What to do now about crabgrass

The rains have encouraged crabgrass to germinate and resume active growth much more rapidly than our perennial desirable grasses. In bare areas crabgrass plants are as much as 5-tiller! If you want to see how big your crabgrass is, check out Professor Aaron Patten’s article in Turf Republic (LINK). Starting with growth stage you can determine the best strategy.

Smaller plants (<1 tiller) can still be picked up by dithiopyr and get the prebenefits of dithiopyr as well. Small and mid-size plants can be treated with Acclaim, Tenacity and Pylex. Larger plants are best treated with quinchlorac, however here is a stage between 2-5 tiller where quinchlorac does not perform effectively. Now that crabgrass is vigorously growing control should be excellent. Be prepared to reseed these areas.