Annual winter weeds tend to begin their lifecycle in late summer, germinating throughout fall and winter and actively growing in spring. So controlling weeds in winter is often seen as a preventative measure ahead of the full growth in early spring.
Unsurprisingly, people are often shocked at how quickly weeds appear in the early stages of spring, not long after the cold winter months, unaware that they have been slowly growing throughout the entire winter season. We’ve pulled together some top tips to help you control weeds in winter and prevent weed growth in the spring.
Prevention
Maintain your grass
To help prevent weeds from germinating throughout the winter season in your local area, it’s a good idea to ensure that grass areas are well looked after. Keeping grass thick and ensuring that flower beds are mulched will deter weed seeds from germinating in the area, as the majority of nutrients will be absorbed by the desirable plants.
Provide healthy roots
In order to sustain thick and healthy grass throughout winter, it’s important that you consider how best to maintain the roots. Without roots thriving under the soil, grass will have a hard time taking in the required nutrients, and therefore provide weeds with the opportunity to creep in and germinate. To ensure that roots stay healthy in the cold months, make sure that they are fertilised, watered, and mowed as needed - overgrown grass can be a problem too!
Use good sanitisation
Using good sanitisation will help prevent the spread of weeds throughout winter. Tiny weed seeds can often be spread by a variety of things - including machines and clothing - so ensuring that everything is as clean and sterile as possible will help reduce the risk of spreading seeds.
Weed control
If the above fails to prevent weeds from germinating and you find yourself facing weeds in the spring, don’t worry, there are plenty of weed control methods that you can use to manage unwanted vegetation.
Foamstream, for example, is an environmentally friendly, herbicide-free method of weed control. Using an insulated foam blanket, Foamstream covers the plant for long enough to kill or severely damage the plant. You can watch our process video to find out more.
Contact Weedingtech
If you want more advice on how to control your weeds in winter, or any other time of year, get in touch with Weedingtech today.