With winter in Texas in full swing, we wanted to touch upon some of the herbicides we use for winter weed control. To be clear, the best way to control winter weeds is through strong lawn that will choke out many of the weeds, and through application of late fall pre-emergent, so keep that in mind for the next growing season.
There are a few differences between summer and winter weed control
Obviously we are dealing with annual winter weeds rather than annual summer weeds
Our warm-season lawn is mostly or fully dormant
Perennial weeds such as Dallisgrass are still growing but we can be a bit more aggressive as Bermudagrass is mostly dormant
We are seeing less of Yellow and Purple Nutsedge, but more Wild Garlic and Wild Onion
Everything is slower during winter, so it is not uncommon to see results only after 6+ weeks
Tribute Total
Great for controlling tough grassy weeds such as Dallisgrass and Poa Annua. Will not be effective for broadleaf weeds and wild garlic and onion.
Negate
Great on Poa Annua, and effective on some other grassy and broadleaf weeds. We generally use it when Poa Annua is the only grassy weed present in the yard, otherwise we would use Tribute Total.
Blindside
Broadleaf weed and wild onion and wild garlic control.
Celsius
Both broadleaf weed control and some grassy weeds control.
Dismiss NXT
We mostly use it for control of tough broadleaf weeds, such as spurge, and control of sedges. We relatively rarely use it during winter.
2,4-D Amine
Cheap control of a wide variety of broadleaf weeds.
As you can see, none of the products offer complete weed control, and you have to choose and mix them based on your lawn situation. In winter, our go-to mixes have been Tribute Total and Blindside (when a wide variety of tough weeds is present), Negate and Celsius (when wide variety of less tough weeds is present), or Tribute Total and Negate (when there is a huge infestation of Poa Annua, Dallisgrass, and other grassy weeds). Unfortunately, every yard is different, and there is no exact formula, so we have to rely on experience and some experimentation.
While many of above mentioned products are expensive (i.e. Tribute Total is around $450), keep in mind that one bottle will last you a long time if you are only treating your own lawn. If you are looking for big-box store herbicides, we experienced some success with Image for Poa Annua, and any broad-leaf weed killer usually does ok on the majority of broad leafs (as in general they are easier to kill). We are unaware of any big-box store herbicides that do well on tough or perennial grassy weeds, unless you want to spot treat with glyphosate, which is an option (on dormant Bermudagrass).
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