really helped knock out the broad leaf weeds, so if I can just knock out this junk, I'll be pretty pumped.

I am spot spraying my tall fescue with roundup, just make sure you get it only on the fescue and the bermuda should take over

http://www.ehow.com/how_4447517_kill-fescue-bermuda-lawn.html

It is Rescue grass. Keep mowing or spray Image. I wouldn't spray MSMA until your yard is really growing - mid to late May.