St Augustine Grass Weed Control

St. Augustine grass is a common type of grass throughout the Gulf Coast area of the United States, as well as in Southern and Central California. You see it all over states like Texas, Florida and other Gulf Coast states.

With any type of grass, including St. Augustine, there are really three ways of fighting weeds.

• You can control weeds by growing healthier and thicker grass that overpowers the ability for weeds to grow. This is the best method.
• You can control weeds by removing them physically, with tools, or even pulling them by hand.
• Finally, you can control weeds in the grass by using a chemical or organic weed killer.

Some weed killers allow you to spray the entire lawn, killing only the weeds and leaving the grass intact. And other weed killers are indiscriminate, killing whatever you spray it on. With an nonselective weed killer, you would need to apply it carefully, only making contact with the weed itself. An example might be something like Roundup weed killer, which also kills grass. An organic example might be any vinegar based weed killer.

In my own St. Augustine lawn, I use a combination of all three methods.

In the summer, my St. Augustine lawn is typically healthy and thick enough that it crowds out any competing weeds before they can establish themselves.

In the early spring, my St. Augustine grass is often dormant, which allows early spring weeds to grow unimpeded. During that time of the year, I will often go through the lawn and pull the spring weeds by hand, or use a small cape cod weeder. I’ll also sometimes hit them with some vinegar. I only use organic weed killer for the most part, so I’m not familiar with the chemical weed killer options.

What methods do you use for controlling weeds in your St. Augustine grass lawn? Leave a comment and let us know.