Pre-emergent products prevent weeds from growing in your lawn but there is much confusion about how they do that and how they should be applied. Let’s start with what pre-emergents don’t do. Pre-emergent products do not keep seeds from germinating. In fact, seeds must germinate before pre-emergents can work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what are they? Pre-emergent products come in both liquid and granular form. The most common pre-emergent compounds are pendimethalin, prodiamine and dithiopyr (Dimension). Granular products are applied with a rotary or drop style spreader. If it\u2019s a liquid, it can be sprayed on with a backpack sprayer, hose and tank system or a motorized wheeled spray system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regardless of whether you apply a liquid or a granular, these products must be watered in to be effective. Most manufacturers recommend at least 1\/2 inch of water (normally one complete cycle of your sprinkler system).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Applying a pre-emergent right before a steady rain is also effective. As the product is watered in, it dissolves and binds with the organic materials in your soil. This creates a shield or protective barrier. This “shield” is at full strength right away and slowly deteriorates and loses its effectiveness over the course of a few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As weed seeds germinate (crack open), the initial stages of growth come in contact with your herbicide barrier and stop their growth. The product has stopped the plant from \u201cemerging\u201d into a fullplant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you are just starting your lawn treatment now, apply a pre-emergent and also kill off existing weeds. Do this before you fertilize. The reason for this is that we are still a few weeks away from really needing to fertilize and in the meantime, you don’t want to feed your existing weeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most recommendations for our area are to apply pre-emergent products before spring, early summer and fall. There are many weeks in the winter where the temperature is warm enough for both winter and spring season weeds. Applying a \u201cshield\u201d every few months ensures that your lawn doesn’t go unprotected for long periods of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A head start now means a healthier, greener lawn going into summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pre-emergent products prevent weeds from growing in your lawn but there is much confusion about how they do that and how they should be applied. Let’s start with what pre-emergents don’t do. Pre-emergent products do not keep seeds from germinating. In fact, seeds must germinate before pre-emergents can work. So what are they? Pre-emergent products […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n