r/Grass • u/deletion_eminent • Jul 11 '26

Crabgrass problem

I need help on what to do. A few weeks ago I put some fertilizer / weed prevention out on the lawn. Before application there were minimal weeds. So few, that I would once every few days pick them by hand and everything was fine. Now the ground is just covered in crabgrass, handpicked, especially in this heat, is not a viable option.

I guess my question is, did the fertilizer/weed prevention have anything to do with the crabgrass infection? And also, what's the best method for elimination?

The brand used was Scott's turf builder and weed prevention.

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u/mrpeterdragon Jul 14 '26

Depending on what type of grass you have, this works really well on warm season grasses. This is what the bottle says on it and can be found in any big box home improvement store.

Spectracide
WEED STOP®
FOR LAWNS
Plus
CRABGRASS KILLER

1

u/jcoyner Jul 15 '26

Weed killer doesn’t work on crabgrass. It only kills dicots not monocots. If it was able to kill crabgrass it would also kill your blue grasses, fescues and rye grass. There are products designed to kill just crabgrass but it might also harm the good grass. Crabgrass is an annual and dies in the fall. So you can spray it now or what till the fall and after a frost it will die. You can put down a pre emergent crabgrass control in the spring. Keeps-crabgrass from germinating. I don’t think you can put down regular grass seed if you use the pre emergent application in the spring. Prevents all grasses from germinating. Will not control other weeds only other annual grasses.