Question: My neighbors refer to my St. Augustine lawn as “The Garden of Weeden” What can I do to get the weeds out of my lawn and keep them out?

Steve Says:

First you need to start with good lawn care cultural practices.  Water only when your grass needs it. Wait for the leaf blades to fold in half length wise and you see a blue gray haze to it. This is called the first sign of wilt. Then water 1 inch per watering.  Use any cylindrical cup or can to measure this.  This will moisten the whole length of your root system.  Excessive moisture will cause aquatic weeds to germinate, like dollar weeds and sedge.  Too little water will cause drought and dry weeds to germinate like Florida Pusley and Spurge.

Then you will need a good fertilization and pest prevention program to keep the grass thick and the bugs out so no dead areas appear.  When lawn care is not optimal, thin or dead areas appear and weeds will follow soon.  Once weeds are there, a Heron lawn care specialist can treat them with a post emergent weed control. This practice will kill existing weeds. A pre emergent applied correctly by a Heron lawn care specialist in the Fall and Winter will prevent your summer annual weeds from germinating from the start.

Last, keep your grass cut.  It sounds simple, but many people wait too long to cut their grass.  Once a week should take care of keeping the grass healthy. Letting it grow too long then cutting causes unwanted stress on the grass and slows growth allowing weeds to grow.

St. Augustine is an excellent grass to have in Central Florida for a thick, green lawn with minimal weeds, but taking care of it is not for the novice. For the best lawn care available in the Orlando area, request a free quote today.