If you’re feeling extra ambitious, you could cover your entire yard with a plastic dome to keep spring weeds from invading your lawn.
But the neighbors would probably start whispering.
Jump to Section
- When Should I Treat My Lawn for Weeds in the Spring?
- What Are the Most Common Weeds in Lawns?
- How Professional Weed Control Programs Battle Weeds
- Professional Weed Control Programs: How Lawn Buddies Attacks Weeds
- How a Healthy Lawn Helps with Spring Weed Control
- Why You Should Use a Professional Weed Control Program to Handle Your Weeds
- Two Words About Spring Weed Control: Don’t Delay
What’s the best way to prevent ugly spring weeds from ruining your Idaho lawn? Use pre-emergent weed control in early spring, making sure to apply it in time, before the soil warms up too much.
Here in Idaho, that means a target date of April 1, depending on the weather.
Keep reading to find out more about spring weed control.
When Should I Treat My Lawn for Weeds in the Spring?
This is probably the most important thing you’ll read in the next three minutes.
When it comes to spring weeds in Boise and Idaho Falls, timing is everything. This is especially true for crabgrass, the weed that puts homeowners in a bad mood, fast.
By applying pre-emergent herbicides during early spring — before weeds sprout — you can help prevent some weeds from growing in the first place.
Shoot for around April 1, once the soil has warmed to 55 degrees.
What Are the Most Common Weeds in Lawns?
Seven weeds make the elite “worst lawn weeds in Idaho” list. Watch out for these weed bad guys:
1. Crabgrass
The king of weeds, crabgrass, has leaves that are broader than grass blades, and it grows in clumps close to the ground. The stems grow outward rather than up, and look like the legs of a crab.
Its claim to fame: each crabgrass plant produces as many as 150,000 seeds. (Why does it seem like every single seed lands in your yard?)
Those pesky seeds stay behind, in stealth mode, waiting patiently to germinate the following spring.
This makes crabgrass among the sneakiest spring weeds. The key is preventing those stubborn seeds from becoming more seed-producing plants.
Pre-emergent weed control is really important in battling crabgrass. (More on this in a bit.) You have to destroy those seeds before they take root in the soil.
2. White Clover
As weeds go, clover isn’t the worst weed on the block. It’s kind of pretty. But it’s still a weed.
Clover has delicate, round, white or pink flowers. You’ll also see three leaflets at the end of a long stem.
Clover thrives in undernourished lawns, so a healthy, well-fed lawn means fewer clover. Fertilize regularly — a thick lawn will crowd out clover.
3. Canada Thistle
Don’t step on this guy in bare feet. It’s as prickly as it sounds. Canada thistle has soft green, deeply lobed, spear-like leaves with sharp barbs on them. Its flower is a purple pom-pom produced in clusters at the top of the plant.
This perennial is double trouble. It spreads not just by seed, but by its tough roots that can extend for 10 feet.
Apply spring weed control to kill thistle before it can flower and seed. You can also prevent thistle by keeping your Idaho lawn healthy and thick. (Keep reading to learn more about this.)
4. Dandelions
Dandelions are probably the most well-known weed. Most people will recognize them by their bright yellow spiky flowers; round, puffy white seed heads; and sharply toothed leaves.
Seeds are everything with dandelions. When you blow on a dandelion’s white, puffy seed head, sure, you can make a wish. But you also help a bunch more dandelions grow by scattering those seeds. Then you'll wish you hadn’t blown all those seeds into the wind.
The quickest way to get rid of dandelions is to spray them with a broadleaf herbicide that will kill the entire plant, not just the leaves, without harming the surrounding grass. The key is to kill or remove all of the taproot, or the pesky plant will just keep coming back.
5. Black Medic
Black medic has the teardrop-shaped leaves that are often found on clover, but this has yellow flowers. It’s called black medic because the seeds turn black when they’re ready to drop.
Unlike most plants, black medic loves compacted soil. Go figure. You’ll often see it growing by the roadside or next to sidewalks, where soil has been compacted by wheel and foot traffic.
Your plan of attack? Aeration.
Those tiny cores of soil that aeration removes help break up compacted soil, allowing water, air, and other nutrients to reach the roots so your lawn will breathe easier — and black medic will look for somebody else’s unhealthy lawn to invade.
6. Field Bindweed
This villain is definitely on the “worst lawn weeds in Idaho” list, with its creeping and twining stems that grow along the ground and up through other plants and structures. It has white to pinkish bell-shaped flowers and arrowhead-shaped leaves.
Don’t let its pretty blooms fool you. This is one tough weed. It has a root system so deep, it’s been known to survive bulldozer operations.
Broadleaf herbicides can help, but this is a tough one. It forms an extensive root system, often climbing or forming dense, tangled mats. Even the pros swear about this guy.
7. Common Mallow
This weed is easily recognized by its geranium-like leaves that have five or seven lobes.
Marshmallows were originally made from the sap of the mallow plant's roots, which was grown in marshes. Gelatin has replaced the sap, but the name stuck.
Mallow produces a lot of seeds, so using a pre-emergent herbicide as spring weed control will help prevent those seeds from germinating.
Have weeds already broken through? Broadleaf herbicides applied in mid-spring through early summer, when the plant is young and actively growing, can help.
How Professional Weed Control Programs Battle Weeds
The pros know to take a multifaceted approach to the war on spring weeds and weeds that appear throughout the year.
Weed control is a significant issue.
As we’ve said, pre-emergent weed control is a crucial part of how professionals work to keep the worst weeds in Boise and Idaho Falls from growing.
They target the spring weeds before they have a chance to germinate.
Remember, timing is everything when it comes to spring weed control. It’s important to apply the pre-emergent herbicides early enough to be effective, by around April 1.
But the pros can’t relax yet.
Tackle New Weeds with Post-Emergent Weed Killer
Professional lawn care companies in Boise and Idaho Falls know that pre-emergent herbicide isn’t enough to battle weeds. It’s just a good start.
While pre-emergent is a great tool, weeds are sneaky. Some will still show up. Weeds love to lurk in your lawn as seeds, sometimes for years, just waiting for the right conditions to come along.
Once weeds have broken through the ground, professionals use post-emergent herbicides to control them.
But there’s a trick to this strategy. (Nothing’s easy in lawn care, right?)
Weeds can be either grassy or broadleaf, and each type requires a specific treatment plan. Grassy weeds have narrow, grass-like leaves, while broadleaf weeds have wider, flat leaves.
You need to know what type of weeds you’re dealing with so you can use the specific weed killer that targets them.
Crabgrass is a great example of a grassy weed. What are the broadleaf weeds in Idaho? Common broadleaf weeds here include several from our "bad guys" list, such as dandelion, clover, Canada thistle, and field bindweed.
Sadly, no one weed control product kills all weeds. So if you’re out there with a sprayer of weed killer to tackle everything, good luck with that.
Mallow, you might remember, produces a lot of seeds. So, using a pre-emergent herbicide in the spring will help prevent seeds from this villainous weed from germinating. If some sneak through — and they probably will — broadleaf herbicides applied in mid-spring to early summer, when the plant is young and actively growing, can help. But mallow is a tough one.
White clover is less of a challenge for Idaho lawn care services. It’s usually banished through a quality, comprehensive lawn care program that includes weed control.
Professional Weed Control Programs: How Lawn Buddies Attacks Weeds
When you choose Lawn Buddies, you get one premium, six-visit lawn care program that includes everything your lawn needs to grow healthy and green, including weed control that’s perfectly timed throughout the year.
Most weeds are either prevented or killed during the six-step program.
But some of the worst weeds in Boise and Idaho Falls, like thistle, field bindweed, and black medic, often require a different herbicide, which is an additional visit on top of the normal lawn treatment.
Taking care of weeds can feel like quite a task, right?
How a Healthy Lawn Helps with Spring Weed Control
Maybe your main reason for wanting a thick, lush, green lawn is to make your annoying neighbor jealous.
But guess what? A healthy lawn also keeps weeds at bay. That’s extra incentive to establish healthy turf, including proper fertilizing, watering, and mowing.
Turns out weeds hate a thick, healthy lawn. That dense grass crowds out weeds and blocks the sunlight their seeds need to sprout.
But if your lawn is thin, straggly, and patchy, that’s a big welcome mat for weeds. They’ll take right over those bare spots.
Don’t give them the satisfaction. Keep your grass thick, lush. and healthy with a lawn care service annual maintenance program that encourages healthy, strong roots. Then weed seeds will have a tougher time sprouting.
Why You Should Use a Professional Weed Control Program to Handle Your Weeds
Lawn care pros have access to weed control products you can’t use without a license. It’s the good stuff. And they can even custom mix products or mix them in higher concentrations than the pre-mixed products you can buy at the store, a sort of weed control wizardry.
It’s a great reason to hire a professional lawn care service in Boise and Idaho Falls. Another reason: you don’t have to worry about buying and storing chemicals in your garage. Aren’t you tired of stubbing your toe on that stuff? And you’ll have your precious weekends back.
Think about the environment, too. If you don’t know exactly what you’re doing out there, you can pose serious risks to the environment.
Lawn care pros are meticulously trained in all of this, from specific application rates to safety precautions.
Two Words About Spring Weed Control: Don’t Delay
It’s a lot easier to prevent spring weeds than to deal with them after they’ve sprouted.
Remember that the ideal window for applying pre-emergent weed control is pretty small. Once the soil is warm enough for weed seeds to sprout, you have a much bigger problem on your hands.
Ready for Expert Spring Weed Control? Trust Lawn Buddies
Once you’ve given up on that plastic dome idea, partner with a professional lawn care company in Boise and Idaho Falls that’s an expert in weed control year-round.
Choose a skilled, knowledgeable lawn care service that bundles your yard’s most-needed treatments into one convenient, no-fuss plan that tells you the cost up front.
Fertilizer, weed treatments, and grub control, all wrapped up in six visits, each perfectly timed throughout the season, so your grass is green and strong and resists weeds.
Got a few minutes? That’s all you need to get started. Just fill out the form on this page, call us at (208) 656-9131 or read more about our services. Then, you can kick back and relax in your healthy, thriving yard.
