Crabgrass Removal
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Any topic is acceptable, and topic drift is permissible.
Re: Crabgrass Removal
I can relate to this because me and crabgrass have been battling for many years. I figured moving to this new house with a freshly sodded lawn would cure the problem. Nope. It's not as bad because the lawn is new, but the only sure fire way to get rid of the stuff is to yank it by hand.
Re: Crabgrass Removal
Because it grows from runners, every place it touches ground it roots itself and spreads fast.
Plain old boiling water dumped on the core will handle the deep rooted stuff, but you still need to pull all the runners before they take hold.
Plain old boiling water dumped on the core will handle the deep rooted stuff, but you still need to pull all the runners before they take hold.
Re: Crabgrass Removal
Pulling it out by hand seems to be the most effective way to control it, albeit the most labor intensive way. I've taken the stand that as long as I yank off the seed pods before they mature they won't come back next year. The first frost kills it off. I've tried preemergents, but they are next to useless.
Re: Crabgrass Removal
Preemergents only work on weeds that grow from seeds.
Even so, the beds where I plant flowers gets a lot of that stuff, and it does make a big difference.
Except for the crabgrass which climbs over the edging.
Even so, the beds where I plant flowers gets a lot of that stuff, and it does make a big difference.
Except for the crabgrass which climbs over the edging.
Re: Crabgrass Removal
I've been battling crabgrass for about ten years now. Only the last year in the war was in Missouri. I never did any research and just used what I thought was common sense. My tactic was to remove the seeds so that they don't have a chance to fall into the cracks and crevasses of the soil which allows them to pop up the next season. Seed pod removal generally involved removing the entire plant by hand. Crabgrass can have an extensive root system, but I never observed what I'd call rhizomes, i.e. horizontal root growth. Of course that was not easy to determine given that I had several patches which could easily have all been connected. But, I simply assumed the spread of crabgrass was by it's seeds.
The first attack was chemical warfare. I determined that was ok, but not the best approach. That proved to slow down the spreading but not nearly as much as I had hoped. The reason for that was due to the seeds maturing and falling to the soil before the main plant died off. I now know that chemicals best be applied very early in the season before the seeds have a chance to grow. Subsequent assaults were with the lawn mower and a bag. I had a compost pile out back so that disposing of the clippings was easy. That approach was just as effective as the chemicals, but still a lot of crabs developed. This was due most likely to the fact that once the tops of the crabgrass were clipped, they grew low and horizontally where the mower could not suck them up. At that point the marines landed with weeding tools and lots of muscle bending and yanking on stubborn plants. Most years I could fill a couple wheel barrows with the crabby grass I pulled, but it got easier the last couple years. I did not eliminate all the crabgrass before I left Illinois, but the hand picking seemed to have dramatically stopped the spring blossoms.
Fortunately, here in Missouri the crab grass isn't a huge problem yet. I've not mounted any fierce attacks, but I can tell already next year I'll probably have to call in the marines to establish a beachhead. I don't have a compost pile here and I hate to pay The Man to haul away weeds. I'll figure something out. I thought I might cover what is now the lawn with gravel, but I note that crab grass is growing in the expansion joints between the concrete slabs on my driveway. Gravel isn't going to stop them. Besides, the HOA might have some objections to the lunar landscape look.
I got curious when you mentioned rhizomes, so I looked it up. Here is what I found about crabgrass propagation and control: http://www.garden-counselor-lawn-care.c ... grass.html
The first attack was chemical warfare. I determined that was ok, but not the best approach. That proved to slow down the spreading but not nearly as much as I had hoped. The reason for that was due to the seeds maturing and falling to the soil before the main plant died off. I now know that chemicals best be applied very early in the season before the seeds have a chance to grow. Subsequent assaults were with the lawn mower and a bag. I had a compost pile out back so that disposing of the clippings was easy. That approach was just as effective as the chemicals, but still a lot of crabs developed. This was due most likely to the fact that once the tops of the crabgrass were clipped, they grew low and horizontally where the mower could not suck them up. At that point the marines landed with weeding tools and lots of muscle bending and yanking on stubborn plants. Most years I could fill a couple wheel barrows with the crabby grass I pulled, but it got easier the last couple years. I did not eliminate all the crabgrass before I left Illinois, but the hand picking seemed to have dramatically stopped the spring blossoms.
Fortunately, here in Missouri the crab grass isn't a huge problem yet. I've not mounted any fierce attacks, but I can tell already next year I'll probably have to call in the marines to establish a beachhead. I don't have a compost pile here and I hate to pay The Man to haul away weeds. I'll figure something out. I thought I might cover what is now the lawn with gravel, but I note that crab grass is growing in the expansion joints between the concrete slabs on my driveway. Gravel isn't going to stop them. Besides, the HOA might have some objections to the lunar landscape look.
I got curious when you mentioned rhizomes, so I looked it up. Here is what I found about crabgrass propagation and control: http://www.garden-counselor-lawn-care.c ... grass.html
Re: Crabgrass Removal
I never let the weeds in the garden areas get tall enough to form the tall seed stalks. And naturally those in the yard get mowed down each week when I mow. So they never go to seed.
What we do have are the long lateral shoots that grow almost as fast as Kudzu hi hi...
They will climb up and over the borders around the flower beds, and once they do, they take hold very fast, and every place one of these runners touches down, it starts a new plant.
One flower bed I don't take care of is the frau's small bed of roses. She lets it go way to long and then it is almost impossible to pull the weeds up by the roots, and the crabgrass goes to seed super fast making the problem worse.
I never much worried about it in my yard because it is green and super hardy. It may not be the prettiest type of grass, but it is the hardiest, hi hi...
What we do have are the long lateral shoots that grow almost as fast as Kudzu hi hi...
They will climb up and over the borders around the flower beds, and once they do, they take hold very fast, and every place one of these runners touches down, it starts a new plant.
One flower bed I don't take care of is the frau's small bed of roses. She lets it go way to long and then it is almost impossible to pull the weeds up by the roots, and the crabgrass goes to seed super fast making the problem worse.
I never much worried about it in my yard because it is green and super hardy. It may not be the prettiest type of grass, but it is the hardiest, hi hi...
Re: Crabgrass Removal
There are a few reasons to let the grass grow long. One is to provide enough darkness so that weed seeds have a hard time rooting and germinating. I have to agree with you that crabgrass probably would not make the most beautiful ground cover, but it is hardy and green. I had prairie growth in back of my house and would mow it down a couple times each year. It didn't look bad considering the hundreds of different kinds of plants that grew there. Like crabgrass it would not look great up front by the street, plus the city had some kind of limit regarding how high the grass can grow. I'm not sure what it was anymore, but it seems as if it were less than 12" I don't have any of that here in Missouri. There is one crab apple tree out back and the rest is fescue and crabgrass. 
Re: Crabgrass Removal
When I took out half of the woods behind the house to make the back yard bigger, although it is a hillside, keeping it mowed was hard due to the fast growing weeds.
I must have put 50 pounds of pasture grass seed on that back half acre before a good portion of the weeds died of their own accord.
I put way too much grass seed down on the lower part of the back yard near the house, and although it looks nice, it is too thick, and I must mow in granny low gear for the first 15 to 20 feet of back yard.
We do have a lot of Sedge which can become a bush, and Poke Weed with it's purple berries. Trying to keep it at bay along the fence rows when the neighbors just let everything grow is a royal pain.
In the front yard I have mulch put around the trees and bushes every other year, and darn if the weeds don't try to take over almost instantly, hi hi... We keep a sprayer of cleaning grade vinegar mixed with soap by the back door and any time any of us walk down to the mailbox are go outside we grab it and shoot some weeds. We don't put salt in the mix because it tends to rust out the springs in the sprayers or clog the nozzle.
I have ivy growing on the fences along my fence rows here, so I can't dump rock salt around the fence rows like I did back home.
Since I've had two heart attacks, I can't keep up with the yard like I used to. It's no longer pristine, hi hi...
I must have put 50 pounds of pasture grass seed on that back half acre before a good portion of the weeds died of their own accord.
I put way too much grass seed down on the lower part of the back yard near the house, and although it looks nice, it is too thick, and I must mow in granny low gear for the first 15 to 20 feet of back yard.
We do have a lot of Sedge which can become a bush, and Poke Weed with it's purple berries. Trying to keep it at bay along the fence rows when the neighbors just let everything grow is a royal pain.
In the front yard I have mulch put around the trees and bushes every other year, and darn if the weeds don't try to take over almost instantly, hi hi... We keep a sprayer of cleaning grade vinegar mixed with soap by the back door and any time any of us walk down to the mailbox are go outside we grab it and shoot some weeds. We don't put salt in the mix because it tends to rust out the springs in the sprayers or clog the nozzle.
I have ivy growing on the fences along my fence rows here, so I can't dump rock salt around the fence rows like I did back home.
Since I've had two heart attacks, I can't keep up with the yard like I used to. It's no longer pristine, hi hi...
Re: Crabgrass Removal
What on earth did you do with the rock salt in a garden? Seems like it would be counter productive, or is that what you wanted?
Re: Crabgrass Removal
No, I only put rock salt around the border fence rows to keep the weeds from growing on the fencing.
But now I have Ivy growing on most of the fencing. It was on all of it, but got torn off by dogs and other critters.
Actually, it works great for where you want nothing to grow for a number of years.
But you can't use it around bushes or plants because it will kill them too.
But now I have Ivy growing on most of the fencing. It was on all of it, but got torn off by dogs and other critters.
Actually, it works great for where you want nothing to grow for a number of years.
But you can't use it around bushes or plants because it will kill them too.
Re: Crabgrass Removal
Up north in the snow belt I would use rock salt to remove the ice from our asphalt drive and concrete sidewalks. The people selling it to me told me not to use it because the special snow/ice melting stuff they sold for three times the price was safer to use. It would not kill the grass or damage the concrete. Well, I used the rock salt for nearly thirty years without needing to replace the driveway or the concrete. The edges of the lawn bordering these things, however, didn't have much grass. The weeds loved it though - especially the crabgrass. LOL
Re: Crabgrass Removal
A lot of weeds have DEEP ROOTS, so surface salt runoff usually doesn't affect them too much.
One other thing, the way they made concrete driveways years ago is a whole lot better than what they make these days.
The concrete drives and other concrete items like slabs that were poured back around 1900 to 1930 never cracked, wore out, or scaled from the use of salt. Not even the floor of the sheds where we stored salt.
Flatwork installed after 1945 and up to about 1960, held up much better than anything poured after 1960.
Almost every sidewalk or driveway built after 1960 would scale, absorb water which would cause it to crack and scale from freezing temps.
They say it is made the same, but I know it's not. The cement of today, used to make concrete has a lower alkaline content, where the stuff our grandparents used was much heavier in slaked lime.
Heck, I remember by grandfather specifying hydraulic cement when he ordered. Today Portland Cement is considered hydraulic cement, which it isn't. It's like the cement coating originally termed White Medusa, something you no longer hear about today. No company I know of makes White Medusa, nor can they get the ingredients to make it, one of which is a lead pigmented white oil based paint.
You're old enough to remember when Masonite, including their Pegboard was almost black and so hard you could not drive a nail through it without first drilling a hole. Used as a protective pad under desk chairs, the original Masonite would last 50 years or longer. The new Masonite, if you get 5 years out of it, it's a miracle. Same with the Pegboard. You couldn't rip a hole in the pegboard by overloading shelves, but today, look at it cross eyed and the shelf will fall.
One other thing, the way they made concrete driveways years ago is a whole lot better than what they make these days.
The concrete drives and other concrete items like slabs that were poured back around 1900 to 1930 never cracked, wore out, or scaled from the use of salt. Not even the floor of the sheds where we stored salt.
Flatwork installed after 1945 and up to about 1960, held up much better than anything poured after 1960.
Almost every sidewalk or driveway built after 1960 would scale, absorb water which would cause it to crack and scale from freezing temps.
They say it is made the same, but I know it's not. The cement of today, used to make concrete has a lower alkaline content, where the stuff our grandparents used was much heavier in slaked lime.
Heck, I remember by grandfather specifying hydraulic cement when he ordered. Today Portland Cement is considered hydraulic cement, which it isn't. It's like the cement coating originally termed White Medusa, something you no longer hear about today. No company I know of makes White Medusa, nor can they get the ingredients to make it, one of which is a lead pigmented white oil based paint.
You're old enough to remember when Masonite, including their Pegboard was almost black and so hard you could not drive a nail through it without first drilling a hole. Used as a protective pad under desk chairs, the original Masonite would last 50 years or longer. The new Masonite, if you get 5 years out of it, it's a miracle. Same with the Pegboard. You couldn't rip a hole in the pegboard by overloading shelves, but today, look at it cross eyed and the shelf will fall.
Re: Crabgrass Removal
It certainly is true that they don't make things like they used to. Part of the reason is to contain the costs, but in many cases the old time material simply does not exist in our modern world. About thirty years ago I lived in a house that was fifty some years old when I bought it. That means the lumber was well over fifty years old. I tore out a small wall to enlarge one of the bedrooms for the kids and could not believe what they used to build it. The wall was lathes and plaster, but the 2x4 studs measured ... 2x4 of all things. I tried making a table out of the left over studs. Nails I could buy at the hardware store would bend when I tried to pound them into the wood. I don't know what kind of hard wood they used for studs back then, but I could not get nails that could penetrate it.
In the same house I tried to replace some trim work. I took a sample to the lumber yard and was told it is ash, which is no longer available. Really? Yes, really. Apparently all the ash trees have been cut and are no longer available. Same goes for plywood. The trees used to make that stuff are in short supply. The trees they do use these days are not the same. I know that because the lamination on new plywood will warp and peel off after a certain number of years. And, I do indeed recall using Masonite, which was very dark but not black. I've not had a need for it lately, but I have looked at the local DIY shops. Nobody seems to stock it.
I always thought of Portland Cement as something coming from the state of Oregon. It may, but this cement was named after the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. That is where the original cement obtained it's limestone for the list of ingredients. I don't know for sure, but I can see the change in cement once again being due to unavailability of the old material. Also, after reading the Wiki about it, I was amazed at all the components that go into cement. It is indeed very likely that the formula was changed (around 1960) but the name remained the same. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cement
In the same house I tried to replace some trim work. I took a sample to the lumber yard and was told it is ash, which is no longer available. Really? Yes, really. Apparently all the ash trees have been cut and are no longer available. Same goes for plywood. The trees used to make that stuff are in short supply. The trees they do use these days are not the same. I know that because the lamination on new plywood will warp and peel off after a certain number of years. And, I do indeed recall using Masonite, which was very dark but not black. I've not had a need for it lately, but I have looked at the local DIY shops. Nobody seems to stock it.
I always thought of Portland Cement as something coming from the state of Oregon. It may, but this cement was named after the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. That is where the original cement obtained it's limestone for the list of ingredients. I don't know for sure, but I can see the change in cement once again being due to unavailability of the old material. Also, after reading the Wiki about it, I was amazed at all the components that go into cement. It is indeed very likely that the formula was changed (around 1960) but the name remained the same. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cement
Re: Crabgrass Removal
I do think they also wasted a lot of wood back then too. But why not, most folks used wood to heat their homes anyhow.
Hardwood floors never had a single knot in them.
Yeppers, unplaned lumber measured a full 2x4 inches, and that old wood turns harder with age too.
Most studs were Oak and a harder type of Pine or Fir.
I used to restore historic homes, so know full well how most of the materials used back then are no longer available. And even if they wood is available, it is not cut the same way. Try fixing a tongue and groove porch built before 1950. The only thing you can do is pull the T&G off and put it back on again, because the new pieces are cut and sized slightly different.
Redwood was the normal wood used on eaves back in the 1960s, and earlier, so was a lot of slapboard siding even earlier. So when we were razing an older house, not historical house, I would cob as much of the redwood as I could. It turns hard too by the way. So you must drill pilot holes to keep it from splitting.
Back in the 1890s when grandpa built his first all glass greenhouse with concrete raised benches, he literally made his own cement to make the concrete for the benches. Some of my older uncles told me about how he had these huge iron kettles for boiling down the limestone, then how they would powder it and add other ingredients, boil it down again, and then make the fine powder. Honestly, back then, he probably couldn't afford to buy cement. His father, my great-grandfather, worked for 12-1/2 cents per day cracking rock with a sledgehammer, the rock was used primarily for road building. When the company he worked for bought a huge rolling iron crusher all the manual crackers lost their job. But great-grandpa saved up enough money to buy their first farm. I'm sure he taught his son, my grandfather, how to make the best cement to make concrete.
Heck, today if a store don't have something, we do without, or substitute, hi hi...
Hardwood floors never had a single knot in them.
Yeppers, unplaned lumber measured a full 2x4 inches, and that old wood turns harder with age too.
Most studs were Oak and a harder type of Pine or Fir.
I used to restore historic homes, so know full well how most of the materials used back then are no longer available. And even if they wood is available, it is not cut the same way. Try fixing a tongue and groove porch built before 1950. The only thing you can do is pull the T&G off and put it back on again, because the new pieces are cut and sized slightly different.
Redwood was the normal wood used on eaves back in the 1960s, and earlier, so was a lot of slapboard siding even earlier. So when we were razing an older house, not historical house, I would cob as much of the redwood as I could. It turns hard too by the way. So you must drill pilot holes to keep it from splitting.
Back in the 1890s when grandpa built his first all glass greenhouse with concrete raised benches, he literally made his own cement to make the concrete for the benches. Some of my older uncles told me about how he had these huge iron kettles for boiling down the limestone, then how they would powder it and add other ingredients, boil it down again, and then make the fine powder. Honestly, back then, he probably couldn't afford to buy cement. His father, my great-grandfather, worked for 12-1/2 cents per day cracking rock with a sledgehammer, the rock was used primarily for road building. When the company he worked for bought a huge rolling iron crusher all the manual crackers lost their job. But great-grandpa saved up enough money to buy their first farm. I'm sure he taught his son, my grandfather, how to make the best cement to make concrete.
Heck, today if a store don't have something, we do without, or substitute, hi hi...