Evening star., 1946-07-07

Wnen lQe CTaDSTdSS GleS GOWN, LneTe7
is an ugly void.
In vegetable gardens and flower
beds, the spraWling crabgrass robs
the plants of moisture and food, cuts
off air circulation which favors the
development and spread of plant
diseases, and renders cultivation diff
ficult. Thus, it is weed of the first
rank-one that must be controlled
If our lawns, our vegetables and
flowers are to be saved
Crabgrass can be controlled There
are many ways of stopping the
growth of crabgrass The choice,
however, depends on the size of the
lawn or garden and the interest of
the gardener in caring for them
Many gardeners have spent untold
hours on their hands and knees on
the lawn. pulling the young crab
grass seedlings as they appear. Week
after week they keep up this monot-
onous job, but a new crop of seed
lings appears after each watering
or shower On the small lawn, this
is not an impracticable method of
control and the job would not be so
difficult if the lawn were thoroughly
fertiliZed in March to give bluegrass
the necessary vigor to smother out
the crabgraSs, which does not with
stand shade. A healthy, vigorous,
growing lawn grass should provide
sufficient shade to smother the crab
grass seedlings.
Set Cutter Bar High.
The lawnmoWer cutter bar should
be raised to cut the grass at a height
of not less than % inches. If set
lower, the crowns of the bluegrass
are exposed to the hot sun and the
laWnmower cuts off many of the
crowns unless the lawn was care
fully rolled in the early spring.
Each crown cut off means a grass
plant killed The important point
is that unless the blades are set high
enough, the bluegrass plants cannot
grow with sufficient vigor to control
the crabgrass.
Besides the lawnmoWer, there is
the method of watering that has an
important bearing on the control of
crabgrass. Frequent shallow water
ings do not benefit the bluegrass,
whose roots extend down into the
soil, but it does stimulate the ger
mination and growth of the shallow
rooted crabgrass. Sprinkling the
lawn for or 10 minutes does not
wet the soil to any appreciable
depth, just the surface This pro-
vides moisture for the crabgrass, but
little or none for the bluegrass.
Where such method of water
ing is practiced for considerable
period of time, the bluegrass roots
tend to stay near the surface and
hence suffer drought injury when
ever watering is omitted for a week
or more ShalloW-rooted bluegrass
cannot function during periods of
high temperatures. The important
point here is that if the lawn is to-
be watered at all, it should be thor
oughly soaked to a depth of 4 to s
inches and at intervals of a week
or more to be of any real benefit to
bluegrass.
Leave Clippings on Lawn.
The third point in lawn care as a
means of controlling crabgrass is
the practice of raking off all clip
pings. 1t is much better to leave
the clippings where they fall as a
protective mulch for the bluegrass
away of this mulching ma
terial deprives the lawn of insu-
lating material and, to a consider
able extent, the plant food which
is derived from the decaying veg
etable matter. Remove the clip
pings only when they are so heavy
as to smother the growing plants
Next to cultural practices the use
of chemical weed-killers is perhaps
the best method of controlling crab
grass. There are a number of them
on the market, sold under various
trade names. The newest of the
chemicals is known as 2-4-D and is
offered under several such trade
names. There are others which do
an effective job, but probably are
not so effective on plantains and
dandelion. Regardless of which is