The Importance of the First Lawn Treatment: Fertilizer with Crabgrass & Foxtail Pre-Emergent

As spring arrives in South Dakota, it’s time to start combatting weeds on your lawn again. Fortunately, that’s where pre-emergent weed control treatments come in! These treatments are applied across your entire lawn, which absorbs into the soil and creates a barrier that prevents newly germinated weeds from surfacing so they don’t have a chance to cause problems in the first place. As a result, you can reduce the number of weeds that pop up on your turf, making it easier to control them as the new growing season gets underway.

What is Pre-Emergent Weed Control, and How Does It Work?

Pre-emergent weed control is a type of herbicide treatment that helps prevent weeds from growing through the surface of your lawn. It does this by creating a barrier in the soil that blocks newly germinated weeds from reaching the resources they need to continue growing, causing them to die before they ever have a chance to cause problems. While pre-emergent weed control is highly effective, timing is crucial to ensure it works the way it should. It needs to be applied in the spring before a certain point in the weed growth cycle; once weeds pass this point, the treatment is no longer effective at stopping them from surfacing.

Why Timing Matters: The Science Behind Pre-Emergents

The key to pre-emergent effectiveness is applying it before weed seeds germinate. Crabgrass and foxtail typically start sprouting when soil temperatures reach around 55°F for several consecutive days. This means pre-emergents must be applied early in the season, before this temperature threshold is reached.

Midwest weather can be unpredictable, with fluctuating temperatures in late winter and early spring. Applying pre-emergent too early can lead to reduced effectiveness, while waiting too long allows weeds to establish. That’s why proper timing, paired with a strategic approach, is the best way to ensure a weed-free lawn.

Why Our Back-to-Back Treatment Approach is Superior

Many lawn care providers apply a single round of pre-emergent and call it a day. However, we take a more aggressive approach by implementing a back-to-back pre-emergent strategy. Here’s why it makes a difference:

• Heavy Initial Application – Our first application contains a high-strength pre-emergent, creating the strongest possible barrier against crabgrass and foxtail before they can emerge.
• Follow-Up with a Secondary Product – About a month later, we apply a different pre-emergent formula. This extends the effectiveness of the treatment and targets any late-germinating weed seeds, ensuring longer-lasting protection throughout the season.

This dual-layer defense significantly reduces the risk of weed breakthrough, keeping your lawn healthier and reducing the need for extensive post-emergent treatments later in the year.

What Happens If You Miss This Window?

Lawn care is all about prevention rather than reaction. Missing the pre-emergent application window can result in:

• A rapid takeover of crabgrass and foxtail, which spread aggressively and choke out healthy grass.
• Increased lawn maintenance costs—once weeds take hold, eliminating them requires multiple post-emergent treatments and even reseeding.
• A weaker, less resilient lawn that struggles to grow evenly, leading to bare spots and poor overall turf quality.

Once weeds emerge, the only option is post-emergent treatment, which is often less effective, requires repeat applications, and puts unnecessary stress on your lawn.

Combine Pre- and Post-Emergent Weed Control in the Spring to Achieve a Weed-Free Lawn

While pre-emergent weed control is crucial for reducing the number of weeds on your lawn, you’ll want to pair it with post-emergent treatments to ensure it stays weed-free. Post-emergent weed control works by eliminating weeds that have already germinated and grown. The solution is directly applied to a weed, where it then travels down the stalk to the root system and eradicates it. By combining both pre- and post-emergent weed control at the beginning of the spring season, you’ll be able to help prevent weeds from growing and remove any that have already begun to sprout. This effectively gives you the best control over the entire weed population on your lawn so that it can start the new growing season on the right foot.

Call Us Today to Schedule Our Weed Control Service!

Weeds can grow in any season, which is why your lawn needs year-round weed control treatments. To ensure your turf stays weed-free, you can take advantage of our weed control service! We offer three weed control programs that include pre- and post-emergent treatments, along with slow-release fertilizer treatments to keep your lawn healthy and weed-free. We have been providing our services to Sioux Falls, SD for 19 years, and we also cater to nearby locations like Tea and Harrisburg. In addition to those areas, we also serve Sioux City, IA.

You can call us at (605) 251-6880 if you’re in South Dakota to schedule an appointment with our team of experts, or you can call (712) 253-8024 if you’re in Sioux City, IA to sign up for our weed control service. This way, you can relax while we take care of your lawn!