Reasons For Weeds In New Lawns

Many homeowners are often shocked to discover that within weeks of laying their new roll-on lawns, it is suddenly filled with weeds, leading most people to believe the lawn has come from the turf farm with weed inside the turf.

The truth of the matter is that this is a highly unlikely proposition, weed farms stringently control their turf production which usually covers many acres of land. For weeds to come onto the farm and spread to cover the entire farm is highly unlikely, most weeds that enter the farm will do so naturally via the wind or birds, and will mostly attack the perimeter of the farm before spreading towards the centre.

Turf farmers have many quality control measures in place to be certain that weeds, pests and diseases are never transported from their farms to peoples homes. At the first sign of any problems the farmer will control the weed in question and remove it completely from the farm. After all, it’s in his best interest to do so.

The Source Of Weeds In New Lawns

Now the poor old turf farmer has been let off the hook, it’s time to discover the true source of why our new roll-on lawn is filled with weeds within weeks of being laid.

The true source of weeds in new lawns is that the weed seeds were already in place within the soil prior to the new lawn being laid.

Most often when people put down new lawns, the lawn area had been empty for some time, often left neglected with weeds growing uncontrolled. Over time, these weeds have continued undisturbed to go through their life-cycle which includes growing new weed seeds and depositing them into the soil.

Prior to laying the new turf, the owners may slash the existing weeds and lay a new soil base for the roll-on lawn, or may even poison the existing weeds. In both cases, this will do nothing to control or kill any of the weed seeds already in the soil.

Feeding The Weeds

Once the new roll-on turf goes down, the homeowner will proceed to care for it as instructed, with fertiliser added at the turf farm and with lots of water applied by the owner.

This lawn care for new lawns creates perfect conditions for the new lawn to flourish and establish. Unfortunately these are also perfect conditions for weed seeds to germinate, flourish and establish.

This is why so many new weeds appear when new roll-on lawns are laid.

Controlling Weeds In New Turf

Controlling weeds in new lawns must be delayed until the new lawn is fully established with roots set down and the lawn in excellent health.

Until new lawns reach this stage, the best we can do as new lawn owners is to mow our new lawns regularly to keep weeds under control and to stop them re-seeding further. All weed spraying should be totally avoided.

After full establishment, lawn weed control should be exactly the same as with any other lawn.