Fall Pre-emergence Application - Now's the Time

Now, mid-September, is about the time to address winter weeds by applying a pre-emergent herbicide.

There are several pre-emergent herbicide products formulated to address a wide variety of weeds.

Another common lawn care practice is applying potash or a potassium only fertilizer during the fall to help your turfgrass have a healthy winter and ready for spring.

Nitrogen should not be applied beyond August and phosphorous should not be either unless you absolutely know, from a soil test, that you have a deficiency of phosphorous in your soil.

Last year I applied a 0-0-7 fertilizer which contains a pre-emergent. I was slightly late with the application the first week of October, but I still had positive results. This product was manufactured by Lesco and is available from Home Depot. There are other similar products out there, yet not to the extent of pre-emergence-only products. But, you only have to make one application instead of two with the combination product.

Having a good estimate of your lawn and/or plant bed square footage and the recommended settings for your spreader will be helpful.

As always, read in entirety, the label of any lawn care product before purchasing or using. Not all retailers display both the front and back labels of all products on-line, but you can usually find them on-line by entering "product name" label in the search field.

Perhaps, after hurricane Irma does what she has planned and Jose makes up his mind, we can get out there and spend a few minutes taking care of our lawns for the coming year.