The Ultimate Crabgrass Killer

I have Crabgrass.  There I said it.  It's a confession that I've been meaning to make and just haven't.  I used many excuses in avoiding the topic including "It actually looks better than the St. Augustine" and "I've been meaning to make a bed out of that corner anyway".  Since both of those statements were true the denial of a very real problem was easier to swallow.  The trouble with Crabgrass is that it doesn't stay "in the corner" nor does it look better than the St. Augustine for long (not that I'm a fan of St. Augustine), it grows tall and spits out lots of seeds.  And as you may have read in another Gardeners' post "Crabgrass In My Yard" it's not easy to get rid of.

Even though Crabgrass is supposed to be an annual, mine wasn't doing any sort of dying out.  In fact as my St Augustine lawn started to go into hibernation for the winter months, the Crabgrass used the opportunity to expand it's holdings.  It's insidious stuff, I'm telling you.  That is until... THE LONG WINTER!  OK, so in Florida the long winter was a week where the temperature didn't get above 40 Fahrenheit but for us that was cold.

Take a look at what the frost and week long chill did to my Crabgrass.  You can tell which is the dead Crabgrass and which is the dead grass because of the bright yellow color of the Crabgrass, the dead St Augustine has a 'dimmer' yellow color.  What's even more astounding is just how far the Crabgrass had managed to get inside my lawn.

I know this was only a temporary reprieve and that come spring I'll have to tangle with this stuff again because of all the seeds at least I know that this lot is dead and the next generation will have to start again.