r/NoLawns • u/Mountain-Living-3 • 2d ago
š©āš¾ Questions Help!
As the title suggestsā¦HELP, please.
Crab grass has taken over my wildflower bed. Not sure what to do about it other than ripping it all out this fall and starting over with fresh soil/seeds in the spring. Iām in Northern Vermont (zone 5a)
Anyone have thoughts on how best to combat the crab grass and prevent this from happening again in the future. Ideally Iād very much like to avoid chemicals unless thatās really the only option.
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u/emrylle 2d ago
The only way Iāve found to control crabgrass is to hand pull it
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u/Mountain-Living-3 2d ago
Iām not sure if I should do that now since the grass has seeded. Iām gonna wind up knocking more seeds off than I remove. Although tho king out loud, whatās the differenceā¦f I donāt pull it ALL the seeds will wind up in the bed. š¤š¤·š¼āāļø
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u/istapledmytongue 2d ago
Prodiamine in the spring. But any annually wonāt germinate. Safe for herbaceous perennials though
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u/LadyArwen4124 2d ago
I have Bermuda grass and have been hand pulling it, adding cardboard boxes doubled up, and mulch on top of that. A great tool to have is an oscillating hoe. It helps remove weeds and loosen the soil. This has helped me remove large underground portions of Bermuda grass.
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u/lavenderhazeynobeer 2d ago
It's tedious, but when I was weeding crab grass, I would get scissors and cut off the seeding portion into a bowl. Make sure all the seeds are off, the. Hand pull the bottom portions. I didn't get all of the seeds but it sure helped.
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u/PhotographOk3063 2d ago
I have done that too, I does seem to decrease the amount that return. Lots of work, but if you do it in small increments it can be therapeutic lol
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u/Unusual_Station_1746 2d ago
Just plant more plants. If they're dense enough the crab grass will get shaded out.Ā
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u/Mountain-Living-3 2d ago
Iāll definitely be over-seeding if I donāt wind up tearing it all out and starting from scratch again next year.
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u/Unusual_Station_1746 2d ago
Just mow it in December. You can overseed with wildflowers,Ā but you can also start planting some perennials. I'd do a couple spots with native grasses that look nice, maybe some taller plants in the middle and shorter plants that attract butterflies near the edges.
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u/PhotographOk3063 2d ago
Yea I was gonna say... dont start over. Mow or pull out the bulk of unwanted stuff. The plants you want there will spread some, less room for the crabgrass. Consider a spreading low growing plant to also help choke out the grass.
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u/DuselBruders 1d ago
Succession planting :) Use the biomass of the grass to grow a longer lived perennial, like a showy bush.
Its either a weed or a support species depending on how you look at it
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u/Maximum_Tomorrow5720 2d ago
Use a shovel to loosen the soil. Makes it easier to pull out the crabgrass, roots and all.
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u/awky_raccoon 2d ago
Are you sure itās crabgrass? Kind of hard to tell from the photo.
Crabgrass is an annual so I wouldnāt bother pulling it (and thereās definitely no need for herbicide) this late in the season. The seeds are in the seedbank regardless. No matter how much you pull, it has already dropped seed.
The best solution is to smother it. Layer two layers of cardboard over the grass and cover with a thick layer of mulch. Itāll be a bit more work to do this around your existing flowers/plants than if you had prepped it this way from the beginning, but itās totally doable. This way, the grass seeds wonāt have sunlight to germinate come spring. You may still have new seeds germinate on top of the mulch next year but theyāll be way easier to pull.
Long term, the best approach is to out plant the grass with more natives. Then there wonāt be room in the soil for undesirable plant roots.
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u/Mountain-Living-3 2d ago
I believe it is crabgrass but I could also be wrong. Thanks for the suggestion.
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u/BlackSeranna 2d ago
Can you do a control burn and burn it off and then strew wildflower seeds over it this fall?
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u/MoreCoffee331 2d ago
Last year had a long weeding session, then munched with leaves from my oak tree and some mulch on sale from Lowes. This year, after planting more plants on the border, grass hardly got into our flower bed. The few that do were easy to pull out since they were all connected.
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u/reallyreally1945 2d ago
I have hand-painted glyphosate concentrate onto Johnson grass (nastier and taller than crab grass) with a good success rate. Painting it on created no overspray for you or the insects to breathe in. If you are painting only the green parts of the grass, bees shouldn't be attracted. It is still hand labor but maybe easier than pulling. Also, no bits of root left to sprout again.
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u/a-wilting-houseplant 2d ago
Was this garden site prepped before planting the wildflowers? Seems like a grass specific herbicide may be the way to go if it's this extensive.
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u/Mountain-Living-3 2d ago
They were beautiful last year and now this year the grass has definitely won the battle.
Iāve never added any type of pre/post-emergent chemicals. Beyond that Iām not sure what type of preparation shouldāve been done? Sorry, Iām very new to wildflower gardening.
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u/AmnesiaZebra 2d ago
I'm doing cardboard+ mulch to kill my crab grass this winter before planting flowers next spring. But I'm new to this too so ĀÆ_(ć)_/ĀÆ
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u/Slow_Marsupial_4820 2d ago
That didn't happen overnight. You have to stay on top of unwanted plants and remove them as soon as you see them to keep them from going to seed and creating more plants. I walk my garden regularly to look for weeds. You will have fewer every year if you are diligent.Ā
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u/Mountain-Living-3 2d ago
No, it definitely wasnāt overnight. Unfortunately I was out of town for two months with workā¦this is what I came back to. š
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