Weed infestations tend to throttle the growth of anything you could be trying to grow. May it be, vegetables, fruits or lawn grass, nothing can thrive, as long as your garden or lawn is plagued by weeds.
So assuming you already have a weed problem, let’s get down to how you can control and even successfully prevent weed growth.
Cultivate
Cultivating is a great way of removing weeds that are just sprouting. Use a hoe or fork or planting knife to remove the already growing weeds, but avoid tilling too deeply to prevent bringing weed seeds to the surface where they can easily and quickly germinate.
Cultivating is a great way of removing weeds that are just sprouting. Use a hoe or fork or planting knife to remove the already growing weeds, but avoid tilling too deeply to prevent bringing weed seeds to the surface where they can easily and quickly germinate.
Mulch
Mulching is a technique that has been used for centuries to improve soil fertility, conserve soil moisture and limit weed growth. This technique is highly effective if you want to control weed growth in your garden.
You can choose to use organic mulch or inorganic mulch, either way, your weed problem will not be much of a problem anymore. However, mulching needs to be done properly if it is to work.
- Mulch only after you have removed all the existing weeds
- Avoid using mulch material that contains weeds, as you risk having more weeds to deal with
- Avoid over-mulching
Smother
Sometimes mulching is not enough and you need something a little extra to control weed growth in your garden or lawn. In this case you can use pieces of newspaper to smother the weeds. This method is ideal if your garden is already infested with weeds and any attempt to remove the weeds through cultivation may not work, especially if there is an abundance of weed seed.
If your garden is covered with a layer of newspapers and then a layer of mulch over the newspapers, there is no way weeds can grow or weed seeds can sprout.
Hand Pulling
This is possibly the oldest technique of dealing with weed growth. If you don’t mind getting dirty, hand-pulling weeds from your desirable plants is a great weed control technique. Some people may not find this method fun; however, there are tools you can use to make pulling weeds a lot easier and fun, without feeling too strained.
This is possibly the oldest technique of dealing with weed growth. If you don’t mind getting dirty, hand-pulling weeds from your desirable plants is a great weed control technique. Some people may not find this method fun; however, there are tools you can use to make pulling weeds a lot easier and fun, without feeling too strained.
Heat
Believe it or not, you can kill weeds by burning them using a flame weeder or hot water. Flame weeding is an organic weed control method that involves using a flame thrower to kill weeds. The only disadvantage with this method is that it only kills the leafy parts of the weeds, but not the roots. Flame weeding can destroy some annual weeds completely; however, perennial weeds tend to regrow, so you may need to do it several times for the weeds to eventually stop re-growing.
Topping
This is one of the easiest weed control methods if you are the type of gardener who prefer to do things the easy way. Gardeners who are constantly battling with weeds can find this technique useful because is not only simple, it’s a great way to prevent weed re-growth.
Topping involves chopping of weed flowers before the seeds set. This reduces the amount of weed seeds in your garden or lawn. It does not matter if you are dealing with perennial or annual weeds, topping is useful.
Monitor Your Compost
Homemade compost is a great, cheap and natural way of improving soil fertility. But, as you prepare your homemade compost, avoid adding weeds that are about to seed, to your compost, unless you intend to turn the compost every once a week. It is essential that you turn your compost regularly to increase aeration and decomposition. By doing so, your compost will reach the temperatures necessary to destroy many weed seeds.
Use Chemical-based Weed Killers
Some gardeners prefer to use natural weed control methods. But, if you are one of those gardeners who do not mind using herbicides, you will find some really useful products that can help you get rid of your weed problem.
There are two types of herbicides: selective and non-selective. Selective herbicides target certain species of weeds without harming the desired plants, while non-selective herbicides kill any kind of plant that comes into contact with it. Your choice of herbicide will pretty much depend on when you intend to use it. If it is before you plant, non-selective will be the better choice.
Use Pre-emergent Herbicide
This is an ideal method of preventing weed growth. When you do not want to deal with those menacing weeds which are hard to eliminate, using pre-emergent herbicide is the way to go. But, before you go out and buy a pre-emergent herbicide, you need to know the species of weeds you are dealing with.
According to agricultural experts, there are per-emergent herbicides that are great at preventing annual grass weeds, such as crabgrass, while others are great at preventing the growth of annual broadleaf weeds, such as spurge.
By identifying which species of weeds grow in your area or yard, you can choose a pre-emergent herbicide that is ideal for curbing the growth of the specific weed type.
However, in as much as pre-emergent herbicides are great at preventing the growth of different kinds of annual weeds by suffocating their seeds to prevent germination, the weed killers are also capable of killing the seeds of desirable plants. Therefore, before applying a pre-emergent herbicide take caution.
Timing is everything and the last thing you need is having to replant again. So, if you choose to seed first, apply the weed killer a couple of weeks later. But if you choose to seed after applying the pre-emergent herbicide, wait a couple of months before planting your seeds.
Final Thoughts
Weed control does not have to be backbreaking or expensive. There are many easy and natural ways that you can use to control annoying weeds. However, timing is everything. It is always best to get rid of weeds before they reach maturity.