What is the best way to get rid of crab grass from your yard ?

Pre-emergent treatment is the best way to aid in halting crab grass. Not knowing your location ,generally here we cannot put any chemicals down until april. It is the first step of fertilization program

Use a weed and feed in the spring. You can seed the bare areas. Crab grass spring up from the roots of another plant, that is how they spread. Unless the mother weeds are stopped, they will continue to put out new root born grass. The spring weed and feed may help in not letting it come up in the first place. For now keep digging it up and trying to reseed. Go to a home improvement store and talk to a person that works in the department that carries the weed and feed products and they should be able to help you get what you will need and maybe use the ones that are used at particular times of the year so you can get a head start on next year.

Hi Gary. You need to use a crab grass preventer in spring. Crab grass is not a perennial but reseeds it self. The preventer has a pre emergent so the seeds can't germinate.

What would be a "preventer" I could use now in Sept. and again next spring ? Fertilizer I am using just seems to encourage the crab grass. Thanks.

My best thought would to be to go to your local greenhouse or home improvement store and ask the people that are in the know what to use.

Yes unfortunately it is hard to kill if not caught before it begins. Do you over reseed in the fall and spring. Grass ,the thicker it grows and the deeper the roots grow the less opportunity for weeds to grow because it blocks out sun and don't cut grass less than 3". That seems to be the standard height. Unless it's covered with weeds you can cut and remulch the grass with clippings as you mow which adds nutrients to the ground as grass grows. If you have the weeds all over then collect cuttings and dispose of it since you don't want to remulch with weeds. Happy fall and over reseed the grass and water those seeds in very well.

Don't forget to rake and pick up your leaves before you mulch your grass clippings, leaves are not food for your grass and we'll lay what looks like a layer of saw dust and kill your grass. It happened to me.