What is a Pre-Emergent?

Some call it grassy-weed control, others call it pre-emergent, but there’s a lot of people that ask us: “What does it mean?”
We apply a special product that works its way through the usually dead grass or partially green semi-dormant grass leaves from winter. After this application it is important that the lawn receive water, which could be in the form of a shower, or in some rare cases we may ask the homeowner to water the lawn. The watering-in step creates a microscopic layer across your entire lawn.

This new microscopic layer is a scientifically designed seed blocker that is very good at what it does. This application actually doesn’t actually stop weed seeds from germinating, but instead they interrupt the weeds’ develop as soon as it pushes through the surface layer. This interruption stops the establishment of new weed plants.

• There are a few reasons why this pre-emergent applicaiton may not always be 100 percent effective for several reasons.
• The microscopic layer is broken by raking the lawn after the layer has formed.
• Also, heavy foot traffic can also breakdown the layer.
• Also too much rain can degrade that microscopic layer’s effectiveness.

Timing is important for when we apply this special weed control product. It is essential that the microscopic layer be completely formed before the soil temperatures warm up to a point where weed seeds usually germinate. This year that won’t be a problem, but in some years, warm temperatures come especially early and quickly. That means some weed seeds will have germinated before that microscopic layer has had time to form. This means that crabgrass may show up later, but no worries– we’ll just treat for them later.

Annual Grassy Weeds

Pre-emergent weed control applications controls annual grassy weeds such as foxtail, goose grass and barnyard grass. The most common grassy weed homeowners are familiar with however, is crabgrass. The reason these weeds are a continuing problem is that when they mature in late summer, one plant can produce 1000s of seeds which can then be distributed long distances by the wind, birds or other critters. The seeds lay dormant until the following spring, or even many years from now.

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