Green kyllinga is a perennial sedge weed. It will return next year unless you do something about it. Green kyllinga invades by both seed and underground stems known as rhizomes. The weed generally has three long leaves that form on the end of a hard triangular stem. Green kyllinga also makes a spiky green seed head. The seed head will fade to brown if left untreated.

Cultural control is the best long term solution for weed control. Creating an environment where your grass thrives and out competes weeds makes for an easier life. Green kyllinga thrives in poorly drained soil. Proper drainage will greatly improve your lawn. Additionally, proper mowing heights will keep your grass in the best position to edge out weeds. 

We deal with a few grass types around Baton Rouge and New Orleans: St. Augustine, Centipedegrass, Zoysia, and Bermudagrass. Luckily, there are a lot of good options for chemical control in these grass types. Look for products containing any one of the following active ingredients: sulfosulfuron, imazaquin, sulfentrazone, halosulfuron, bentazon). Read and follow the label for application instructions. Some herbicides take multiple applications. 

Ensuring proper drainage and following up with a control product will take care of your weed problem in no time.

Carpetgrass is a desirable grass type in parts of the country. Not so in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Carpetgrass will blend in with centipede grass throughout the year. Then summer comes and the seed heads pop out. Carpetgrass seed heads  make a mess of your well manicured lawn.

Carpetgrass looks sort of like centipede grass. They have grow in a similar manner. The easiest way to identify carpetgrass is to wait until late June and throughout the end of summer. Carpetgrass seed heads shoot out and form a distinctive shape. It is usually described as a Y with one extra offshoot. Checkout the picture above to see it.

Herbicide control products include either Celsius or Finale. Both require licensing in Louisiana. These products work, but may take two applications. Contact us for help.

Carpetgrass does not do well with salt. If you have a salt tolerant grass like certain varieties of St. Augustinegrass, then you may have another option. While we have not attempted this remedy, numerous other sources have found success with it. Attempt at your own risk. The mix is 7 to 10 gallons of water and two cups of table salt. Let it sit in a large bucket for a couple of days to dissolve. Pick a day when there is no expected rain for 3 days out. Using a watering can, lightly water the areas with carpetgrass weeds. You should see the effect in three days.

Lespedeza is an open branched annual weed which is present between late spring and the end of summer in Louisiana. There are other varieties of lespedeza, but common lespedeza is what most people have a problem with in their yards. The stems harden and become woody the longer this weeds stays in your lawn. It grows outward into prostrate mats mixed in with your grass.

Good cultural practices help. The best deterrent to lespedeza is a healthy lawn. Deep and infrequent watering helps to develop strong grass roots. Mowing your lawn at the correct height allows it to photosynthesize enough food. Taller grass provides more shade which denies new weeds sunlight. Cutting your grass too low weakens your lawn while allowing more sunlight to fresh weeds.

Beyond cultural changes, pre-emergent herbicides can prevent lespedeza weeds from appearing in your lawn. The main caveat here is you have to do it before the weed is growing each year. Plan to do before next spring. A few pre-emergent herbicides work well against lespedeza. Products with the active ingredient atrazine, simazine, or dithiopyr work very well at prevention. Read the label to make sure you are applying it correctly.

Once you have a lespedeza weed problem, your go to solution is selective post-emergent herbicides. Luckily, there are a number of post-emergent herbicides available that take care of lespedeza. Products with the active ingredient atrazine, dicambia, metsulfuron, or simazine to name a few. There are plenty more herbicide choices. Read the label before purchasing and be certain it is labeled for your grass type, else you may end up damaging the plants you want to keep.

It is summer time and you are outside admiring the great looking lawn you cut a few days ago when you spot it, crabgrass. Crabgrass weeds blend in with your lawn when cut, but will quickly grow taller than the surrounding turf. Many people cut their grass more often to maintain the uniform appearance, only to have this weed pop up and drive them batty. Let's figure out how to get rid of crabgrass so you can get back to a normal mowing routine.

Crabgrass Prevention
Prevention is the name of the game with crabgrass. Crabgrass is an annual weed. This means it will die off on its own each year (yay!). It also leaves a lot of seeds that will grow again next spring (boo!). If you want to really control crabgrass weeds in the long run, you need to use a pre-emergent herbicide. We use a product called Dimension which contains the active ingredient dithiopy​r. Search your local hardware store for a pre-emergent product with either this active ingredient or any grassy weed pre-emergent labeled for both your turf type and crabgrass. Time the pre-emergent application for late fall and/or mid-winter depending upon the product label. Pre-emergents need to go down before the new weeds sprout or they will not work.

Prevention can also occur by keeping the rest of your grass healthy. Don't leave thin areas since this creates an opening for weeds to take root and grow. Fertilizer and water are your best option here. Keep healthy grass and the weeds can't get sunlight.

Crabgrass Control
Prevention is great for next year, but what about the weeds in your yard today? Luckily, there are a lot of options available to consumers that are readily available at the hardware store or through the internet. Be certain to check which turf grasses the product can safely be applied over. You don't want to be the guy that has a brown yard because he didn't check the label first. (This happens more often than you would think.) Don't spray your whole yard if you only have a spot of crabgrass. No need to risk an accident when it is unnecessary. Additionally, most products require a second application a few weeks after the first for proper crabgrass control, but check the label to be certain.

If all else fails, grab a shovel and a few pieces of sod. It can be labor intensive, but the results are both guaranteed and immediate.

Spring time in Baton Rouge brings nice temperatures and excessive rain. The warm and wet weather leads to a large influx of new weeds popping up in your lawn. The weed seeds have waited underground all winter to rise up and show off. Poa annua, aka annual bluegrass, can be an eye sore for many lawns in Louisiana. The weed is an annual, meaning it will die off on its own each year, which is good. Each weed produces hundreds of seeds, which is bad. The seeds can also lay dormant for multiple years, so you will have to have a good treatment plan in place over a long period of time.

How to Control Poa Annua
Poa annua is best treated by preventing the large amount of seeds in the ground from sprouting. Poa annua seeds start to germinate in late fall, so you need to have a pre-emergent down before that and throughout the winter into spring. Since the seeds can stay dormant, this will need to be done for a few consecutive years to get close to eradicating the Poa problem. 

Step 1 - Pre-Emergent Herbicide
We recommend using a pre-emergent that has pendimethalin as an active ingredient in September. Follow that up with another round of pre-emergent containing the active ingredient dithiopyr in November and again in either late January or early February. Be sure to check the product label for usage rates, timing between applications, maximum annual rates, and which types of grass your product can be used on.

It is winter in Baton Rouge which means your grass is dormant and the clover looks very healthy! You may be tempted to let the clover take over so you have a very lush, green lawn. If you want to get rid of the clover without killing your grass, we have your solution. It is also an easy fix. Let's get your lawn clover free.

Clover Control
While it matters less when your grass is dormant, you need to know what type of grass you have. Typical desired grass types here are centipede grass, St. Augustine grass, zoysia grass, or bermudagrass. This is important. When you select a selective herbicide at the store, you need to be certain your grass type is listed as a type of grass that the product will not hurt. An old go to active ingredient for clover control is 2,4-d. There are a quite a few other products that will work well to achieve your goal. Follow the label for the product you purchase and spray or spread it over the top of grass.

Stop Them Before They Start
When dealing with clover, as well as most weeds, you should attempt to stop the clover before it spreads. Regular fertilization with nitrogen during the warm months will encourage your grass to spread and get thicker. Thicker grass will block out the sun from weed seeds. Another solution to stop clover is to use pre-emergent herbicides in late fall to prevent the seeds from ever germinating.

Natural Weed Control
A natural solution is to use corn gluten meal. Apply twenty pounds of corn gluten meal per thousand feet of clover weeds. After applying the corn gluten meal, water thoroughly and allow to dry. The meal then dries out the clover seeds so that it will continue to spread.

People worry about weeds in their lawn in the summer, but the best time to inspect your lawn for weeds is in the winter. Grass tends to go dormant in the the winter and turn yellow. Weeds keep their green color and stick out for you to easily spot. Some winter weeds to look out for are white clover, henbit, common chickweed, and annua poa. You should use a selective herbicide labeled for these weeds to take them out easily during the winter. These selective herbicides usually contain atrazine or 2,4-D, but not both. You can use a small amount of product and get rid of the weeds without treating your whole lawn.

You will not see certain summer weeds like crabgrass since they go away for winter since it is an annual weed. If you know you had a problem with crabgrass in the summer, the winter is a great time to apply a pre-emergent herbicide to prevent the seeds left from sprouting during the warm season. You can use a pre-emergent to treat many of the annual weeds you see in the summer that go away in winter. If you remember where they grew, you can treat those areas for better control.

Also, do not add any weed and feed for your lawn. Nitrogen promotes growth, and your grass should not be growing.

​In the winter, weed control is more apparent than in summer. Why? Your lawn is dormant in winter and typically brownish. Winter weeds grow big and green in the winter and stick out like a sore thumb. These weeds then drop their seeds and spread and get worse each year. 

Controlling these weeds now will keep your lawn looking nice and uniform all winter long. This will also keep these weeds from establishing themselves before spring. 

First thing you need to do is identify the type of weed. Some are easy, like clover, some are not. If you are not sure what it is, take a picture and post on a landscaping forum. Google also has an image search that sometimes works, sometimes not. 

All hardware stores sell selective herbicides. Check the label for your type of weed. Make sure it is safe to apply over your type of grass and go for it. This will greatly reduce the number of weeds in your lawn and you can no stay indoors on the upcoming cold days.

Centipedegrass is one of the most common grass types in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and throughout southern Louisiana. It is fairly easy to take care of and most weed problems have a solution. Luckily, there are readily available controls for bermudagrass as well. This is great since bermudagrass grows more quickly than centipede and fills in open areas.

Sethoxydim is a selective herbicide that will get rid of bermudagrass in centipede grass. Some brands of Sethoxydim are Vantage, Poast,  and Segment. A variety of Sethoxydim can be found at most hardware stores. It will take between one and three applications to remove the bermudagrass problem. Generally, the first application should be a broadcast application to the entire area affected. The next applications are normally spot treatments for areas with regrowth. Once the bermudagrass is gone, you should be ready to get some sod and fill in the areas that were taken over by bermudagrass.

For best results, do not mow the area being treated for one week before and one week after the application of Sethoxydim. Be certain your existing grass type is centipedegrass since Sethoxydim will damage or kill other grass types. Sethoxydim only works at higher temperatures, so be sure to treat when the weather is warmer according to the label.

Sethoxydim also eliminates large crabgrass, smooth crabgrass, goosegrass, and seedling johnsongrass. Just make sure your grass is centipedegrass. If you are having a problem with these grassy weeds as well, you can use Sethoxydim to take care of all of with your treatment. Be sure to follow the label. If something you read and the product label conflict, trust the product label. The label is the law.

GreenSeasons has partnered with Spring-Green to provide the best lawn care and weed control possible. Spring-Green is a professional lawn fertilization and weed control company servicing the greater Baton Rouge, greater New Orleans, Slidell, Prairieville, Walker, Denham Springs, Gonzales, Baker, Zachary, Hammond and Covington areas. If you think you have a weed problem or greener grass, just click here for a weed control free quote  and we will give you a call or call them at (225) 757-5170.

If you would simply like some advice on DIY weed control, please click here for tips from Spring-Green.  

Virginia buttonweed grows to around 7 inches long. It usually grows horizontally with stems that grow upward to two inches. Virginia buttonweed produces deep roots and is difficult to remove. Virginia buttonweed usually blooms into a small, white, star-shaped flower during June in Louisiana. After blooming, there Virginia buttonweed produces seeds.

Virginia buttonweed can grow in wet, swamp-like areas as well as well manicured lawns. It prefers wet areas, but can withstand dry spots for a time. It produces above ground seeds which float and can be transferred easily. Virginia buttonweed also produces an extensive root system. Its root system can produce new roots and rhizomes which lead to new, independent plants. Virginia buttonweed can also grow from cut stems. This means it can spread every time you cut your grass!

Selective herbicide control is your best option, aside from killing your existing yard with Glyphosate and restarting from scratch with sod. (DO NOT use Glyphosate on your turf unless you want your turf to die also.) Selective herbicides with some of the following active ingredients work to an extent: 2,4-D, MCPP, Dicambia. 

The herbicide Image  works better the earlier in the year you use it. So will Weed Stop for Lawns. Both Image and Weed Stop for Lawns should not be used when it is hotter than the specified temperature on their product label or your lawn will suffer damage. A product we use is Celsius by Bayer. It works very well, even in warm temperatures. All of the Virginia buttonweed herbicides that we have seen require a second application around 4 weeks after the initial treatment. This is due to how easily Virginia buttonweed reproduces. Virginia buttonweed is a challenge so remain patient.

GreenSeasons has partnered with Spring-Green to provide the best lawn care and weed control possible. Spring-Green is a professional lawn fertilization and weed control company servicing the greater Baton Rouge, greater New Orleans, Slidell, Prairieville, Walker, Denham Springs, Gonzales, Baker, Zachary, Hammond and Covington areas. If you think you have a weed problem or greener grass, just click here for a weed control free quote  and we will give you a call or call them at (225) 757-5170.

If you would simply like some advice on DIY mosquito control, please click here for tips from Spring-Green.