Wild onions and wild garlic may be present in your lawn during the fall and winter months. They are perennials which grow from underground bulbs and are not controlled by pre-emergent weed controls. Selective post-emergent weed controls will have limited effect and will take persistence and time. Non-selective weed controls (Round-up) usually work well but have to be used very carefully and may cause damage to desirable turf or plants. The wild onions (garlic) have long slender leaves which have a waxy coating. This makes weed control absorption into the plant limited and difficult. Weed control results are naturally slowed during the fall and winter due to colder temperatures so results may take several weeks (6-8). In some cases they may have to be manually pulled or dug up.

Fescue clumps may also be the green culprit in your dormant (brown) warm season turf. Fescue is a cool season turf grass however if it is in your warm season sod then it becomes a weed. Fescue clump control will take persistence and time like the onions. Selective weed controls work well but results are usually very slow (6-10 weeks) depending on the temperatures. Round-up type weed controls work very well and much quicker but must be used carefully. The areas where the fescue clump dies out should fill in with the warm season turf the following growing season.

Our treatment program includes 3 free service calls annually to address these types of concerns. Just call our office at 770-632-7288 or send us an email with your concern to aabylawncare@bellsouth.net.