How can I get rid of crab grass without killing the trees it's growing under?

Question

San Diego area

Answer 1

The best way to do this is to carefully spray them with a herbicide, there are several good ones on the market, but don't get any on the tree trunk or exposed roots. Once the crabgrass is dead, pull it all out or as much as you can get. Then plant some kind of ground cover that will grow in shade/part sun. There are many flowering varieties that look beautiful and will spread around the tree. This will make that area of your lawn look great! Have fun.

Answer 2

Crabgrass is an annual grass. The grass you want to keep is a perennial grass. Apply a crabgrass killer. It's simple, and all it does is prevent the crabgrass seeds from growing. The old crabgrass dies off naturally in the fall, and the new crabgrass can't get started in the spring! However, the crabgrass killer will also prevent the growth of other seeds, too, so you can't plant new grass seeds for several months after using the crabgrass killer.

Answer 3

Hey just down the road from me. I know you wanna hear about a weed killer, etc.. Anything so you dont have to get out there and pull it up. But the sad truth is that is what you are going to have to do. But you will need to pull it all up, root and all. Some weeds, like the broadleafed variety can easily be killed with non-grass killing weed killers. But when it comes to crab grass, ugh, you'll have to get out there and pull it up by hand. But dont despair, think of it this way, you get to work out in your yard, burn some calories, who knows, you may even enjoy it. lol... Another way, if you really dont want to go out there is to lightly, and I mean very lightly spray some vinegar ONLY on the crab grass. This will help to kill it, but not 100% permanently.

Answer 4

You don't, crab grass is way too hardy and most trees are too sensitive to herbicides. Your best be would be to dig up the crab grass down to its root system and continue. This will be an ongoing project.

Answer 5

Dig it up, get the roots, and then use a crabgrass preventative before the soil warms up to 57 degrees. I don't know where you live, but the seeds start to germinate at that temperature so you can use the crabgrass preventative each spring or late winter and keep it at bay. It usually comes in bags mixed in with lawn fertilizer.

Answer 6

The best way to get rid of it is to just soak the ground and pull it up.
I haven't found any herbacide that really works great. Crabgrass is to hardy. You have to pull it while the top part is still green so it doesn't re-seed your lawn.

Answer 7

i pulled up a bunch this past summer, thing is, im sure some roots are still there, and will have to pull more. but i have also put down some crabgrass preventer in early spring, but i have missed some.

Answer 8

u should get some hegers or a weed wacker to cut them. When they grow back, use a spray that won't kill the tree.

Answer 9

1. you can dig down deep to get all the roots, or
2. or you could use roundup in its purest form, because this should not go down to the roots of the tree.

Answer 10

One great article about weeds and crabgrass here.

http://doyourownlawncare.wordpress.com/2007/01/09/manage-your-weeds-the-professional-way/

Hope it helps