Identify Weeds in Your Lawn

Know your weed type first

Lawn weeds fall into three groups, and each needs a different approach:

• Broadleaf weeds - wide leaves with a network of veins, like dandelion, clover, plantain and creeping Charlie
• Grassy weeds - look like grass but grow differently, like crabgrass, quackgrass and annual bluegrass
• Sedges - grass-like, but with triangular stems. Roll one between your fingers and you'll feel the edges - 'sedges have edges'

Annual or perennial? It changes the timing

Annual weeds such as crabgrass sprout from seed each year and die in fall, so the goal is to stop the seeds from sprouting. A pre-emergent applied in spring - usually when the soil reaches about 55°F - works best.

Perennial weeds like dandelions and creeping Charlie come back from their roots, so they need to be dug out completely or spot-treated, which is often most effective in fall.

The best weed control is a thick lawn

Weeds move into thin, stressed grass. A few habits crowd them out for good:

• Mow high - 3 to 4 inches for most cool-season grasses shades out weed seeds
• Water deeply and less often to grow deeper grass roots
• Overseed bare and thin patches in early fall
• Loosen compacted soil with core aeration
• Test your soil before fertilizing, so you feed the grass and not the weeds

Not every weed is a problem

White clover stays green in drought, feeds pollinators and adds nitrogen to the soil, and violets can make a pretty, low-mow lawn. If a 'weed' isn't hurting anything, it may be worth keeping. If it is, the results explain how to remove it with the least effort.

If you use a weed killer

Choose a product labeled for your specific weed and your type of grass, and follow the label exactly - it protects your lawn, your pets and your kids. Spot-treat instead of spraying the whole yard, and keep pets off treated areas for as long as the label says.