The Must-Try Removal Tip That'll Prevent Weeds From Taking Over Your Lawn

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No one likes a lawn full of weeds. However, most folks don't want to spend hours on end pulling out the offending vegetation by its roots, or saturating their yards with harsh chemical herbicides, either. Luckily, you don't need to do either to control weeds. It also isn't necessary to create a no-mow lawn. There is a must-try removal tip that will prevent weeds from taking over your lawn without chemicals or hours of weed-pulling work. Instead, just take a page from the book of King Henry VIII and decapitate them.

Why decapitate weeds? Simple. That removes their ability to propagate. When weeds head out, their seeds are broadcast across your yard. This simple method is really not much different than deadheading flowering garden plants. The key is to remove the head after it has matured, but before it begins dropping its seeds. When it comes to cutting them, a small pair of garden scissors or shears, such as Fiskars Floral Pruning Shears, will handle most weeds. Larger, tougher stalks may require pruning shears. A weed eater can be used, but be sure to not hit the head and send seeds spraying.

Keep in mind, simply deadheading weeds does not kill the plant. The purpose of this method is to simply keep the seeds from being dispersed, resulting in a wider spread of weeds in your lawn. Hand-pulling is still the best method to ensure the plant does not return, but beheading weeds is a good alternative method when you can't remove the weed for whatever reason or simply have too many to spend time hand-pulling. This is also a good approach to quickly and immediately stop the spread, before returning to hand-pull or utilizing proper mowing techniques to control weeds. 

There is a practical limit to how many individual weeds you can behead. If your lawn has already been overrun by weeds and you don't wish to use herbicides, mowing may be your best option. However, timing is key here. While mowing is basically mass decapitation of weeds if done at the right time, your mower basically becomes a seed spreader if done too late. So, mowing over weeds is best done before they head out to prevent seeds from falling to the ground across your lawn, as they are capable of remaining in the soil for many years.

Regardless of whether you are individually lopping off weed heads or mowing down an entire weed-filled patch, following up with proper mowing techniques is the key to keeping an outbreak under control. While many mowers react to a weed outbreak by assuming they need to scalp their yard, that can actually give weeds a green light to take over your lawn. Instead, strict adherence to the one-third rule is the best way to keep your lawn healthy and weed-free. This means never cut more than a third of the grass' total height and maintain it at the proper height for the type of grass you have in your lawn.

The idea behind allowing grass to stay at its optimal height is it will shade the soil, depriving weed seeds of much needed sunlight for germination. Thick lawns with solid root structures can also crowd out weeds attempting to emerge. In some instances, however, weeds will quickly shoot up high above the grass in your lawn. Should this happen, keep your mower set at the same height and mow over the yard, which will clip the weeds without shortening the growing grass.