The green color fits, but the rest doesn't. Chickweed simply has no place in a beautiful lawn. At first the delicate herb is not particularly noticeable. But soon the small white flowers cannot be overlooked. They are diligently contributing to the ever faster spread. This is how you unload the chickweed.
How to control chickweed in the lawn?
To effectively combat chickweed in the lawn, you should mow regularly and briefly, scarify the lawn and lime the area. This prevents seed formation and limits the growth of the chickweed.
Gaps as a welcome invitation
The perfect lawn is rarely found. Most specimens have one weakness or another. Most of them are littered with small gaps. There is still enough space in there for a small seed. As soon as the conditions are right, a young chickweed emerges and conquers the gap for itself.
Abundant seed production
Chickweed reproduces from seeds. This wild herb masters this type of propagation perfectly. Each individual plant produces three new generations per year. Each chickweed contributes around 15,000 seeds, all of which remain germinable under ideal conditions for around 60 years, during the long flowering period. This makes it clear how difficult it is to fight once it has gained a foothold.
Grass makes control difficult
A chickweed in the lawn is surrounded by countless blades of grass. In addition, the soil is usually very compacted due to years of use. The chickweed cannot simply be weeded out, nor can it be prevented from spreading with a layer of mulch. The use of chemicals is also not justifiable for ecological reasons.
Mow the lawn short
Mowing the lawn is a possible method of controlling chickweed in the lawn. Since the herb is both fast and low growing, the following must be taken into account when mowing the lawn:
- mow regularly at short intervals
- mow very short
- start early in the year and finish as late as possible
Mowing prevents seed formation and is otherwise perceived as a nuisance by the chickweed. The only weak point of this method is that the chickweed grows diligently even on frost-free winter days. There will be no lawn mowing at this time.
Verticulate lawn
The wild herb chickweed spreads with shallow roots. When the lawn is regularly scarified, a large proportion of these plants are caught by the scarifier (€118.00 on Amazon) and torn out.
Lime the lawn
Liming changes the pH value of the soil. It becomes more alkaline. This fact doesn't bother the grass plants. But the chickweed no longer likes such changed soil and begins to retreat.
Tip
If you are curious, try the edible chickweed. It has a mild taste and can be wonderfully prepared as a salad.
