I have about 1 acre of land and it has green grass butt its like crab grass and i would like to try to.....?

Question

Grow green nice grass. Any suggestions on how to kill out the crab grass and get good green grass to come up.Thanks

Answer 1

Crabgrass is an annual in most areas unlike most other lawn grasses. Crabgrass is killed by freezing temps. The goal is to keep next years seeds from germinating. Healthy grass will out compete crabgrass. The presence ot this weed indicates the grass was probably mowed to short or lacked water. A healthy, thick, 3 inch turf will shade crabgrass out. So a preemergent treatment of corn gluten applied before forsythia blooms and at the recommended intervals will keep the old seed from spouting.
Crabgrass is not shade tolerant so I have heard you can cover it 10 days but that will not kill lawn grass. Lawn grass will recover after only 10 days without any light and a feeding of a lawn fertilizer that is very high in nitrogen will help it. Look for something like HastaGro 12-4-8 Liquid Lawn Food.
Mow as high as your mower will allow you as frequently as you can stand. Three inches is best. This lets grass grow to a maximum density to shade out weeds like crabgrass and the shade prevents weed seeds from germinating. Grass can tolerate repeat mowing so it will do okay but weeds don't tolerate the stress of frequent mowing. Grass struggles when mowed short because it has no blades for photosynthesis. When grass fails weed seeds get to germinate. Help the grass with a high nitrogen fertilizer.

Crabgrass was introduced as a forage grass and research on its use continues today. Current "data indicate that crabgrass shoot and root growth was insensitive to soil pH values ranging from 4.8 to 6.3." So this annual is happy on any thing from very acid to slightly acid. Lawn grasses like a pH closer to neutral at 6.5. If your area tests out lower than 6.5 liming would help.

There is a product that says it is an organic crabgrass specific herbicide.
http://www.crabgrassalert.com/
http://www.cleanairgardening.com/crabgrass.html

Look around and see if you have clover. Clover is a sign your lawn is deficient in nitrogen because, like all legumes, it is a nitrogen fixer and is able to grow in N deficient soils. Grass will only grow well in nitrogen rich soils. That is why crabgrass was introduced as a forage plant. It can grow in very hot marginal areas.

Answer 2

Hoeing and digging out the crab grass and leaving its roots exposed so they dry out and die are the most common plans of action.

I'd invest in a roto-tiller and some good seed. Sod can die too easily and becomes expensive, whereas good seed is cheaper. Till the soil, re-seed, and straw it and a good-watering should help new grass to grow...not crabgrass. Then, if it shows back up in certain spots, apply the crabgrass killer again every now and then to keep it from spreading and overtaking the new lawn.

Answer 3

Rip it all out and start over with sod.