Digitaria ischaemum looks like a rough, light-green bundle of grass. It’s easily mistaken for fescue grass, but color & size are good discrepancies. Therefore, we ask a second time: What does crabgrass look like? It has spreading stems that simulate the legs of a crab.
This weed is an annual, opportunistic, grassy, and dwarf growing in your lawn’s thin and bare spots. It is a mat-forming with creeping stolons.
A blanket crabgrass plant produces thousands of seeds (before it dies in the fall) that can germinate the following spring.
We will talk about two main types of Digitaria. Both are very similar; They are annual summer grasses.
Hairy or Long Crabgrass has leaf blades that reach about the same length and grow longer than smooth. As its name says, you will find many tiny hairs all over the plant.
Smooth Crabgrass, differing from the hairy, does not have hair around the sheath or the leaves. The strands are located on the interior side at the base of the leaves.
You can find the same look in your land if you are looking for weed.
Fortunately, this article will provide information on identifying and treating smooth and long crabgrass.
The smooth type grows shorter. Whereas long or hairy has spreading stems that can reach 2 feet long, you’ll find many tiny hairs all over the plant.
Mainly, it isn’t too hard to pick out from the bunch.
Here are some quick ways to identify them from your lawn:
The easiest way to identify Digitaria is to remember the base of its name: the crab. This weed likes to sprawl out and extends its grass shoots from a center stem, resembling the long legs of a crustacean.
It grows glued to the ground like a crab that clutches at the ocean floor. Some people also comment that they resemble the shape of a star, but they didn’t name it star grass, right?
Crabgrass typically boasts wider blades than any other common grass type.
It can have a fragile edge when it initially sprouts, resembling a small corn plant. But then it gets the nutrients to mature and strengthen.
There are two types of crabgrass: smooth and large or hairy. The funniest thing is the “smooth” isn’t that smooth, and it’s just not wooly like the large variety.
Both types will feel rough against the soft skin of your fingertips and can feel prickly when you poke the blade tips.
The weed blades have a bend line down the center of the leaf. Look for a distinct indentation.
This lawn weed grows in large clusters or clumps, commonly on the edge of your lawn, in thin areas, or in bare patches where it can spread. Thick, healthy grass is its worst enemy.
Remove the isolated clumps of Digitaria in early summer easily with your hand or garden tool, and pull the plant and its roots out of the ground.
Then, it would be best to dispose of them to avoid seeds lingering in your homemade fertilizer and return when nourishing your landscape later.
The key to keeping crabgrass away is building a robust and lush turf with deep roots, avoiding the free space for weeds.
It is the simplest way to kill crabgrass and other weeds, especially in their developmental phase. You will help your yard to be healthy and allow new grass to grow.
This powerful organic, and versatile substance provides a surprising effect for gardeners and landscapers. We already know Vinegar works effectively against them, decreasing their population to a minimum.
Boiling Water is an alternate solution, but unfortunately, this method kills crabgrass and the surrounding vegetation, too.
Sometimes it would be necessary to apply chemicals to control weed growth.
You can find these chemicals in two forms, pre-emergent and post-emergent herbicides. Pre-emergent stops weeds from blossoming, and post-emergent eliminates established.
Corn-gluten acts as a pre-emergent solution, stopping it from germinating. Its high nitrogen nutrients will promote your healthy lawn growth. Use a spreader so you don’t miss small areas.
The best time to apply crabgrass killer is early spring when soil temperature rises to about 55 °F.
Proper timing is essential for effectively controlling this weed; products applied too early or too late in the season are wasted.
So, what month do you put down the crabgrass preventer? April, typically within the first 15 days of that month.
And what are the best preventers? Learn about 9 of them:
Remember that even if you successfully kill crabgrass, you can’t prevent seeds from a neighboring property from blowing over and landing in your yard.
Those seeds will sprout next spring in your lawn unless you prevent them from germinating with a pre-emergent herbicide.
So, while post-emergent herbicide will kill this weed permanently that season, it does not prevent crabgrass seeds from returning to your yard and damaging your lawn. You need to be alert all the time!
