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Index : Plant Care
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- 18. Controlling Summer Weeds - Top
- How do you get rid of summer weeds? Don't give them a chance to grow. Thousands of dormant weed seeds scattered about your landscape, lie in wait for summer rains. Once the rains start the seeds sprout and grow. Applications of weed preventers now, will kill the weed seeds as they germinate. This prevents your landscape from becoming one big weed patch.
Pre-emergent weed killers are chemicals that work to control weeds before they emerge (begin growing). They lay down a chemical barrier over the soil which either prevents weed seeds from germinating, or kills them shortly after they do. Lots of people don't use pre-emergent weed killers because they can't actually see the benefit of their efforts. Weeds are not there at the time of treatment, and they never show up later. It's much more rewarding to squirt a weed and watch it die a slow and agonizing death. The truth is, it's much more effective to never see them grow in the first place. That's the benefit of pre-emergent weed killers.
When shopping for pre-emergent weed killers look for names like Weed Stopper, Weed and Grass Preventer, and Weed Preventer. These are brand names. The actual chemical name is listed on the front label under active ingredients. Although brand names will narrow your search, always purchase on the basis of the products chemical or (trade name). Oryzalin (Surflan) is the chemical and trade name for a weed killer sold under different brand names such as Weed Stopper and Amaze.
Oryzalin (Surflan) is one of the better pre-emergent weed killers for use in desert landscapes. It comes in a liquid that is diluted in water and sprayed over bare soil or decomposed granite mulch. Oryzalin (Surflan) does not need to be mechanically mixed with the soil, as do many other pre-emergents. After it is applied, it must be watered into the soil by applying between one half and one inch of water. To do this use a lawn type sprinkler attached to a garden hose. Put cans under the sprinkler to measure the amount of water you are applying. When the cans have filled with one half to one inch of water, your done with that section. Once down, oryzalin will provide control of many types of weeds from 2 to 8 months, depending on the application rate.
Other effective pre-emergents that can be irrigated in after application include; trifluralin (treflan), pendemethalin (pendulum), and prodiamine (Barricade). All these chemicals are related to oryzalin (Surflan), and have similar weed controlling properties.
Always follow label directions when applying weed killers. To be effective, pre-emergent weed killers must be applied at the recommended rates. They also should be applied as evenly and uniformly as possible. Missed spots or areas were too little is applied will result in poor weed control. Over applied areas can result in damage to surrounding landscape plants. A factor limiting uniformity of application is the garden sprayer. Nozzles are not designed for application to flat surfaces, but rather to leaves of plants. You may wish to have a commercial pest control service or landscape maintenance make the application for you. They have specialized spray equipment and the materials necessary to do a top notch job.
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Written by John Begeman, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the University of Arizona, 520-626-5161.
Material originally appeared in Arizona Daily Star gardening column, on June 9, 1996
- Updated: June 9, 1996
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