Maintaining a healthy lawn requires a lot of effort, especially controlling weeds. You not only need to have certain knowledge about grasses and plants but also know how to eradicate them.
In this article, you will find everything you need to know about dallisgrass weed, a widespread weed in your turf. We also reveal some lawn care tips to control this grass. Read on for more information on how to kill dallisgrass.
Is Dallisgrass the same as crabgrass?
Dallisgrass and crabgrass are popular grasses that every homeowner must encounter while doing lawn care. However, it’s quite daunting for some gardeners to tell them apart.
| Dallisgrass | Crabgrass |
| Grow back from root each year | Spring forth from seeds each year |
| Grow in circular clumps with a coarse texture | Has a star-liked pattern |
| Like nitrogenous fertilizers | Do not like fertilizers |
| Produce an underground stem | Form a thick mat of weed |
When placing them side by side, amateur home gardeners can tell them apart based on their appearance. Dallisgrass grows taller and upright with thin and long leaves. Meanwhile, crabgrass is broadleaf weeds that grow lower and has a lot of stems.
How do you identify Dallisgrass?
If your garden is full of dallisgrass, identifying this type of grass is not a big deal. It grows in private and public places, especially the area with less foot and vehicle traffics.
Dallisgrass grows in circles with short rhizomes grows outward. The underground stems form a concentric ring on the shallow surface where dallisgrass grows. Thus, it might be a great way to distinguish this type of grass.
When the dallisgrass matures, the inner circles might end up dying with the outside grass ring continues to grow. Moreover, dallisgrass is a tenacious weed that can grow fruitfully, even in sandy or clay soils. Thus, it can quickly take over your entire lawn and make it difficult to control.
How to Kill Dallisgrass
Killing dallisgrass cannot be done within a single treatment. You can either wholly and permanently remove this perennial grass for once. Instead, you can take several steps to control and diminish the growth of this grass.
Handle dallisgrass naturally
Here is my comprehensive guide for dallisgrass weed control naturally. The downside of this method is that you have to spend at least a whole morning to kill dallisgrass. However, you can see the significant change in your lawn.
Equipment:
- A garden shovel, a spade, and gloves
- Grass seeds
- Mulch
Step 1: Remove big clumps of dallisgrass
The first step of dallisgrass management is to remove all the dallisgrass clumps by digging them up with a garden shovel and a spade. You can also wear thick gloves to remove the root system carefully.
You should keep in mind that only when you remove the entire root system, the re-growth of dallisgrass is slowed down. Any leftover root piece will allow this grassy weed to pop up quickly. So, take your time and pay close attention to this critical step.
Step 2: Prevention
After you have kicked all the dallisgrass out of your turf grass, you need to prevent the return of this tenacious weed.
My first recommendation is to create a healthy lawn with dense layers of lawn grasses. The growth of other grass will leave no room for dallisgrass. You should not leave any bare spots in your garden bed for the germination of these weed seeds. Spreading and regrow grass right after digging out the dallisgrass clumps is a wise action.
Moreover, you should mow your lawn regularly to keep your turf well-manicured and healthy. Remember to clean the lawn mowers to prevent dallisgrass seeds in contaminated areas from spreading to weed-free sites. Besides, avoiding using contaminated soil and checking the sod carefully before spreading are other effective ways of controlling dallisgrass.
Last but not least, you can add a thick layer of mulch on the area to prevent dallisgrass seeds from growing up. The mulch also disables birds to carry dallisgrass seeds to other areas.
Chemical use
If you find digging dallisgrass clumps manually is not practical, you can choose certainty herbicides as an effective method.
Using Post-emergent Herbicides
There are two types of post-emergent treatments: selective and non-selective. The selective post-emergent herbicides can kill only the target weeds without damaging the established grass. Meanwhile, the non-selective emergent herbicides will eliminate any plant on your turfgrass.
I recommend the MSMA or CMA weed killers such as Celsius WG herbicide, or herbicide glyphosate to treat established dallisgrass in your garden beds. They are selective herbicide that will only kill dallisgrass. So you can trust their effect in killing this perennial grass.
Before the first application, your lawn should be left unmowed for at least two weeks to maximize the effect of herbicides covering. Using hose-end sprayers or misting systems for the best coverage effect. Re-apply the herbicides on a regular basis.
Remember not to apply the post-emergent herbicides during hot weather. And you must read the instruction carefully to know how much should you apply on your turfgrass.
Using Pre-emergent Herbicides
You can consider pre-emergent herbicides like Barricade Granular Pre-emergent Product as a perfect method to stop the germination of dallisgrass seeds. The combination of both herbicide products is the ideal solution for dallisgrass.
The best time in years to apply pre-emergent herbicides is in late winter or early spring. It is the key time before dallisgrass seeds germinate. You can also spray herbicides with a pump sprayer, backpack sprayers, or garden hoses at any time to prevent the spreading of unwanted dallisgrass seeds.
For the best effect, you should apply pre-emergent herbicides right after removing dallisgrass clumps. Combining with mulch, it will slow down and eliminate germinable seeds on the ground.
Conclusion
Generally, in this article, I mention two methods of getting rid of dallisgrass: digging manually and using chemical dallisgrass killers. While removing dallisgrass clumps is a straightforward solution, chemical usage like Glyphosel Pro will stop the invasion of this weed over your turfgrass. You should combine both ways for better and consistent results.
As this weed is a perennial and invasive plant, learning how to kill dallisgrass requires persistence and patience. I hope that you will soon be free of dallisgrass. Enjoy your beautiful and smooth turfgrass!
Source: Gardening101 com