Dollarweed: Growing Despite the Economy

Dollarweed

The cooler months ahead are the prime growing cycle for Dollarweed. The common trend in the cycles are flush fall growth – sustain to decline growth in cold winter months – flush Spring growth followed by a decline during warm summer months. Knowing this biology helps to control this persistent and very noticeable weed.

I am very aggressive with dollarweed control starting in October. This is when most of the hardy persistent patches will "suddenly" appear. They really don't suddenly appear, but as the growth of the St Augustine slows down the dollarweed accelerates in the fall and the end result is a "sudden" appearance of dollarweed.

A couple factors prevent year round control. The herbicides are toxic to St Augustine in the hot summer months and dollarweed will be less accessible during the summer months hiding just beneath the grass canopy out of reach of conventional application methods. Therefore with the start of cooler months and emergent leaves, the process of control begins in earnest in October. There are some measures applied during summer months in severe cases and also in general to reduce the population, but it isn't until cooler fall months the control is aggressive. And the control measures are continued until early summer.Spot Spraying Dollarweed

The hope is to have the lawn as clean as possible by summer so that the dollarweed will not reappear in the fall. In some cases, the dollarweed is eliminated, but in most cases, the dollarweed will reappear in the fall – usually less and much easier to control. The obstacle to elimination is the great reproductive and spreading capabilities of dollarweed. Even a small amount in an adjacent area like a flower bed or a neighbor's yard can quickly repopulate a lawn.

One discouraging note is that there is no technology, no spray, no chemical I can "spray today" and the weeds are gone. It just does not exist. The current technology is based on the biology of the plant to reduce the plants ability to compete and propagate making it less competitive in your lawn. But such a method takes effort, time and repetitive applications. Sometimes I win the battle and sometimes I loose – but I eventually win the war.

I have two tools I use against dollarweed: persistence and consistency. If I continue the battle, season after season, year after year – I never give up and I never take a break then I can reduce the dollarweed in your lawn. When I show up at your home, I am prepared to do battle against this weed that works 24/7 to regain the areas I have reclaimed.

I can keep the dollarweed as minimal as possible but I cannot eliminate dollarweed from the planet.Weeds Populate Area Damaged by Spill

A few things you can do to help in the control of dollarweed:

Mow as high as the mower will go: Higher mowing heights choke out weeds
Dollarweed loves salt water: Check your irrigation for salt levels and correct this problem
Be Patience: There is ebb and flow to the growth of dollarweed and a season to control
Keep Your grass Safe: Pool overflows and dumped mop buckets weaken turf and encourage dollarweed