How to Protect Your Lawn This Season: Weeds and Grubs

The best way to protect your lawn is to get ahead of the problems before they start. Two of the biggest threats to your lawn heading into the warmer months are weeds and lawn grubs, and both are far easier to stop than they are to fix once they take hold.

A little planning now, with the right pre-emergent and grub control, sets your lawn up for a strong, green season. Here is how to protect your lawn from weeds and grubs, and when to do it.

Prevention is the cheapest and easiest lawn care there is. Weeds like summer grass and winter grass drop thousands of seeds, and once they germinate they compete with your turf for light, water and nutrients, thinning it out and taking over bare patches. Grubs do their damage out of sight, chewing through roots until whole sections of your lawn yellow off and lift away.

By the time you can see either problem, the hard work has already begun. A preventative approach lets you protect your lawn with one or two well timed applications, instead of chasing weeds and repairing grub damage all season. It is less spraying, less cost, and a far better way to protect your lawn.

A pre-emergent herbicide is the foundation of keeping your lawn weed free. It works by creating a barrier in the topsoil that stops weed seeds from establishing as they try to germinate, so the weeds never get going in the first place. Products like Barricade and Spartan give long residual control, holding that protection in the soil for months.

The main benefits of a pre-emergent are simple:

• Less work later: fewer weeds means far less hand weeding and spot spraying.

• A thicker lawn: your grass keeps the space, light and nutrients that weeds would steal.

• Long lasting value: one application protects for months and shrinks the weed seed bank over time.

The one thing to remember is timing. A pre-emergent has to go down before the seeds germinate, and it will not touch weeds that are already up and growing. It is a preventative, not a knockdown, so it works best as part of a plan to protect your lawn rather than a rescue.

The second half of protecting your lawn is guarding against grubs and pests. A preventative insecticide like Acelepryn is applied before the beetles get active, so their larvae are controlled as they hatch instead of after they have already damaged your lawn. It gives long, season long protection from a single application.

Acelepryn is a great choice because it is low toxicity and easy on beneficial insects like bees, while still giving reliable control of the pests that do the most damage to your lawn:

• African black beetle: the larvae chew through roots and cause yellowing, spongy patches.

• Armyworm and cutworm: caterpillars that eat the leaf and can strip a lawn quickly.

• Argentine stem weevil: another root and stem feeder that thins the turf.

Getting in early also heads off the secondary damage that grubs cause, like birds and other animals digging up your lawn to feed on them, which is often worse than the grubs themselves. Getting ahead of them is the other half of how you protect your lawn.

Timing is everything with prevention. In most parts of Australia, late winter into early spring is the window to protect your lawn, as the soil warms up and both weed seeds and beetles start to get active. Getting your applications down before that happens is what makes prevention work.

As a general guide, aim to apply your pre-emergent and your grub control from late August into early September, before the real warmth arrives. Watering the products in after application activates them and moves them into the soil where they need to be. Always follow the label rate and directions for your specific product.

Protecting your lawn does not need to be complicated. A simple, well timed routine covers the two biggest threats and leaves you free to enjoy your lawn through the growing season:

1. 1. Apply a pre-emergent like Barricade or Spartan in late winter to stop weed seeds germinating.

2. 2. Apply Acelepryn for grub and pest control before the beetles become active.

3. 3. Water both products in well to activate them and settle them into the soil.

4. 4. Keep up regular mowing, feeding and watering so your lawn stays thick enough to resist problems on its own.

Do these few things at the right time and you spend the rest of the season enjoying your lawn rather than fixing it.

The easiest lawn to look after is one where the problems never start. A pre-emergent to stop weeds and a preventative like Acelepryn to stop grubs are the two jobs that protect your lawn through the toughest part of the year. Get them down at the right time, water them in, and back them up with good mowing, feeding and watering, and your lawn will sail through the season looking its best.

Want a plan that maps out every job at the right time? Download our Free Lawn Calendar. It lays out each seasonal task, with the right products for each one.