Provided by UF/IFAS+
This week in the Plant Clinic we had a question from a resident on what Pre-Emergent Herbicide he should use to take care of weeds in his lawns. Pre-emergent herbicides work by inhibiting the growth of seeds, keeping them from sprouting for a certain period of time. They must be applied before the seeds begin to sprout!
Can I get a recommendation on pre-emergent herbicides?
Which pre-emergent weed control you use is determined by what weeds you currently have in your lawn. In the previous e-mails, don’t see what type of lawn you are growing, so I am going to assume it is St. Augustine. Healthy, well maintained turfgrass is its own weed control as it can out-compete many different weeds.
If you have struggled with control in the past though, there are chemical options on top of proper cultural practices. According to the Weed Management Guide for Florida Lawns found on UF’s website [here], there are several different chemicals that can work as pre-emergent herbicides on St. Augustine. Pages 7 and 8 of that document list chemical names and examples of brand names to look for. The paragraph quoted below is the information on which chemicals work for which type of weed. I have bolded the chemical names so they are easier to find.
“In established turfgrass, members of the dinitroaniline herbicide family (e.g., oryzalin [Surflan], benefin and trifluralin [Team Pro], prodiamine [Barricade], or pendimethaline [Pendulum, Pre-M]) control annual grass and some broadleaf weed species when applied prior to weed seed germination.
Bensulide (Bensumec) and dithiopyr (Dimension) also provide preemergence annual grass and broadleaf control.
Atrazine and isoxaben (Gallery) primarily provide preemergence control of broadleaf weeds.
All these herbicides must be activated with irrigation or moderate rain within 2 days after application so they will be in direct contact with the germinating seeds and emerging weed seedlings. If the soil is dry, their weed-killing effect is greatly limited. On the other hand, if the turf is over irrigated, most pre-emergence herbicides will be moved below the soil layer where the germinating weed seeds are, reducing weed control.”
In that list above, the chemicals currently available to Home Owners are oryzalin (Surflan), benefin+trifluralin (Team Pro, Team 2G), pendimethalin (Pendulum, Pre-M, Halts Crabgrass Preventer), bensulide (Bensumec, Weedgrass Preventer), and Atrazine (many brands have this one).