If you were to track every hour spent in your garden, you would probably find that you do an inordinate amount of weeding. And while the first few weeks of tearing up these intruders can prove mildly satisfying, we don’t blame you for being pretty sick of it after a few weeks. That’s where weed control in Kansas City comes in.
But what is weed control exactly? The team at Lifestyle Outdoor is sure glad you asked. Or even if you didn’t, we’re going to talk about it either way.
What is Weed Control in Kansas City?
Weed control in Kansas City involves the management and prevention of unwanted plants in lawns, gardens, and other outdoor spaces. Common weeds found in Kansas City include dandelions, crabgrass, and clover. Weed control methods can vary depending on the type and extent of weed infestation.
Some common approaches to weed control include:
- Manual removal: This involves pulling weeds by hand or using hand tools like a hoe or weed digger.
- Chemical control: This involves the use of herbicides to kill or control weeds. Herbicides can be selective or non-selective, meaning they either target specific types of weeds or kill all plants in the area.
- Cultural control: This involves maintaining a healthy lawn or garden to prevent weed growth. This can include proper watering, mowing, and fertilization.
It is important to note: some weed control methods may have negative environmental impacts or may be harmful to other plants and animals. This is only true when used unsafely or above necessary quantities. If you’re going to use potentially harmful weed control methods, our advice is simple—read the label, read the label, read the label.
We do recommend homeowners interested in DIY care consult with a professional or research risk-free methods before attempting weed control on your own.
What is the Value of Weed Control?
The value of weed control in Kansas City is significant for homeowners, businesses, and communities/HOAs as a whole.
For Homeowners
Weed control in Kansas City can increase the value of their property by improving the appearance of their lawn and garden. A well-maintained yard can also provide a safe and enjoyable outdoor space for families and pets to spend time in.
Core benefits include:
- Aesthetics. Weeds can be unsightly and detract from the beauty of lawns and gardens.
- Property value. A well-maintained lawn and garden can increase the value of a property. Conversely, a property with a weed problem can decrease its value.
- Lawn health. Weeds can compete with desirable plants for resources like water, nutrients, and sunlight, which can weaken or kill the desirable plants.
For Businesses
Weed control is essential for maintaining an attractive appearance that can help attract and retain customers. A clean and well-maintained outdoor space can also improve the safety of the property and make your business look more professional.
For HOAs
Weed control can help maintain the overall health and beauty of public spaces like parks, playgrounds, and sports fields. It can also help prevent the spread of invasive plant species, which can harm local ecosystems and wildlife.
In addition to these benefits, effective weed control can also reduce the need for costly and time-consuming lawn and garden maintenance across the community. This can save HOAs money and reduce the environmental impact of landscaping practices.
Weeding 101
We’ve explained why weed control in Kansas City is so important, but let’s take a step back. After all, not everyone is a DIY lawn care dynamo. Plenty of us have never so much as revved a mower, let alone tried to use weed control strategies.
So, what is a weed? Simply put, a weed is any plant that’s growing where it is not wanted. Lawn weeds in Kansas City belong to one of three categories: broadleaf, grassy, or sedges.
Broadleaf Weeds
The one thing broadleaf weeds have in common are their wide leaves with a main vein in the center leading to smaller veins that branch out from it. Other than this, broadleaf weeds do not come in one specific style and can be either annual or perennial. They can grow single flowers or clusters of blossoms. Their fibrous roots can be a single large taproot, a system of thin roots, or both. Some grow upright and some are close to the ground while some stems are round and some are square.
Grassy Weeds
Grassy weeds have their name because they closely resemble desirable grasses. This often makes them more difficult to identify than broadleaf weeds. Grassy weed blades emerge as a single leaf from a germinated grass seed. They grow to be long with parallel veins and have round, hollow stems and hard, closed joints (nodes) with alternating leaf blades on each side.
Sedges
Sedges can be identified by their triangular stems. Like grasses, sedges produce a seed head at the top of this stem. Some types of sedge only reproduce by seed, while others have a creeping underground stem called a rhizome. The hardest ones to control also have underground tubers called nutlets, which are attached to the rhizome and the sedge type can sometimes be identified by taste if one is adventurous.
When Should I Weed?
We recommend three distinct weeding treatments—applications—throughout the year to create foundational protection for your lawn.
First Application: Pre-Emergent
By applying pre-emergent herbicides early in the year, you can effectively control annual weeds such as crabgrass, foxtail, and other weed varieties before they start growing. This is important because once these weeds have established themselves in your lawn, they can be difficult to control and can quickly take over, competing with your grass for nutrients, water, and sunlight.
Additionally, applying pre-emergent herbicides early in the year can help reduce the amount of weeds that appear later in the growing season, which can make it easier to maintain a healthy and attractive lawn throughout the year. Overall, applying pre-emergent herbicides at the right time can help promote a healthy and beautiful lawn while minimizing the need for additional weed control measures later on.
Second Application: Post-Emergent
By applying post-emergent herbicides in late spring, you can target and control the weeds that have already emerged in your lawn, helping to prevent them from spreading and competing with your grass for resources. This can help to promote a healthier and more attractive lawn by allowing your grass to grow and thrive without the interference of weeds.
It’s important to note that post-emergent herbicides should be used carefully, as they can also harm desirable plants if not applied correctly. It’s important to carefully follow the instructions on the product label and apply the herbicide only to the areas where weeds are present, while avoiding any desirable plants or grass. Additionally, it’s important to use caution when applying post-emergent herbicides on windy days, as the herbicide can drift and damage nearby plants.
Third Application: Sedge Treatment
Summer is a key time to treat sedges because this is when they are actively growing and are most susceptible to herbicides. Applying herbicides to sedges during the summer can help control their growth and prevent them from spreading further in your lawn.
When treating for sedges in summer, it’s important to use the appropriate herbicides and follow all label instructions carefully. Some herbicides may be more effective than others, depending on the specific type of sedge and the severity of the infestation. In some cases, multiple treatments may be necessary to fully control the sedge population in your lawn.
How to Prevent Weeds From Growing
The best way to prevent weeds from spreading throughout your garden is to stop them before they take root. Knowing how to prevent weeds means understanding the task is not a one-time job, but rather a continual lawncare chore.
But even those who pull weeds begrudgingly do so knowing that preventing weeds as they appear, or quickly after they’ve sprouted, takes a lot less time than removing an established weed infestation.
Tips for Tackling Weeds
Here are a few other tips for preventing weeds:
Feed Regularly
Proper lawn care is the best medicine. When your lawn is stressed out, it has a higher chance of being taken over by weeds. Feeding your lawn regularly every 6 to 8 weeks during the growing season with lawn fertilizer helps your lawn stay thick and lush, making it less welcoming to weeds by leaving little space for them to grow. You can also give your lawn a boost by aerating or dethatching as needed.
Mow Higher
Weed seeds, like all plants, require sunlight to sprout. The next time you mow, raise your mower height. Mowing at a taller height, usually one of the two highest settings on your mower, helps the grass grow tall and thick to shade the soil, so weed seeds are less able to sprout and grow.
For more details, check out our lawn mowing tips for homeowners in Kansas City!
Water Deeply
Watering deeply and infrequently helps your lawn grow deeper roots so it can better compete with weeds. Frequent, shallow waterings encourage shallow root growth. This makes the grass more likely to suffer during periods of heat and drought, causing thin and bare spots that weeds will take advantage of. When your lawn develops deep roots, it can grow thicker to help crowd out weeds.
In Summary…
The best weed control in Kansas City, or anywhere else for that matter, is dense turf. No matter what you use, seeding, aeration, and a healthy lawn will always be the single best way to ensure you keep weeds under control and your landscaping is beautiful and pest-free year-round. That’s where Lifestyle Outdoor can help!
Lifestyle Outdoor Offers Weed Control in Kansas City
As Johnson County’s premier HOA landscaping service, we are prepared to meet any community or household’s lawn care and maintenance needs. Though we specialize in HOAs, our expertise is property agnostic—we’ve serviced everyone from individual homeowners and HOAs to businesses and commercial complexes. In short, if you need a weeding service in Kansas City, we’re the team to do it.
Beyond just weeding, though, If you need support with landscape maintenance, we’re the team for the job. And that’s why we have so much experience educating homeowners on ways to enhance their lawn care strategies.
We perform the following services for properties across Johnson County:
- Lawn maintenance
- Pruning
- Aeration and seeding
- Mulching
- Seasonal cleanup
- Turf maintenance
- Arborcare
- & More!
Early Spring Landscape Maintenance Near you
A sizable part of that “and more” is support for seasonal landscape maintenance. In Kansas City, we experience lots of season extremes. This makes taking the smaller steps to get all your care done quickly and correctly critical to your property’s health and appearance.
We work with clients during & before springtime to find possible areas for care and attention. These services include:
- Irrigation Maintenance
- Leaf Removal
- Pest Pre-Treatments
- Fertilizer application
- Repotting Plants for warmer weather
We ensure your HOA receives comprehensive service, with no details forgotten and no boxes left unchecked.
If you want to learn more about annual care for your KC property, check out resources like Johnson County’s Lawn Care Seasonal Guide. We also have our guide to early spring lawn care in Kansas City. We also provide support to DIY-minded homeowners!
Lifestyle Outdoor Can Help
If you’re in the market for weed control in Kansas City, there is no better team. Lifestyle Outdoor offers complete landscaping maintenance services for your property’s needs year-round. We have decades of experience serving HOAs and private properties and a track record of complete client satisfaction.
Lifestyle Outdoor provides all Johnson County HOAs with unbeatable service through our HOA-focused landscaping and lawn care solutions. Our years of experience, commitment to building relationships, and dependable quality are why we’re the number one partner in all things HOA property maintenance.
Reach out to learn more about the weed control services we provide or get a quote with our online quote tool. Discover the difference that THE white-glove service with a green thumb can make for your property today!