Weed killer is used to prevent unwanted weeds from emerging in your lawn. For optimal results, apply it when the weed is at its early stage and has not produced seeds yet.
Homeowners should avoid using weed killer on their lawns for many reasons. Weeds steal nutrients from grass and can quickly take over, necessitating immediate action against weeds to restore grass to health.
Grass Damage
Weed killers contain toxic chemicals such as 2,4-D that can kill grass if it comes into direct contact, while its spray may drift and injure or destroy desirable turfgrass and plants in your landscape. Therefore, it’s essential that all herbicide label directions be observed strictly.
When it comes to using weed killer, spring is the optimal time. At this stage of emergence and vulnerability, weeds are most susceptible. Furthermore, this timeframe makes an ideal opportunity for applying post-emergence sprays targeting broadleaf weeds.
Vinegar can also help eliminate weeds from lawns with grass or crops you wish to maintain, as the vinegar quickly dissipates into the air. A better option would be aeration, feeding and scarifying in fall and spring to thicken your lawn, thus blocking light and water access to any potential weeds that try to grow through cracks in your turf.
Weed Seeds
Consider these key points when selecting chemical weed killer. First and foremost is whether or not the target weed has reached an early enough life stage to respond positively to treatment; young grass and weeds are much easier to pull than older and established varieties.
Time of year also plays an integral part when spraying lawns; certain weeds are more susceptible to herbicides when newly sprouting in Spring and Fall; other varieties are easier to eradicate in Summer or Winter.
If you decide to use chemical weed killer, look for one with selective targeting capabilities. Such products have been specially engineered to target only specific weed species without harming nearby grasses. 2,4-D is one such selective weed killer used commonly by agriculture but many other products can also be found at hardware stores. Alternatively, spot pouring boiling water directly onto an individual weed is also an easy and effective method of killing it quickly.
Weeds Can Cause Disease
Many weeds host pathogens that can inflict illness upon crop plants, reducing harvest output. If allowed to remain near crops, these pathogens could spread and further compromise yields.
Weeds are an opportunistic force, capable of colonizing soil in conditions not conducive to crop plants and producing large numbers of viable seeds that recolonize it over time if left uncontrolled.
Weeds tend to grow much more quickly than grass and other desired greenery, taking advantage of this fast growth to take more important nutrients like potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus from the soil before it reaches grass roots and weakening it over time. Contact weed killers are effective against annual weeds such as crabgrass, dandelion and nettle by targeting their leaves and stems without harming roots – an excellent option for eliminating crabgrass, dandelion and nettle in an effective manner.
Pests
Weed killers may contain herbicides that disrupt hormones or cause other unpleasant side effects. Furthermore, they could contain chemicals like glyphosate that have been linked to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma as well as contaminants such as cyanide, endocrine disrupters and neurotoxins – as well as being associated with non-Hodgkin lymphomas.
Use of weed killers can seriously alter the balance of nutrients in your soil, allowing weeds to absorb them ahead of grass or other plants and weakening them more, increasing susceptibility to diseases, pests and environmental problems. This imbalance could significantly weaken plants that you use for agricultural purposes or that you want to grow for your own enjoyment – creating more susceptibilities against diseases, pests and environmental issues than would otherwise exist.
Weed killers can also have serious adverse impacts on beneficial insects, birds and wildlife that contribute to a healthy garden ecosystem. Particularly those from the neonicotinoid family of weed killers – imidacloprid, clothianidin dinotefuran and acetamiprid) are known to disrupt pollinator activities which are essential to our food crop success through foraging, mating, odor recognition and navigation abilities of pollinators such as bees.