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4 troublesome weeds in my yard #799584

Asked July 05, 2022, 7:32 PM EDT

I have attached a picture of four weeks that are consuming my yard. I am afraid that if I apply weed killer that is would leave me with numerous bare spots. I know one is Creeping Charlie. Any advice would be appreciated how I may go about eradicating these weeds..

Grand Isle County Vermont

Expert Response

Good Morning Leigh,

Thanks for the photo! It's a little small and blurry, so if what follows doesn't help, go ahead and send a larger photo.

You are absolutely correct about Creeping Charlie. A cool thing to note about Creeping Charlie is that it's edible and has a great minty, earthy flavor. We use it in salads at our house all summer. As you're working on your weed issues, at least you could get a few meals out of it.

As for the others, from the photo it appears that you also have crabgrass and possibly broadleaf plantain, but as I mentioned, the photo is a bit blurry. The good news is that correct identification doesn't really matter in this case.

A good place to start would be Cornell's guide for weed management for lawns. You can check that out right here:
https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/43860/weeds-in-lawn-bro-NYSIPM.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

The best solution for weeds in the lawn is to make it an optimal environment for grass and a poor environment for weeds. This means mowing to the proper height at the proper times, proper nutrient management, dealing with shady patches, and so on. That said, crabgrass and Creeping Charlie are notoriously difficult to eradicate with management practices alone.

Once you establish what your weed tolerance is (how many weeds you're willing to have and how long you're willing to work to manage them), I'd check out this guide from UMass Amherst specific to crabgrass:
ttps://ag.umass.edu/home-lawn-garden/fact-sheets/crabgrass-management-homeowner-options

What works on crabgrass (from overseeding to strategic herbicide) will mostly likely also work for the other weeds. If you're willing to play the long game, starting with cultural practices like mowing, overseeding with grass that fits your growing conditions, fertilizing, and so on, you should be able to reclaim your lawn without the bare patches.

If you'd like to go about it more quickly, a broadleaf herbicide and reseeding should minimize the length of time that you have bare patches. If that's the path you decide to go down, here's UVM Extension's handy guide for renovating and establishing lawns!
https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Extension-Master-Gardener/LAWNRENOEST.pdf

Hope this helps!

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