Weeds Number One Pest Problem

Common bermudagrass is probably the number one weed to control in states below the Mason Dixon line. It creeps along underground on rhizomes and aboveground on stolons. It's perennial. Once it gets established it is difficult to control. Or is it?

Pests are not just insects. Pests include insects, diseases and weeds, not just insects. Weed control is the number one pest problem for farmers. Or for anyone with a landscape.  More money is spent on controlling weeds than controlling or preventing insects and diseases combined. Once weeds are entrenched, either annuals by seed or perennials by stolons/rhizomes, they are more difficult to control.

Roundup is the number one weed killer sold. It was made for controlling grasses but it will kill many different kinds of plants so is considered a post emergent, non selective systemic weed killer. But it moves systemically maybe about 12 inches from where it was applied to plants.

Farmers use mostly cultivation and weed control chemicals. Basically, weed control chemicals save farmers money they would otherwise spend on fuel and labor. Most of the time, homeowners are better off controlling weeds using cultivation. Oftentimes this is simply using a hoe. Make your landscape weed free without chemicals by hoeing for 20 minutes or less, consistently, once a week.

The Hula hoe or stirrup hoe is my favorite hoe for controlling weeds in many different spots. To be effective, it must be used weekly (like many organic pest control products) during the growing season or when the problem persists. 

To get good control, stay on top of weeds and control them as soon as they start growing. That means getting rid of weeds weekly, very soon after they are seen. Weeds are not like most insects or diseases; when the weather changes their populations increase or decrease. When temperatures get warmer, summer weeds grow faster and stronger.

To control weeds in bare soil, not covered by a surface mulch, either weed control chemicals or weeders like hoes or flame weeders are needed. Weeding of bare soil is weekly during the growing season and to keep weeds in check.

Weeds love to invade disturbed soils. That’s why during the first few months in new landscapes many weeds grow near plants getting water, weed barriers or not. That’s normal.

Its normal to see weeds after a landscape or lawn is first planted. 

Get out your hoe. The first weeds to grow are annual weeds. They grow quickly from seed and try to cover as much soil as possible. Once they are removed when young, there are gone forever. All annual weeds come from seed whether they appear in the spring (summer annual weeds) or fall (winter annual weeds).

Wild mustard is a winter annual weed; the seed germinates in the fall, the weed grows during the winter or early spring and then flowers and produces seed in the spring ready for next fall.

Crabgrass. Summer annual. Fast germination. Likes open areas. Doesn't like to compete. Similar to all annual weeds, doesn't like mulch. Seed germinates in the spring each year. Easy to hoe or burn. Easy to discourage with mulch.

When preparing the soil for a garden, the first plants seen are annual weeds, usually within one to three days after cultivating and planting just before vegetables emerge from seed. In the spring this is spurge (wet areas), crabgrass, goosegrass. Russian thistle. chickweed. Most of their energy forces new top growth of these weeds quickly. They want to grow quickly, become large and cover as much of the soil as possible and of course flower and seed. This is how they spread. These weeds are called “invaders”. You can use weed barriers, 3 to 4 inches of mulch on the soil surface, pre-emergent weed killers or you can use a hoe or fire weeder. Your choice. Hoes are fast and easy when you do it weekly.

Weed barriers are woven or spun textiles (fabrics) that allow air and water through but not most annual weeds.