It looks like crab grass (photo 1) and nutsedge (photo 2) to me.

Thank you very much. I think you're right on both counts. I've always heard about crab grass being the bane of lawn owners everywhere, but never actually experienced it before. I know about the only way to do anything about it is to get it before it takes off in the spring as well. I definitely planned to use a good pre-emergent next year.

Looking at photos of nutsedge, they look pretty similar to what I have as well.

I guess I have my work cut out for me for the rest of summer to try and knock this stuff back and keep it from taking over before I can overseed heavily this fall.

Thanks.

One other quick question. For the crab grass, I've read that, short of killing everything off, it's pretty difficult to control with herbicides, except for pre-emergent in the spring. These seem to be fairly easy to pull up, root and all. Would it be better to try to pull these up?

Mechanical weed control is the most effective and selective, if you have the time. Pull 'em as you see 'em come up.

Well, I know any seeds or rhizomes that are already in the soil are there, and there's little I can do about them except for pre-emergent for years to come, if not every single spring. Still, I figure, manual pulling will take care of the immediate unsightliness, and I may manage to get a few before the go to seed. The nutsedge, if that's what it is, also seems to pull up relatively easy. We have just slightly less than a half acre lot. When you factor in house, driveway, pool, patio and sidewalks, probably a quarter acre or less of lawn, and I'm off this week with no major plans, so I might as well do something productive. I'll say I can spend a half hour in the pool for every hour I spend pulling crab grass and nutsedge. Whatever I don't get to this week, I'll pick out a small section every day and pull until I'm done. Then, next spring, it's hello Mr. pre-emergent.

Speaking of pre-emergents, what do you guys recommend? I've always been a Scott's Turf Builder man myself. I just didn't use the pre-emergent this year, since it interferes with emerging grass and my lawn was so new. I should probably mention that we're in Southern Indiana.

Thanks again for the advice and encouragement.

There are post emergents for crabgrass too like Weed B Gon with Crabgrass Killer. It doesn't appear to be overwhelming your yard so just pulling them up as you see them may work well. What kind of grass do you have? Kentucky bluegrass generally is not overseeded as it spreads and fills in bare areas. Tall fescue and ryegrass may need to be overseeded. But be careful not to put too much seed down. If you spread seeds too thickly the seedlings will not establish well. They need some space. From the pictures I saw it does not appear to need overseeding. I used Dimension as a pre-emergent in the spring and am happy with it. Prodiamine is another. Halts doesn't last as long as those two. If you had poa annua (look it up) you may want to use pre-emergents this fall (around Labor Day) to prevent next year's crop. If you do want to use pre-emergents this fall and overseed too, use Tenacity or mesotrione (the chemical in Tenacity) when you seed and a month later and then a normal pre-emergent later in the fall.

Thanks for the advice. As far as what makes up my lawn, just grass...

I really don't know. I'm assuming it is a tall fescue, Kentucky-31, Kentucky Bluegrass blend, which is typical for my area. When I sow, I use a wonderful blend called Green Alliance from Tenbarge Seed, a local seed company. I have no idea for certain what makes up my lawn though. I guess I really need to contact the sod company and find out what exactly it is they put down.

In your case, I agree with the mechanical removal. If you don't have a Weed Hound or something similar, buy one! It makes removal of stuff like that a snap. Plus they're inexpensive and made in the USA at such a high level of quality that your heirs will argue over who gets the Weed Hound.

Sedges don't respond well to mechanical removal and can re-sprout easily even if consistently removed when very small (ask me how I know).

However, they drop with 1 shot of Tenacity, Image, or Sedgehammer and you never see them again. Overall, I'd recommend Tenacity for most northern lawns as the mix lasts ages, it's good on many other weeds, and acts as a minor pre-emergent against seed sprout in the sprayed area for about a month (but won't touch grass seed so it can be used at seeding to suppress weeds).

Thank you very much guys for all of your advice, especially about the various pre-emergents other than Scott's products and for the Weed Hound. I have no idea what that is, so I'm going to Google it right now. I'll definitely have to archive this thread somewhere on my computer so I can remember all these products and ideas.

I just looked up the Hound Dog weeder. My knees are already sore and red, so I think I'm heading to Home Depot later this afternoon. Thanks for the tip! Also, thanks for the advice on the sedges. If they're just going to pop right back, regardless of whether I get the roots or not, then I'll look into picking up some Tenacity.

I picked up my Hound Dog Weed Hound. I think I'm going to love it! I had about 50% success when I was out playing with it for ten minutes. I think there's probably a technique I need to pick up and it also wouldn't hurt if the ground was a little softer, more damp. Our irrigation ran today but that was this morning and the ground wasn't all that damp. I may start lightly hand sprinkling an area before I start Weed Hounding.

Thanks again for the tip. Any excuse to buy a new tool!

Now I'm going to go see if I can find Tenacity locally or if I'll need to mail order it.

I got a Weed Hound the second year they were out. There are some copy cat devices which do the same thing, now. I never really needed it until my new house. I broke it out, oiled it up, and started plucking thistle out of my yard. They're a great tool.

You have some unlearning to do. That's okay. I had to unlearn about 95% of what I thought I knew when I came to this forum. Just because you have crabgrass seed does not mean you will automatically have crabgrass next year. Crabgrass requires a moist soil for several days in a row for the seed to sprout. Also since it is a full sun summer annual, it also requires lots of sunlight. If you deny the crabgrass seed of these two elements you won't need a preem. The time to "densify" your lawn is this fall. If it has thin spots then you may need to overseed. Dense grass puts enough shade on the soil that new weed seedlings can't take root. The second element seed needs is continual moisture. If you follow the best practice of deep and infrequent watering, the soil surface should be dry most of the time. Seed cannot germinate on dry soil. What this means is in the cool spring you will only be watering once a month or every 3 weeks as the temps move into the 70s. Since I've been using deep and infrequent watering my nutgrass has disappeared. Every now and then I'm reminded that I have nutgrass when Mother Nature delivers us rain every 2 weeks for 6 months. Then the nutgrass comes back, but not all that strong. I fully expect it to disappear again now that the sun is out and I'm in control of the water.

You're probably correct on the water. I really do have a lot of learning to do there. I've always wanted, but until we built, never had in-ground irrigation before. Right now, I'm still running on the program the irrigation guys put in when they installed. All I know is that it irrigates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings when it isn't raining, but I have no idea for how long. My wife and I work nights and I'm usually getting home around 6 AM. I know some of the zones are on when I get home, but I've never really looked at the programs to see how long they run. Honestly, with the heat we're having right now, I don't think that we're sprinkling too much, but it might be a good idea to run the irrigation for a longer period of time, less frequently. The main thing is, I need to see what my programs are doing, how much and for how long.

If you adjust the programs, do so gradually. If it's set (for example) to water every 3 days for 30 minutes, cut back to every 4 days for 40 minutes to deliver about the same amount of water per growth period without irrigation.

The ultimate goal is watering once weekly in hot weather with 1 inch of water at a time, but going there directly is not recommended as the grass' roots may not be up to the task if they were used to shallow, frequent watering. They need time to adjust, and that takes several months.

Plus rainfall counts. This year? I haven't had to irrigate except twice in May when it didn't rain at all. June and July so far have featured heavy, frequent rainfall.

So like most years, my irrigation system is off. If it becomes necessary, I'll turn it on and do a manual run.

Thanks again to everyone that has helped me identify weeds in my yard and come up with tools and chemicals to help treat them. As soon as I finish this post, I'm going to go order a bottle of Tenacity and some surfactant, so I can start spraying my patches of nutsedge and crabgrass. Hopefully, this will help me get and keep things somewhat under control until fall and then I can start with a good pre-emergent next year. I typically use the Scott's Turf Builder program and would start with Scotts Turf Builder Halts Crabgrass Preventer with Lawn Food. Anyone with any particular experience with this product? Does it seem to work fairly well or does anyone recommend something else?

Also, Tenacity says it can be applied in temperatures up to 80 degrees. We're consistently in the mid-90s every day in Southern Indiana currently. Does that mean I should wait a couple of months, until the day-time highs are lower, or does that mean just at the time I apply the Tenacity; would it be OK to apply early in the morning, before it gets above 80, or in the evening, after temperatures drop?

Thanks.

If you have a local Lesco, they carry Tenacity and you won't pay shipping (if any on your order depending on who you get it from).

While I actually never noticed and would ignore that high temperature warning on Tenacity, it's probably not really wise to do so. It would include any day where temperatures are expected to get warmer than 80.

Of course, almost any herbicide says pretty much the same thing, which would lock you out of most of summer. If it were me, I'd spot spray, realizing you're going to do a bit more damage than you would if it were cooler. And I'd spray at dusk in the evening to minimize any possibility of damage.

That having been said, I've sprayed in the mid-90's and never had a problem.

>>I typically use the Scott's Turf Builder program and would start with Scotts Turf Builder Halts Crabgrass Preventer with Lawn Food. Anyone with any particular experience with this product? Does it seem to work fairly well or does anyone recommend something else?

I'm not a fan. The nitrogen is getting dropped during a period when the grass doesn't want it and will reduce summer performance.

If you can get Dimension 0-0-7, that's a better (and nitrogen-free) choice. Other options include Barricade, or Prodiamine (usually sprayed), plus plenty of others.

Then feed the lawn at the correct time--Memorial Day.