It starts in warm weather. Coarse wild grass is growing in the previously well-maintained lawn, which cannot be controlled with conventional weed killers. Find out here how to effectively combat millet in the lawn.
How do I effectively combat millet in the lawn?
To combat millet in the lawn, scarification should be carried out in good time to remove the weeds. In addition, acidic soil should be limed to create optimal conditions for noble grasses and to make it more difficult for millet to grow.
How does millet get into the lawn?
In the past 20 years, numerous millet species have migrated to Germany and have since spread explosively through wind, water, birds and contaminated lawn seeds. The coarse wild grass has the unpleasant property of germinating very quickly and overgrowing the noble grasses in the lawn. You can recognize millet in the lawn by these characteristics:
- The grasses germinate at temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius
- New seeds are attacked over the entire surface
- Millet colonizes bare spots in existing lawns
- The flowering period extends from June to October
- Predominantly prostrate growth of roots and shoots
All types of millet are annual plants that die in winter. However, the seeds overwinter in the lawn only to strike again next spring.
How to effectively prevent millet from sprouting
It's a race against time, because millet that has appeared in the lawn cannot be stopped, even with chemical agents. To prevent this from happening, comb the weeds out of the lawn in good time with the scarifier. Here's how to do it:
- Mow the lawn in March/April when temperatures exceed 10 degrees Celsius
- Treat the lawn lengthwise and crosswise with the scarifier in two passes
- Sowing and rolling lawn seeds in bare areas
- Then fertilize with Azet Lawn Soil Activator (€22.00 on Amazon) and water thoroughly
In September, this process should be repeated as part of autumn lawn care, in conjunction with potassium-focused fertilization.
Limeing acidic lawn soil scares away millet - this is how it works
Growing millet prefers to settle where the soil is acidic. An uncomplicated pH value test shows how your lawn is doing. If the result is below the ideal value of 6-7, the lawn should be limed. A mild algae lime that can be used all year round is recommended.
Depending on the test result, lime the lawn in a dosage of 100 to 300 grams per square meter. Ideally, the Raten was recently scarified or aerated, as it is then particularly receptive. Thanks to this measure, the pH value increases to such an extent that millet does not even settle.
Tips & Tricks
As long as more noble grasses than millet thrive in the lawn, you can still counteract the invasion by scarifying in midsummer. The device is adjusted so that the blades do not touch the ground. Instead, they lift the roots and shoots of the millet that are lying down so that they can later be grasped with the lawnmower. This technique is far less laborious than weeding each millet individually.
