This warm weather may have you looking to get a head start on treating your grass before spring arrives. You may notice light green or blue colored grass around town right now. This is just an effect of pre-emergent herbicide spray.
“Right now you want to start getting your pre-emergent put on your turf. Get that on, get it watered in, and that’s going to help keep the weeds off…the spring and summer weeds,” says Don Holligan,manager of Perm-O-Green Lawn Care Service.
Holligan says that after the grass is sprayed, people need to water it within seven days, otherwise it won’t be as effective.
“The longer you wait to water it, the faster the sun will break it down,” Holligan says.
The spray needs about 0.5 inches of water, which Holligan says you can get from turning on the sprinklers for about 30 minutes. The spray and water then seep into the soil and build a barrier preventing weed growth before the seeds even start to develop.
“That’s in April when they start,” says Holligan. “The key is to get your weeds under control now, then when we head into spring, that’s usually when you’ll start your fertilizing. Then,fertilizing through summer helps strengthen your grass and gives it all the nutrients it needs to help it grow.”
If you’re wondering why the spray is a blue color, it’s not for aesthetic purposes. It actually acts as a color marker allowing for full coverage.
“We spray with a gun. We have the chemical mixed in the tank and we have dye mixed with it, so when we’re spraying it, you can see the dye on the ground. It shows you where you’re going so you don’t really miss a huge area,” Holligan says. “The color will begin to fade away as you water. It’s not permanent dye.”
Holligan recommends spraying on a warmer, sunny day where the soil is dry, rather than after a big rain or snow event.
“If it rained say two inches last night, you got water standing on top of the ground. You can see it like in a ditch, but it’s on grass. You wouldn’t spray on that,” Holligan says.
