One of the biggest challenges for anyone in the lawn care industry is weed control. This is an especially daunting task here in Florida where we have so many different types of weeds that seem to grow year round through our seemingly endless summers.

These factors make pre emergent weed control a necessity, not an option. Pre emergent weed control products are only effective in preventing weeds from germinating; they do not kill weeds that have already emerged. Therefore timing is critical when making your initial pre emergent weed control application.

There are many factors that influence the effectiveness of your pre emergent weed control. One of the most important is irrigation. It is imperative to activate any pre emergent weed control application by watering it in as soon as possible. The longer you go without watering it in, the less effective it becomes as it naturally degrades in our harsh environment.

 Another factor that determines the quality of control from your pre emergent herbicide application is the uniformity of the application. For this reason I always recommend that herbicides be applied as a liquid spray. This is where it pays to have a lawn care professional service your yard. As lawn care professionals we maintain top notch, perfectly calibrated equipment. With such equipment liquid sprays can be applied more uniformly than when making granular applications. It is also easier to control where the herbicides go with a liquid spray; this means the herbicides won’t end up in your shrub beds where they can damage sensitive plants. And if they are delivered with the proper volume of water they will not degrade as quickly because they will be concentrated in the thatch layer of the soil, sheltered from sunlight and other environmental factors that may have adverse affects on the herbicides performance.