“Wiregrass” Control

Wiregrass, also known as bermudagrass, is a big problem in many cool season lawns across Virginia.  In our winter newsletter we talked about several things that can cause wiregrass to grow in your lawn.  Here are several things you can do to help control the bermudagrass.

Wiregrass is a warm season grass that thrives when the temperatures are hot and rain-fall is limited.  It vegetatively propagates by stolons and rhizomes making it the hardest weed to control in cool season lawns.  Through proper mowing and fertilizing you can help slow down the wiregrass growth.

Properly mowing your grass, talked about above, will help reduce wiregrass encroach-ment. Lawns that are properly mowed are less likely to be stressed giving them the abil-ity to fight off this invasive weed.  Not only is the grass happy but lawns that are main-tained 3” or above make it harder for wiregrass to overtake the tall fescue.

Secondly, proper lawn fertilization will help keep your grass healthy. Spring fertilizer should be kept to a minimum.  We recommend applying no more then 0.5lbs of nitrogen per 1,000sqft.  Fertilizing this time of year will encourage shoot growth which will only require you to mow more often and it will not benefit the plant. The majority of lawn ferti-lizers should be applied in September or October. During this time of year your lawn is focused on root growth.  Establishing deeper and healthier roots will help your lawn sur-vive hot summers more efficiently.  Lawns that are healthy during the heat of the sum-mer stand a better chance of reducing wiregrass growth.

The items listed above are good methods to help PREVENT wiregrass growth.  If your lawn is already over run with wiregrass have no fear Paradise Landscaping is here to help.  There are a select few chemicals on the market that when applied correctly at the right time of year will kill the wiregrass while leaving the rest of your tall fescue lawn alone.  Once these chemicals are applied it’s important to establish healthy tall fescue grass and follow the above recommendations to avoid the problem in the future.

If you would like more information on wiregrass control methods or would like a free estimate to remove your wiregrass give us a call today.  Remember, we are one of the only companies that is currently offering wiregrass control in already established lawns!