Spring Weeds in the Lawn Pt 2 post-emergent

• Posted on 1 March 2025
• By JR
• Posted in Broadleaf Herbicides, Grass Safe, Lawn Care, Lawn Maintenance, Lawn Weed Killer, Post Emergent Herbicides, Spring Lawn Weeds, Weed Controll, Weed Removal, Weed Treatment
• 0

"Discover effective post-emergent herbicide strategies to get rid of spring lawn weeds. Tips for targeting broadleaf weeds without harming your grass!"

"Struggling with spring lawn weeds? Learn how post-emergent herbicides work and explore top product options for a lawn that stands out."

Spring Weeds In The Lawn, What is Going On? Pt 2           

 Post - Emergent

The first part of this discussion on spring lawn weed, revolved around the idea of preventing weeds by stopping their seed from germinating. We went over some of the basics associated with Pre - Emergent herbicide application. In this, part 2 post, we’ll think about strategies to tackle the weeds that are already up. And boy do they look healthy, don't they?

They say the definition of a weed is ‘a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals'.  And so people want to wax away on the desirable attributes of character you might find of a weed and adopt for your own self-esteem. Well, what everyone forgets to mention is what a pain they are. If you were a weed, you’d be a big, noisy, rude person.

So it goes, one week the lawn looks manageable and you’re thinking that there is a 3 day weekend around the corner and then, well you know what I mean. It's going to take a tractor and a crew to fix the lawn.

This is where Post – Emergent herbicides come to the rescue. The post part of that just means it targets weeds that have already emerged, post germination. It includes herbicides that kill target weed, some that kill lots of weeds, and some that will nuc the farm (kill everything and keep killing everything for a long time). For our lawn we want targeted herbicides that will kill the weeds or at least most of them, but not kill the grass. The magic in the bottle, is that grasses are monocots and the broadleaf weeds are dicots. Broadleaf weed killers are selective herbicides that work in lawns by targeting dicots that are actively growing while not harming the monocots such as lawn grass.

Broadleaf herbicides work by using specific biological processes in broadleaf plants, like disrupting their hormone balance, while leaving grasses unaffected due to their different physiological makeup; essentially, they exploit the differences between broadleaf weeds and grasses. 

That's the how this stuff works and for my nickel on the grass, it sure beats pulling them. We have several options of over the lawn herbicides. If you want a spreadable granule, the Fertilome Dollar Weed Control has a very extensive list of weeds that it targets and the application is to just whirl it around. However, care must be used to prevent any of these herbicides from getting on other non-grass plants that you don't want to shrivel up and bite the dust. Growers Outlet also has Bonide products like the Weed-Beater line which are available in concentrates, and a really handy contraption that attaches to your hose. There is an important aspect of using these over the lawn herbicides and that is, they take a while to do the job. Don't be impatient. They aren’t like the old agent orange stuff, we don't want to hurt the grass. Remember, the  goal here is a lawn that puts your neighbor’s to shame.

Let’s Get Growing