Can you eliminate weeds from your lawn? Well, no. But can you control them? Absolutely yes! And the process, in theory, is fairly simple – maintain your lawn in such a way that it prefers plant growth more than weeds. But it’s easier said than done!
Here, in this post, we’ll discuss 18 tips to get rid of weeds in the lawn. Let’s get started!
How to Get Rid of Weeds In the Lawn
1. Pluck them out
The most effective tip to get rid of weeds is to pluck them straight out of the lawn so that they can’t grow and make your lawn clean.
You can simply do so by grabbing the weed close to its root and pulling until all those weeds are clean. You can seed your lawn with other crops to fill the empty spaces and thus, not allowing the weeds to grow back.
2. Use of herbicides
You can always use herbicides to eliminate unnecessary herbs, including the weeds from your lawn. Various herbicides are available in your market that you can use to get rid of the weeds present in your lawn.
It would be best if you were careful not to DIY any random herbicides, which may have harmful effects on other crops than weeds, or use any herbicide you find affordable and easily available.
Today, you can even find herbicides that kill the weeds but at the same time favor the grass you want in your garden.
Pre-emergent and post-emergent herbicides are also designed for such purposes. Post-emergent for dandelions and pre-emergent for crabgrass are specific for their respective purposes.
So, keep yourself updated and well-informed on such products. Or, you can also consult an expert before using any chemicals on your lawn.
3. Bleach the weeds!
Bleach can also be useful for you to get rid of the weeds. You can simply spray the bleach on the unwanted grass present on your lawn. It can strip away the protective membrane from the weeds that grow in the difficult areas and helps us to clean our lawn.
Bleach is hazardous and can kill anything it touches. So, make sure that you won’t bleach the good crops. Likewise, it should also be kept away from children and pets.
4. Mulch the area
Use paper mulch, straw, or just spread a light layer of sawdust to cover up the empty areas. Doing so will make sure that the area is occupied and makes it challenging for weeds to penetrate through the layer.
It further ensures that the weed seeds don’t get enough sunlight, which is vital for their growth and survival.
5. Weeds hate drought
If you don’t want them to live, it’s simple – don’t let them drink! Only water your lawn plants by placing a drip or a soaker hose beneath mulch. Doing so will ensure proper irrigation of lawn plants, leaving the weeds to die of thirst.
6. Use some baking soda
Are your sidewalk and driveway disturbed by the excess growth of weeds? If yes, you might definitely be concerned about how to get rid of them. If you want a simple home remedy, use baking soda to get rid of the weeds.
You can sprinkle the baking soda over those weeds and allow them to dry out the weeds. Baking soda has higher sodium content; thus, it can dry out plants. If baking soda is sprinkled over your good grass, it can kill those too.
7. Use of alcohol
For killing weeds, the best option is to use Isopropyl alcohol, also known as Rubbing alcohol. Add three tablespoon of the isopropyl alcohol to 1 quarter of water in a spray bottle and apply that mixture to the weeds.
It dries the leaves of weeds and leads to death by slowly depriving them of water and light. If you have thicker weeds in your lawn, you can also find the other option in the market.
8. Chop the tips
If the weed grows at difficult places on your lawn, this tip will come in handy for you. If you cannot root out the whole weed, you can simply cut the parts that are easily accessible to you. You can use any tools available to remove these unwanted things from your lawn.
Your major concern is to remove the portion of the weeds that carry seeds and remember to be careful not to spread those seeds during the removal.
9. Spray them with citrus liquid
Citric acids are very useful for killing the unwanted grass of your lawn effectively. Citric acid has a burning effect on weeds when applied directly to them.
It generally kills the weeds by removing the protective layer of their stem and leading them to death. Mix the lemon juice, vinegar, and other citrus juice with water on a spray bottle and apply them to weeds. Now just let them work and wait for the weeds to die.
10. Cover the weeds with oil
If you want an eco-friendly technique to eliminate the weeds from your lawn, then you can use plant-based oil to do so. You need to apply the oil to the weeds, and it helps to kill the weeds without damaging the soil in which it was grown.
The oil simply blocks the photosynthesis process of weeds and causes the unnecessary plants to die in a short time.
11. DIY a weed killer
It’s always fun to make something useful that helps to keep your lawn free from weeds. You can make your own homemade weed killer and fill it in a spray bottle and apply it to the weed.
Mix vinegar, dish soap, and salt together to make a solution. When sprayed on the weeds, this solution helps to strip its membrane, and eventually, the weed dies by drying out.
12. Have you tried mowing at a higher level?
Did you know that mowing the grasses at a higher level encourages their growth? And weeds are often known to be crowded out by a dense and lush grass lawn. Though this tip seems quite long-term, it might be a useful one if nothing else is working for you.
13. Aerate your lawn
A major key to a weed-free lawn is also proper lawn maintenance. Aerating your lawn once a year will ensure a healthy and vigorous lawn as it encourages root growth as well as its strength, thus, inhibiting weed growth. So, aerate your lawn annually.
14. Take help from a lawn expert
You can google all the homemade remedies you want for weed removal. But you can’t deny the fact that these homemade quick-fixes will not be able to distinguish between weed and your lawn plants.
For more specific treatment, you’ll need to understand what type of weeds are terrorizing your lawn, and you must find out what natural strategies or commercial products you can use to control their growth.
However, if you’re not knowledgeable in the field, taking advice from a lawn doctor might be the best possible way to move forward.
15. Plant your lawn plants closer
You can also try diminishing the distance between two lawn plants. Doing so will ensure that weeds don’t get enough sunlight for their growth.
Moreover, too many good plants in an area are sure to crowd out the weeds, thus, making it difficult for them to compete for nutrition and moisture.
16. Sugar them up!
Sugar is much more than a coffee sweetener. Well, for plants, it’s definitely not always sweet and tasty! Did you know that adding some sugar to the roots of weeds will cause the weeds to wilt?
The major reason being, adding sugar to the plant roots, especially if they are not adaptive to a low nitrogen environment, can limit growth in them and eventually wilting by lowering the available nitrogen content in the soil.
17. Block the sunlight
Be it plants or weeds, sunlight is a must for their growth! So, if possible, try blocking sunlight from the weed plants. It might not be the most feasible idea if you have weeds and your favored plants scattered all over the lawn.
But if you notice some hot-spots that are prone to harbor weeds, try adding shades over such areas. On the downside, this can be a slow process. So, if you’re in need of a quick fix, other options might cater to your needs better.
18. Digging won’t do you any good!
When it comes to your lawn, weed seeds are here, and there, and everywhere! The only difference is that seeds in a few inches of topsoil get enough germination triggers, whereas remaining remain dormant.
But if you dig your lawn violently to remove the weeds, many more will erupt in the process. Only dig if you have to and cover up the dug area with plants or mulch once you’re done.
Summary
Overall, most of these tips are just proper lawn maintenance tips, whereas, in many, we even discussed some herbal and home remedies for weed removal as well.
Make sure you let us know how the weeds in your lawn reacted to these tips. And, which tip worked the best for you? Comment down below!
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