Monday, April 2, 2012

CRABGRASS APRIL 2

Nick Christians
April 2, 2012

I did another check for germinated crabgrass today, April 2. I'm starting to see more of it peaking through in protected areas on campus. This is weeks earlier than normal.

I am not seeing it in rural areas or more exposed areas on campus yet.

Nick Dunlap got the first applications of our preemergence timing trial out this morning. It includes Baracade and Dimension at label rates. We will apply again on previously untreated plots on April 16 and May 1. I'll let you know what we see. We are not seeing any germinated crabgrass at the research station yet.

I previously recommended that you consider going two weeks early this year, which would be about April 15 in central Iowa. If your areas are protected sites in an urban environment, I would recommend applying as soon as you can. We will do Reiman Gardens this Wednesday, which is earlier than we have ever made applications to that site.

Remember that crabgrass is very susceptible to frost. If we get a late freeze, which I still think is likely, the problem will take care of itself. In the absence of a freeze, however, we could see a lot of crabgrass this summer.

Germinating crabgrass, courtesy of Andrew Hoiberg.

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