How to Get Rid of Weeds in Your Lawn’s Grass

A weed problem in your turf will completely change the look of your home. Regardless of your grass type, weeds will stand out and make you wish you had started on a solution a bit sooner. If you are wondering how to get rid of weeds in your lawn’s grass, you are in the right place. Our guide provides:

• Natural and chemical ways to get rid of weeds in your grass
• Best practices for removing lawn weeds
• How to prevent weeds from moving forward
• And more

7 Ways to Get Rid of Weeds in Your Grass Naturally

The most common way to naturally get rid of weeds in your grass is to use vinegar in a spray bottle; however, there are ways to remove weeds by hand, treat them with boiling water, and even burn them. Understanding several different natural strategies to get rid of grassy weeds will make this process considerably easier.

Burn Weeds Out

A small torch can be used as a weed killer. The weeds can’t stand the torch’s heat, and they will wither and die. The torch is used because it can pinpoint a weed and leave the grass around it alive. Typically when you burn weeds out like this, some of the grass in the area is also killed. Make sure you are checking to ensure that you are not in a drought; having a healthy lawn is secondary to proper fire safety.

Remove By Hand

There is always the option to pull lawn weeds by hand. You may want to use a weed puller to get down below the surface of the weed and ensure that the root comes out as well. Most homeowners will pull the top part of the weed and realize that things like dandelions and crabgrass keep germinating. You must remove the entire leaf.

Boiling Water

Boiling water over 200 degrees Fahrenheit also makes it difficult for weeds to survive. This is similar to the process of burning weeds out but won’t require a torch. When you pour the boiling water, be sure to control how much is released, or you will also kill the grass around the weeds.

Dish Soap

Have you noticed how often we have recommended using dish soap for DIY-related house fixes? The dish soap is a powerful tool to have. Make a mixture in a small spray bottle with two tablespoons of dish soap and about two to three cups of water. Spray this on weeds; if it is not working, play with the soap concentration; also, make sure to spray the weeds in the sunlight when they are dry.

Vinegar

Vinegar is probably the most popular natural solution for handling weeds in the turf. If you have a small spray bottle of vinegar, you can spray it directly on a variety of weeds, and it will kill them rather quickly. Always apply it on a sunny day when the weeds are dry. Remember that vinegar will not only attack various types of weeds but also your grass.

Salt

A small pinch of table salt at the base of a weed will not only kill the weed but also help prevent other weed seeds from sprouting. Salt will impact the ability of anything to grow and is a good weed prevention strategy, just make sure you are using small amounts.

Natural Herbicide

Some companies will sell a natural herbicide for dealing with broadleaf weeds. The problem with many of these post-emergent herbicides is that they are not typically selective. This means they will kill your grass as well. If you take a look at the ingredients of these herbicides, you will often see things like corn gluten, salt, vinegar, and more. Many homeowners prefer to create their solutions for a weed-free lawn.

3 Chemical Ways to Get Rid of Weeds Without Killing Grass

When a professional lawn service manages weeds, they are typically using a combination of preventative measures as well as post-emergent solutions; here is what you can expect with the chemical ways to get rid of weeds without killing grass.

Post-Emergent Herbicides

A certain amount of weeds are expected in your turf, especially if you have not had the proper aerating, mowing, and lawn fertilizer procedures throughout the course of the year. These post-emergent herbicides will handle annual weeds and ensure that new weeds do not come back up. Post-emergent herbicides are effective, but the combination of pre-emergent and post-emergent is much better.

Selective Broadleaf Weed Control

A weed control product that is selective will allow you to have a green lawn without weeds. However, you must make sure that you are using a product that is tolerant with the type of grass you have as well as the common weeds you may have in your turf.

Non-Selective Spot Treatment

Non-selective spot treatment of weeds can be products such as Roundup or Glyphosate. However, this is not the best solution as it will prevent anything from growing in this area for quite some time, including grass seeds. If you can help it, use the spot treatment weed control for patios, driveways, and walkways and use a more natural way in the turf.

How to Prevent Weeds From Growing in Your Lawn

One of the best ways to prevent weeds from growing on your lawn is to take proper care of your grass. This includes adequate mowing practices and fertilization as well as pre-emergent herbicides. Here are some of the best ways to prevent weeds so you won’t have to deal with getting rid of them later.

Pre-emergent Herbicides

A pre-emergent herbicide will keep weeds from growing. This is typically spread over your entire lawn and will significantly reduce your chances of having to hand pull weeds when the spring comes. Take a look at the pre-emergent herbicide and look for the types of weeds you are trying to prevent, and make sure that the herbicide treats for this.

Post-emergent Herbicides

Even before you start to see weeds pop up in the grass, it can be smart to treat the turf with a post-emergent herbicide. The post-emergent herbicide will stop weed growth before it has a chance to take over the lawn.

Weed and Feed

A weed and feed product will kill weeds in your turf while also working to increase the strength of your grass. This is a combination of herbicide and fertilizer, and many homeowners will choose to put it down twice per year, once in the spring and again in the fall.

Proper Mowing Practices

Proper mowing practices will ensure that your weed roots are less likely to sprout. Always take off about a third of the blade each time you cut, and don’t stress your lawn by cutting it too low. Also, pay attention to water schedules so the turf does not get weak and let the weeds take over. Having healthy grass is a great way to prevent weeds.

Identifying Weed Types and Targeting Them

When you have weeds growing in the turf, it does make sense to know what type you may have. The first step in this process is to learn a bit more about the type of grass you grow. Not only should you know the name of the grass, but try to learn about how it spreads, what makes it thrive, and more. You will learn what the grass looks like when it first sprouts, so you don’t mistake it for weeds.

A few of the most common lawn weeds include:

• Chickweed
• Crabgrass
• Dandelion
• Ground Ivy
• NutsEdge
• Purslane
• Ragweed
• White Clover
• Yellow Woodsorrel

DIY vs. Professional Weed Control

DIY weed control is a time-consuming process that takes a bit of creativity and knowledge. If you don’t have the time for this, a professional weed control service will come in and treat your turf for perennial and annual weeds. The products used are effective, and although typically not kid and pet-friendly when sprayed, they will leave you with green and beautiful turf. Some of the top lawn care services are starting to offer more natural weed control treatments, but they do require other preventative practices to ensure their effectiveness.

Compare Top Lawn Care Services

A top lawn care service can handle any issues you have with weeds in your turf. Here are a few to consider if you don’t have the time to handle weed control on your own.

• Trugreen: Best Lawn Care Service
• Sunday: Best DIY Lawn Care
• Lawn Love: Best Customizable Service
• Lawn Doctor: Best Service Guarantee
• Weed Man: Best Pest Control Service
• LawnBright: Best Natural Lawn Care

Our Top Recommended Lawn Care Professional

TruGreen is the best lawn care service and weed control company in the industry. TruGreen can transform your property with more than 15 years of experience, locations all over the United States, and impressive practices that work on a variety of weeds. In addition to having great success with weed control, TruGreen has several different packages for homeowners to choose from, making the process more affordable.

Check out our full review of TruGreen if you want to learn more.

Final Thoughts

At this point, you should have some great strategies for removing weeds in your lawn. This process is unfortunately not relatively as easy as removing weeds from flower beds or patios. Carefully targeting just the weed and not the grass is a time-consuming process. If you don’t have the time, TruGreen can help make a big difference in the health and visual appeal of your lawn.

Our Lawn Care Rating Methodology

At House Method, transparency and trust are our most important values for the reader. That’s why we took the time to create an objective rating system and score each lawn company/service according to our methodology.

Our research team dug deep into the fine print of contracts, combed through more than one hundred customer reviews, and thoroughly investigated all of each lawn care service’s services, costs, and products. We’ve done the homework for you by researching nearly all of the lawn care companies on the market so you can have the information you need to make the best choice for your home.

We developed a formula to objectively determine the best lawn care companies and give each a score out of 100 based on the following criteria:

• Plan Options (30): Do they provide a variety of plan options? We looked at the number of plans each company offered and the flexibility of adjusting the plan.
• Services offered (20): How many services are offered in each plan? We looked at the number of lawn care coverages, including weed control, seeding, irrigation, aeration, dethatching, and more.
• Trust (10): What do customers say after their lawn has been serviced? Does this company offer a guarantee? We considered how satisfied customers are post-service if the company does what it says it will, BBB accreditation, and service guarantees.
• Prices (10): How reasonable are the costs of the plan or service in comparison to the industry average? We compared the costs of each company to competitors that offer the same lawn services.
• Unique perks (10): Does the company offer discounts or special services such as organic treatments, pest control, or a mobile app? We looked for perks each company offers that set them apart from the competition.
• Customer Service (10): How is the customer experience when contacting the company? We considered the speed of response, weekend/holiday availability, and ease of communication through phone calls, email, and online chat functions.
• Nationwide availability (10): How many states does the company offer its services? Companies that operate nationally and in all zip codes are favored over those with limited availability.

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