Write an article based on this "Pick the crabgrass when they're still young. Resist picking mature crabgrass. Spray postemergence herbicide on larger patches of crabgrass that have not yet gone to seed."
Crabgrass spreads quickly. If you let it grow for a whole season, or if you miss a particular area, you could find yourself with an infestation. Whenever you see a bit of crabgrass, simply pluck it out by hand. Picking crabgrass at a young age is effective at reigning the total population in. Young crabgrass has only two to four stalks and is showing no splayed head. If plucking, water the area with the crabgrass thoroughly beforehand. This loosens up the soil and increases your chances of pulling out all the root systems when plucking. Alternatively, you can also use a pair of pliers to grab and gently pull up the crabgrass. Mature crabgrass has splayed seed heads with dozens, if not hundreds of seeds. Picking this crabgrass creates a divot in your lawn into which as many as 5,000 seeds coming from a single plant can fall. Instead of picking mature crabgrass, spray it or let it die naturally in the fall. Then cover the area with pre-emergent herbicide in the spring to keep the seeds from sprouting. Postemergence herbicide takes about 2 weeks to fully work, which is roughly the same amount of time it can take for a seeding crabgrass plant to drop its seeds, nullifying the effect of the herbicide. Apply postemergence herbicide on a warm day with little or no wind. For best results, use the herbicide when the soil is damp but the crabgrass itself is dry. Water the area thoroughly in the late morning and wait until the afternoon to spray. Apply moderately in two spread-out application to avoid hurting your turf. Get prepared to spray at least two rounds of herbicide per instruction, of course unless the crabgrass is very young.