How to Kill Crabgrass and Recover Your Lawn

As spring arrives, warm-season grasses awaken from dormancy, ready to grow and thrive. Unfortunately, so do stubborn weeds like crabgrass. After enduring seasonal stressors, your lawn is in a prime growing period—but so is crabgrass, which competes with desirable lawn grasses for water, sunlight, and nutrients. Left unchecked, crabgrass spreads rapidly, affecting your lawn's density and health.

While addressing them now will not guarantee total removal, early intervention can significantly reduce their growth for the season and the next. This proactive approach will consequently help your lawn reach its full potential. Understanding how crabgrass germinates allows you to control its spread and create a strong, weed-free lawn that thrives all season.

What is Crabgrass and How It Affects Your Lawn

Crabgrass is a warm-season annual weed known for its low-growing habit, with stems that spread outward from the center like crab legs. It thrives in hot, dry conditions and begins germinating in mid-spring when soil temperatures reach a consistent 55°F. Highly opportunistic, crabgrass quickly fills bare patches or thin areas in your lawn where turfgrass struggles to establish. If left unchecked, it can spread aggressively and become a significant problem by summer.

In warmer regions like Florida, common species such as smooth crabgrass (Digitaria ischaemum) and large crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis) pose a persistent challenge due to their vigorous growth and resilience. These weeds produce thousands of seeds before dying off in the fall. These seeds remain dormant in the soil, ready to sprout under favorable conditions the following spring.

Since crabgrass seedlings establish rapidly, early control is essential to preventing their spread. Understanding their life cycle allows you to take timely action to reduce existing crabgrass populations and prevent new outbreaks.

The Best Way to Control Crabgrass

The most effective way to control weeds in your lawn is to maintain dense, healthy green coverage through proper care and pre-emergent herbicides. Regular mowing, fertilization, and watering encourage thicker growth, creating an environment where crabgrass struggles to grow.

Pre-emergent herbicides work by killing seeds as they start to germinate, preventing crabgrass from establishing. These treatments are most effective in early to mid-spring before seedlings emerge. If crabgrass is already present, post-emergent herbicides may be used selectively to target actively growing weeds.

How to Get Rid of Crabgrass and Maintain a Healthy Lawn

Managing crabgrass requires a combination of preventative and corrective measures:

1. Pull Crabgrass by Hand

For a more natural approach, manually remove existing crabgrass plants before they produce seeds. Use a hand trowel or digging knife to pull weeds from the root so no fragments remain in the soil. Cover the bare area immediately with grass plugs to prevent new weed growth.

2. Apply Pre-Emergent Herbicide

Apply a pre-emergent herbicide in early to mid-spring to prevent crabgrass seedlings from emerging. These products create a barrier in the soil, stopping weed seeds from germinating. Timing is critical; once crabgrass has sprouted, pre-emergents will no longer be effective.

3. Mow at the Right Height

Keep your lawn grasses at about 3 inches or the recommended height for your grass type to shade the soil and discourage weed germination. Crabgrass thrives in open spaces where sunlight reaches the ground, so maintaining a dense lawn canopy helps suppress its growth. Avoid scalping your lawn, as this encourages crabgrass to take hold.

4. Fertilize Your Lawn Regularly

A well-fed lawn grows thick and strong, making it more resistant to weed infestations. Apply a balanced lawn fertilizer throughout the growing season to support vigorous grass growth. A dense lawn naturally crowds out broadleaf weeds and prevents crabgrass from establishing.

5. Water Deeply and Infrequently

Deep watering encourages strong and deeper root growth, making your lawn more resilient against weeds. Water 1-2 times a week, providing 1-1.5 inches of water in total. Avoid frequent, shallow watering, which creates favorable conditions for crabgrass seed germination.

6. Bag Grass Clippings if Crabgrass is Present

If you have an active crabgrass problem, bag your lawn clippings when mowing to prevent spreading seeds. This helps reduce the number of viable seeds in your lawn, decreasing future infestations. Once the crabgrass population is under control, you can return to mulching grass clippings to nourish the soil.

Lawn Care Best Practices for a Weed-Free Lawn

Beyond controlling crabgrass, maintaining a healthy lawn is key to preventing future infestations. Follow these best practices to ensure long-term lawn health:

Fertilize in the Fall: Applying fertilizer in the fall strengthens lawn grasses before they go into winter dormancy. A well-nourished lawn bounces back stronger in spring, reducing open spaces where crabgrass can establish.

Maintain Proper Mowing Heights: Mowing your lawn 3-4 inches high helps block sunlight from reaching weed seeds. Taller grass also retains moisture better, promoting deeper root growth.

Water Deeply and Less Often: Encourage deep root development by watering deeply 1-2 times per week rather than shallow watering daily. Most warm-season grasses need about 1-1.5 inches of water per week to stay healthy. Stronger, deeper roots make your lawn more resilient and better able to outcompete weeds like crabgrass.

Aerate to Reduce Soil Compaction: Compacted soil prevents lawn grasses from accessing nutrients and water. Use a core aerator in early spring to improve drainage and allow grass roots to spread.

Dethatch Your Lawn: Removing excess thatch, which consists of dead grass and debris, improves soil health and prevents crabgrass from taking hold. Dethatching in early spring also promotes stronger turf growth.

Repairing Lawn Patches with Grass Plugs and NutriPod Fertilizer

Bare spots and thin patches in your lawn provide the perfect environment for crabgrass to thrive. Addressing these areas with new grass plugs helps restore density and prevent future weed infestations. Grass plugs establish quickly, filling gaps where crabgrass would otherwise take over. 

Using NutriPod Grass Fertilizer when planting new grass plugs accelerates their growth, helping them establish up to two times faster. This ensures your lawn thickens more quickly, leaving less space for weeds. For best results, drop a NutriPod in each planting hole before inserting the grass plugs to support root development and overall turf health.

Following these proactive lawn care strategies can significantly reduce crabgrass growth while promoting a healthier, more resilient lawn. Get started today with NutriPod grass fertilizer to give your new grass the nutrients it needs for faster establishment and long-term success!