Strategize Your Attack

To win the weed war, you must first identify the enemy and understand its life cycle. Once armed with this knowledge, you can tailor your eradication efforts accordingly.

Choosing Your Arsenal

Weed control offers several options, including cultural methods, manual and mechanical approaches, biological control, and chemical solutions. Here, we focus on hand and mechanical techniques suitable for year-round use in most home landscapes and gardens.

Effective Weed Prevention

• Plan your control strategies based on the weed’s seasonal life cycle, and be relentless in your efforts.
• Intercept seedlings early. Small weeds with small roots are much easier to remove. Employ hand tillers to uproot seedlings. Once exposed to the air, the plants dry out, wither, and decompose into the soil. This technique is especially effective against annual weeds but also works on young perennial weeds.
• Halt seed formation. Once your plants start blooming and setting seeds, action is critical to prevent their spread. When you spot weed flowers, pull, prune, or cut them off.
• Suppress root development. Starve the plants themselves by removing their leaves and stems. Sunlight + leaves = nutrients for roots. Remove, prune, or cut all stems and leaves. When tackling thorny or sap-oozing opponents, don’t forget your gloves.