Crabgrass is the bain of my garden!!

[missmckee83]

Hi all,
Crab grass has to be the most annoying and difficult weed out there. 3 years ago I converted an old scraggly lawn to a flower bed. Problem is that crabgrass keeps growing year after year!! I mulch every spring with wood bark to try and stop it but really just slows down the growth. I try and keep on top of weeding it out by hand but it is sooo time consuming and painful on the hands really dislike it. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to really stop crab grass frm growing again organically??

[Gary350]

I have crab grass and bermuda grass. I till it every day for over a week and let the hot sun kill it. The crab grass is easy to deal with compaired to bermuda grass. After 2 weeks of tilling I plant. If grass comes up it is not much and I pull it by hand. Bermuda grass will not pull it has to be dug up.

[missmckee83]

The newspaper idea is one I havent tried. Will give that a go. Mulch lasts about a month or 2 then crabgrass starts again... I cant really till because I have a bunch of flowers growing in the flowerbed. Why does it keep coming back? How does it seed so effectively?

[soil]

if soil solarization is an option, I suggest it. but be sure to re apply a biological stimulant to your soil after like compost tea because it sterilizes the soil or both weed seeds and microbes. from then on DO NOT TILL or you will bring up dormant seeds from below the seed free zone your solarized and you will be in the same mess.

[ethics213]

I'm in the same boat. I've got crab grass out the wazoo. I just live with it. I keep the veggies weed free, but leave the grass in the rows. about once a week I'll weed wack it down. I figure what the hell, it's better than walking through wet topsoil.

[Toil]

is the crabgrass actually choking anything off? Or just hanging out? How long ago was it lawn?

What kind of flowers?

I read your mulch works for two months... sounds like decent control! Not to mention, a reminder to keep mulching. Maybe set a calendar alarm on your cell phone?

The newspaper (I use cardboard) idea is just another kind of mulch. I find it works especially well when you throw compost and organic matter on top, then plant/sow and mulch that. Crabgrass is aggressive, but not invincible. It also just might provide some benefits you aren't accounting for. What do you have going for groundcover? Is the crabgrass holding some moisture and nutrients in place? providing habitat? If you eliminate it, but don't fill the post, it's going to return to you, ready to serve. If it has no place to grow it won't.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Tilling is crabgrass' best friend; it waits in the soil for up to a century to be brought back to the surface and then POOF!

Crabgrass.

Stop tilling, keep mulching (toil's suggestions are seconded), and eventually it dissappears. You don't need to till to garden; lots of us are doing without this year and loving it... less weeds and less work, with better soil to boot (preserves the carbon).

What's not to like?

HG

[FieldofFlowers]

We have quack grass and crab grass. Our quack grass can't be pulled. It's roots grow several feet down and trapped around rocks/cement...

[nedwina]

I don't bother trying to pull crabgrass- I sever the top from the roots using anything from a serrated bread knife (in mulched areas that have to be hand weeded), to a supersharpened "Swoe" (in the rows). It's easy to get under the foliage with a thin blade and the tops pop right off. As far as I can tell, they don't grow back from the left behind roots. And since the top part doesn't have roots, there's no worry of their latching back onto the ground if you don't rake it away.

Swoes can be used with a back & forth vaccuming motion, kinda like a scuffle hoe, only the blade is flat and can get in tight places. At first I didn't like it, it's very lightweight, but once I got a good sharp edge on it, I'm a big fan. Very effective on big old crabgrass mounds.

[smokensqueal]

before I mulch I lay down at least two layers of cardboard if not more especially in my flow garden and make sure every piece of ground is covered and can't get any light. This for me stops it almost dead in it's tracks. You will have a few that the seeds must float in and will start growing on top of the cardboard but those are easy to pull.

[modpod77]

The idea about letting the sun burn the grass is really great. I am having a headache not knowing how to deal with those grass and I have followed the instruction and successfully get rid of the grass. I'm glad that I don't have to use any chemical substance.

[lorax]

If you want to hasten the process of sun-cooking your beds, mulch them over with black plastic. The oxygen-free superhot environment you produce under there kills even the seeds of stubborn weeds like crabgrass, quack grass, and bermuda grass. I use it to kill off unwanted areas of grass all the time, as well as to remove the threat of invasion by gallant soldiers (which are tasty, but need to stay in their own row.)

[Anna63]

Don't forget good old weeding as a method of crabgrass control. Hand-pulling small patches of crabgrass before it goes to seed makes eminent sense. To facilitate weeding, water the lawn first (weeds are more easily extricated from wet soil).

good luck!

[lily51]

This has been a banner year for crabgrass in this area of Ohio. I do a lot of pulling after rains. Whoever said don't till is right..it does spread by roots.

If starting a new bed, what about the matting that blocks weeds coming through but not rain coming the other way. If you're planting established plants, Preen works well, just can't use it if you're planting by seeds.

What I really wish I could find is what my dad used for crabgrass and dandelions. It was a green plastic tube into which he put the weed control liquid;it had a single prong on the end. He just walked arouond the yard (upright, no crawling around to dig) and plunged that prong into the center of the weed. The prong must have been on a spring as it would retract into the tube... evidentally when it was released, so was the weed control. He had beautiful lawns and gorgeous gardens.

If anyone knows where these are sold, please let me know. thanks.