EYESTONE | Good cultural practices lead to reducing summer weeds

A product containing glyphosate will kill weeds but is non-selective. Any green tissue of desirable plants will likely be affected. In a large enough dose, the desirable surrounding plants will die. Apply it to only the weed or wash off product that gets on the desirable plant.

Crabgrass preventer products applied in the spring may have run out of its usefulness. Timing of the application, weather, and irrigation are causes for the preventer to not be controlling weeds.

Another application of preventer can be put down now for fall weed control unless you are needing to seed in September. Most crabgrass preventers will keep grass seed from coming up.

Weeds need a place to grow. Lawn weeds can be reduced by having a thick stand of grass.

Good cultural practices are important at reducing weeds. Keep lawn grasses tall to benefit the grass over the weeds.

Apply recommended fertilizer at the proper time to benefit the grass over the weeds.

When necessary, water once a week to benefit the grass over the weeds.

Cooling temperatures will slow down the weeds. The first frost will kill them. Evaluate the reason for weeds to be present. Over-seeding to reduce space for weeds may be the best option. Too frequent watering from irrigation may be causing more weeds. Have a soil test done to get the benefit from nutrients for the desirable plants verses the weeds.

Weed management is an ongoing process. There are many tools to aid with the management. Contact me if you need some additional resources.

You can find out more information on this and other horticulture topics by going to the Riley County, K-State Research and Extension website at www.riley.ksu.edu. Gregg may be contacted by calling 785-537-6350 or stopping by 110 Courthouse Plaza in Manhattan or e-mail: geyeston@ksu.edu.