The Grass Doctor

How do I get rid of crab grass on my lawn?

I have used Weed and Feed seeds as well as sprays designed for crab grass, but it still keeps coming back. Should I pull the crab grass out? Help, please! I really want to treat my grass, get it green and healthy. I have my lawn professionally cut on the regular, but this crab grass problem is terrible.

Public Comments

1. Stick to what you know hun. Cotton is much more productive anyways.
2. Roundup kills everything..
3. Is "lawn" a euphemism for something?
4. you might have to go to a more of an agricultural strength stuff. look into amine 24D. crab grass might be to much of a narrow leaf plant for 24D, if so, look into Poast Plus, if it will work, you'll need crop oil to make it absorb into the narrow leaf plant.
5. I think you have to catch it before it starts growing. I just used the Scotts Step 1 crabgrass preventer last week and it seems to be working. They said if it's already growing, you can't get rid of it. Last year I had a ton of it and used some spray weed-be-gone on it, but it didn't get rid of all of it.
6. You have to settle for seeding over it. Then just strive to removing down to the roots the largest plots of the crabgrass, but down to the tiniest root CAUSE IT"S COMING BAAAACK" It is futile to undertake the removal of all the crabgrass! It is totally tenacious! You will be pulling roots until you succumb!! But the GRASS WILL BE BACK. That horrible weed killer will toxify your lawn and your flower beds! Just seed over the Crabgrass.
7. The only way to get rid of crab grass is to stop it from the sourrce. You mentioned that your lawn is professionally cutt, so this means that if the person before you has crab grass and the clippings are still in the lawnmore, it can be transfered to your lawn.
8. The chemical MSMA will kill young crabgrass plants. Once they are full grown though, MSMA will only burn them but not completely kill them which just makes your yard look worse.
9. The best way to get rid of crabgrass is to not get it in the first place. This is done by using a preemergent, such as HALTS by Scotts in early spring, before it shows up. This actually prevents the crabgrass from germinating for about 4 months - which is most of its growing season. If you didn't get that down in time (or at all) there are a couple options: 1) Pull it out by hand. This is feasible only if you don't have a large area to deal with. 2) Bayer All in One weed killer with crabgrass control works, as does Ortho Weed B Gon crabgrass killer, but you will typically have to do two applications, about 5-7 days apart to really kill the crabgrass. Go to Scotts.com for more detailed information. They have quite a bit there. Their discussion forums are very active as well and have a lot of helpful people who are very happy to share their experience and knowledge.