8 Lawn Weed Killers You Need to Know

Choosing a Lawn Weed Killer

When deciding which is the best weed killer for your lawn, it’s imperative you understand how weed killers work.

“This can get pretty involved and complicated,” says Senior Turf Specialist Joe Churchill at Reinders Inc. In the simplest terms, Churchill says, “The active ingredient in many of them literally accelerate growth, and the weeds grow themselves to death.”

There’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution to lawn weeds. So it’s essential you choose a “selective” herbicide specific to the type of lawn you have, as well for the kind of weeds you want to kill. Local nurseries will only sell products intended for use in your region.

When buying online from big box stores, be sure to check that the products are suited to your climate, grass and weeds. Keep in mind that “non-selective” herbicides will kill everything in their wake, including your grass.

Breaking it down even further, the type of weed killer you use depends on whether you are treating:

• Preventively (pre-emergence) or;
• After germination occurs (post-emergence).

Applying a lawn weed killer should be timed based on how the active ingredient is designed to work and under which conditions.

“A pre-emergent herbicide intended for use to control crabgrass will be applied at a different time than a post-emergent herbicide intended to be used to kill clover or dandelions,” Churchill says. “What’s more, even the timing of a crabgrass pre-emergent herbicide will vary by weeks depending on regional climate.”

The following are some of the best weed killers for lawns.