"How do I get crabgrass out of my lawn?"

For the past thirty years, one of the most frequent questions we've received at Tuff Turf is, "How can I remove crabgrass from my lawn?" Until around five years ago, our response was, "Crabgrass isn't present in our area; what you're seeing is something else." However, crabgrass is definitely here now, and it's becoming increasingly prevalent each year without any indication of slowing down.

Crabgrass is characterized by wide flat leaves and narrow, long stems. It is typically different in color from the rest of the turf in your lawn.

In my more than 30 years in the Green Industry, the only dependable method to eliminate unwanted invasive grasses, including crabgrass, has been to spray the areas with a glyphosate product like Round-up, followed by re-seeding or re-sodding the affected spots. The challenge is to completely remove all the undesirable grasses, as any missed will be the first to reappear. The only truly effective way to remove "bad" grasses is to kill the entire lawn, then dethatch before renovation. This approach is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly.

Previously, we've encountered numerous products that promise to manage certain invasive grasses without harming the "good" grass. However, our experience has shown that they simply do not work. This past year, though, we discovered a product that actually works, at least on crabgrass! Drive XLR8, used in a two-application program, eliminates crabgrass without damaging the desirable grass. When combined with a lawn pre-emergent program, we can eliminate crabgrass and prevent its return!

Current clients can obtain pricing for this new program by phone, text, or email. We will need to inspect the lawn to confirm it's crabgrass, but if it is, it's great to finally have a tool to tackle the task!