Pre Emergent Weed Control – Pre Emergent Herbicides

If you want to keep your garden pristine, you’ll need to do more than pull weeds when you see them. By utilizing pre-emergent weed killers, you can prevent weeds from becoming established and starving your crops of valuable resources.

In this article, we’ll explain everything that you need to know about pre-emergent weed killer so that you can keep weeds suppressed in your garden preventatively rather than reactively.

How Does Pre-Emergent Herbicides Work?

Pre-emergent herbicides kill weeds because they prevent weed seeds from germinating rather than killing weeds after they have visible outgrowths. This means that pre-emergent weed control is preventative rather than therapeutic.

In other words, if you already have weeds growing in your garden, pre-emergent weed control won’t help you to kill the weeds that are there.

To kill weeds, pre-emergent herbicides inhibit certain enzymes that weeds need to grow. Once these enzymes are inhibited, the weeds can’t undergo mitosis and subsequently develop leafy protrusions, which will give it the energy that it needs from the sun.

What Are Some Examples Of Pre-Emergent Herbicides?

Examples of pre-emergent herbicides include:

• Pendimethalin
• Trifluralin
• Oryzalin
• Dithiopyr

There isn’t any single pre-emergent herbicide, which is significantly more effective than any other. However, certain pre-emergent herbicides may be less detrimental to the health of pollinators, pets, and other third parties. This means that you should consider your choice of herbicide carefully.

Most of these pre-emergent weed control methods are effective at preventing weeds from growing their roots. However, herbicides may persist in the soil after application. This means that they ultimately can degrade the quality of the ground in some cases.

How To Apply Pre-Emergent Herbicides

Pre-emergent herbicides are not the same as other herbicides, so you will need to understand how to apply them if you want to protect your garden properly.

The first step in applying pre-emergent herbicides is to make the herbicide solution according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Most instructions call for mixing the herbicide concentrate with water in a bucket or bottle.

Pick The Right Time

You should apply pre-emergent weed control methods before the season when weeds are the most likely to be germinating. This means that you need to consider where you are and what weed seasonality is like in your region.

If you are in the northern US, you should aim to apply pre-emergent weed control at the very end of spring, in May.

In contrast, if you live in the deep south, you should apply the pre-emergent weed control much earlier in January.

For people who live between South Carolina and Maryland, you should consider applying pre-emergent weed control after March but before the end of April.

In general, you should err on the side of applying the weed controller earlier rather than later, as it will be impossible to control the weed seeds once they have germinated.

Water It In

When you apply water to pre-emergent herbicides, the water dissolves the herbicide solution and allows it to penetrate into the germinating seeds. This means that you always need to apply water to your garden after you apply pre-emergent weed control.

Rain is a suitable substitute for watering your garden after applying the weed controller.

Remember that many pre-emergent herbicides can contaminate groundwater. This may have detrimental effects on local aquatic life if it reaches significant concentrations.

Be Careful

When you’re using pre-emergent spray or liquids, you should be careful of accidental exposure. Wear gloves, boots, and pants to ensure that the herbicides do not contact your skin. You may be interested in wearing goggles to protect your eyes from accidental exposure, as well.

Pre-emergent herbicides are not particularly dangerous in comparison to other herbicides or pesticides in the event of exposure. However, they are probably not healthy to encounter repeatedly.

If you do accidentally get some herbicide on your skin, wash it off with soap and water immediately. Be sure not to touch any contaminated objects.

If you accidentally get a pre-emergent weed controller in your eyes, you should wash them out with water and potentially talk to a doctor if there is any persistent irritation.

Monitor The Situation Carefully

After you apply a pre-emergent herbicide, you should observe your garden for a few weeks to ensure that no weeds managed to germinate.

In the peak weed-growing season for your region, you should be checking on your garden daily for any weeds poking their stems out of the dirt.

If you do identify weeds that have escaped the pre-emergent weed control, remember that the most likely reason is that you did not distribute the herbicide evenly.

Remember, you can treat your garden with pre-emergent weed control more than once without harming your crops, so it may be worth applying more than one coating if you’re having trouble with getting full coverage.