We’re good.  For the most part, we’re really good at what we do.  However, we are not perfect, and we’re sure not GOD.  We cannot stop the rain from coming, and coming.  We cannot stop weeds from germinating, as that is what God has designed in plants, such as weeds.  They will reproduce–there’s no way around it!  And there are a lot of factors when it comes to weeds and lawncare in general, many of which we don’t have control over.

This fall especially, we’ve been hammered with rain, which is one of the pre-requisites for weed germination.  Winter annual weeds, such as dandelions, henbit, chickweed, and annual bluegrass to name a few, generally germinate in the fall with the first cool rains.  Most years, that begins in mid-September and on into October.  This year, it turned fall in August with cool temperatures and lots of rainfall, which our local football players were not complaining about at all.  Some lawncare customers however  were and have been complaining, because of all these weeds in their lawn, that should not be there in their view, because they pay us to make sure they are not there.

A fall germinated dandelion now in early spring, with flowers now, and much tougher to control.

There is no pre-emergent that will prevent weeds such as Dandelions from germinating.  This is what they do in the fall.  They can pop up pretty quickly even in thick turf, especially during wet and cooler weather as we’ve experienced for the past two months.   They really don’t grow much and start the flowering process until the following spring though.  This is when they become even larger, and much tougher to control.  So, the best time to apply a post-emergent herbicide to control dandelions is in the fall, when they are newly emerged and easier to kill.

Other winter annuals have germinated now also, but they are usually smaller and somewhat hidden down in the turf.  Believe me, they are there though, and if left un-controlled, will take over a lawn by next spring as they mature and go to seed.  Again, once these weeds become larger, and begin the reproduction process by going  to seed, they become very tough to effectively control.

All this is why we schedule our Late Fall Weed-Control Treatment as the final lawn treatment of the season at LawnAmerica.  We want those dandelions to go ahead and germinate, grow a little, and then we can spray them and effectively control them since they are young.  Our broadleaf herbicide we use also will control other broadleaf weeds that have germinated.  And since the weed plants are sending sugars down into the root system to overwinter, herbicides will move down into the root system for complete control easier, compared to spring, when the movement of plant energy is going the other way.

We also include another herbicide, which is root-absorbed, and acts as both a pre and a post-emergent.  Therefore, it not only will control weeds that germinated, it will stop new weeds from coming up for about two months into fall.  This product is not applied to fescue—only warm-season turf.

This treatment is applied anytime between early October and on into November.  It really does not matter that much as to weed control.  Since much of this product is root-absorbed, rainfall will help water in the product.  With cooler temperatures, it does take time for the weeds to totally die, so they won’t just vanish from your lawn overnight.

The LawnAmerica lawn on the right is weed-free in ealry spring, while the lawn on the left without the fall treatment is full of winter annual weeds.