Starting july 2025 Canada banned Dimension that all lawncare companies are using to kill Crabgrass. Even the pre-emergent are banned except ineffective corn.
I have a HUGE invasion and it's getting worse every day. Lawncare company says the only thing to do is remove them manually, WTF i'm not going to do that on 15k square feet.
So what can I do? Even if I nuke and restart Crabgrass will come back. I tried seeding and fertilizing at the beginning of the summer but Crabgrass took over everywhere seeds were supposed to germinate.
Each Crabgrass produce up to 150k seeds. It will get worse next year no matter what I do. Seems like a lost fight. I picture myself with the meme of the guy shoveling water. What's the point of burning money on my lawn only to watch it get destroyed by Crabgrass? Should I just give up and accept that I will have 15k sq ft of dirt every Fall before Crabgrass germinates in July then die in Autumn?
by John87qc
41 Comments
Got the same issue just not as bad. Commenting to follow
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What wrong with crabgrass? I personally like it, its soft and feels good when you walk on it barefooted. Has a pretty green requires no maintenance.
Are you able to use Mesotrione (Tenacity) or Quinclorac?
Both are effective in their own way against crabgrass
Did they ban quinclorac and prodiamine too, or just dithiopyr (Dimension)? Having a hard time finding solid info on this online. If it’s all banned, I guess lawns just aren’t going to be a thing in Canada anymore.
It looks sort of nice at least
Enjoy it, it doesn’t look awful. In Canada the government won’t let you use anything.
Check out my posts, I’m in the Montreal area so same restrictions on herbicides.
I had a massive crabgrass infestation. I nuked a small portion and started over there as a test with great results. Crabgrass didnt come back. So nuking is one option.
This year for the rest of the lawn I used Mr Gazon (they are similar to Weedman but in Quebec). They sprayed and took care of the crabgrass in the rest of the lawn, so im not sure what you mean when you say commercial companies cant use the compound that kills crabgrass. Using a professional service is pretty much the only way in Canada to kill crab grass and other weeds without damaging your desirable ornamental grass.
I mean it looks nice and green. Just cut it a little and it’ll look perfect
Looks good to me. Just keep it?
Enjoy you new crabgrass lawn 🙂
That’s too bad they banned prodiamine. It works so well. I went from 80% crab grass one year and the next year used prodiamine and only had one single plant all summer long, at the very edge of my yard where I probably missed a spot.
Just wait until next spring and put down a pre emergent with fert. It is so much less time and money than to treat it later. It will die out when it gets cold, and the Pre em will keep if from coming back.
Pre emergent this fall and spring then seed it next fall
Mines well on the way. I have 2 dogs that dig so I’m just sucking it up until one day I don’t.
Then I will nuke and start again.
If you can’t use chemicals just aerate and overseed each spring and fall. Mow high (above 3″). Healthy grass will outcompete crabgrass but it may take a while.
Crab grass is an annual grass that seeds itself yearly. So, the battle is to get other grasses to eventually dominate. I suggest you wait until the fall (early September) when it is colder, but still consistently above 10 C. Look up post about protocols to overseed in the fall. Mow really short to stress the crab grass before you overseed. Let is go and don’t mow it. Fertilize in the spring. Get in the habit of mowing high. It may take two years or so and it may need that you over-seed every year.
Short term, nuke and reseed and see the same results in a year.
Long term, fix your politics up there. I swear your leaders are doing this stuff intentionally. They put in the law because they don’t want people to have nice lawns.
It’s a resilient grass, it doesn’t look terrible, this is natural selection
For this bad of an infestation you may as well go down to the US and get some prodiamine to apply next spring. If you just use what you can get in Canada you’ll be dealing with this for years and spending a lot more time on control.
At least it’s green
dude, it’s green, let it be.
when i moved into my house (exactly 2 years ago) it was crabgrass-infested. really bad. there was some bermuda (8a zone) but it was spotty and blended in with the crabgrass. i spent the winter prepping the yard and by spring, put down pre-emergent (didn’t really work too well) and manually weeded the crabgrass and spread and watered bermuda seeds in late spring. with enough TLC and the right pre-emergent (do you homework on what works best) you can transform this lawn to look amazing this time next year. definitely choose a good grass seed or sod that works for your hardiness zone and begin learning how to care for it
the great thing about crabgrass is that it won’t show up until june or july, so you have time to plan your battle strategy
Prefer this
To a lawn full of weeds and dandelions
You are doing well
Chill, have a great meal and a beverage and enjoy
If they banned all of those chemicals maybe look into going to clover?
“There’s nothing wrong with crabgrass. Everyone would love it if it had a cute name, like elf grass”
Lol glad I live in the US.
Crabs would be nuts here without the Scotts Halts.
Genuine question- why does everyone hate crabgrass and want to kill it?
Welcome to the club, your new member hat is on its way!
Dimension is the brand name for Dithiopyr. If that’s banned, use Barricade, which is is the brad name for Prodiamine. That also prevents crabgrass.
Just mow it and enjoy your lawn that never needs watering. It will also out compete and other weeds.
Looks nice and green for this dry summer heat. Must be that turf type crab grass I’ve been hearing about.
https://preview.redd.it/54c8pmfcs9ff1.jpeg?width=604&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1beadfc2f8370c23505b625191ae815d3d9a9fa
This seems to still be legal in Canada and works well.
At least it’s green
At least it’s green, most of my lawn is either weeds or dead
When you can’t beat em….. Fill in the bald spots with crabgrass lmao
Put down field turf and never deal with it again
Ok, since the most widely used chemicals are banned in Canada, what about using corn gluten meal?
https://www.thespruce.com/corn-gluten-herbicide-careful-timing-2152947
Timing is critical, but it’s better than nothing.
Obviously not useful now, but crab grass is pretty easy to pull manually, particularly if you have one of those handy weeding tools that you step on to punch over the grass and then pull it out.
Once you nuke and reseed, being diligent in the early spring (just walk outside once a day or so for about 15 minutes) pulling them manually can prevent an infestation.
The most effective solution (when you are done nuking and resodding) is to maintain a healthy lawn. To do that, you need to water it much more than you think: 2 hrs twice per week even if there are rainy days. Keep it at least 3 inches high, amd increase it to 4 inches when it’s healthy. Mow it every 4-5 days.