Weeds are not the friendly creature you’d want to have contact with every morning.
You’d want your lawn to be problem-free, full of green colors, healthy, and good-looking. On Contrast, weeds come to change that.
So, where do weeds come from? Why does my healthy and cared-for lawn face those troublesome creatures?
Weeds are opportunistic creatures, they thrive under specific conditions of moisture level, temperature, and poorly maintained areas.
This can allow weeds to grow on sidewalks too, in small concrete cracks, and in driveways.
This Lawn Advisors guide will provide you with more than you need to know where do weeds come from.
You’ll also be able to master how to naturally protect your lawn against those weed mechanics.
This video is an introduction to Where Do Weeds Come From.
Types of Weeds
Based on their living cycles & Lawn Advisors research, there are 3 main types of Weed:
1. Annual Weeds
Annual weeds thrive under the best conditions provided by a specific season, germinate, grow, and mature, then die off on their own when the conditions change with a new season, or when their life cycle ends.
Popular Annual Weeds: Chickweed, Bittercress, and Oxalis.
2. Biennial Weeds
Biennial Weeds have a longer life cycle, as they usually live for two years.
They germinate and grow without flowering during the first year.
During the second year, they produce fruits and seeds.
They are mostly found in pastures and improperly mowed fencerows.
Popular Biennial Weeds: Black-eyed Susan, Kalette, and Hollyhock.
3. Perennial Weeds
Perennial weeds grow for multiple seasons and are not reliant on specific seasons for growth/death indefinitely.
They germinate, grow, and live healthy as long as the required conditions are met.
Whenever the main conditions are disrupted, the Perennial weeds start to die.
Popular Perennial Weeds: Dandelion, Ground Ivy, and Thistle.
Where Do Weeds Come From
Seeds can be carried away to your lawn via different sources.
Some of those sources won’t even require prior knowledge, before spreading tens of thousands of seeds inside your lawn, according to our research at Lawn Advisors.
Here are the 4 most ways for weed transferring:
1. Blow by the Wind
This is the most common way of weed attacks when the wind carries away the weeds’ seeds into your lawn.
Weeds produce their seeds and blow them into the air. From that point on, the wind takes on the job of driving those seeds to another field/lawn.
Upon arriving on your lawn, the weed seeds hide and wait until the perfect conditions are met for germination, then starts to take over your lawn step-by-step.
This method enables the weed to travel for a long distance without the prior knowledge of the lawn owner.
2. Rain
The rain can most of the time continue what the wind couldn’t do.
It would help the seeds that got stuck in driveways, sidewalks, and other narrow paths and drive them into lawns and grassy areas.
If the wind didn’t help the weeds travel properly into a new lawn, then the rain would certainly help drive the seeds to the required destination.
3. Animals’ Excrement
Seeds are considered healthy food for birds and other animals.
The bird/animal would eat the seed, pass it through to its digestive system, and then deposit it as excrement.
The deposit would be to a new location, where the seed wasn’t fully digested and would find a suitable environment to start a new plant.
4. Animal Carriers
Other types of animals won’t just eat the seed, they’ll step on it while minding their own business.
The seeds would be tangled in their fur, legs, and mouths, and whenever this animal moves on to another location and scratches itself, it’ll drop down the weeds seed to a newer location.
5. Poor Quality Grass Seed
Whenever you purchase low-quality grass seed, it’ll most likely be mixed with other weeds seed due to its low quality.
You’re attempting to plant the new seed, but all you’re doing is planting the weeds seed along with the newly purchased seed.
Always check the components on the back of any new grass seed package, especially when you plant a new type you’re not familiar with.
How to Naturally Protect Against Those Methods?
You can’t control the wind, the rain, or the animal’s movement, can you?
What you can control is how healthy your lawn is, how maintained it is, and how cared for it feels.
The better it’s maintained, and the healthier it is, the better the lawn’s resistance against 90% of weed types.
Even against the stubborn 10% of the weed types, your healthy lawn will continue being healthy, good-looking, and resistant to it for quite some time, until you find a solution to the new weed invasion.
Here are the essential chores you’ll need to carry out properly to make sure you have a healthy lawn against such weeds:
- Carry out core aeration every year.
- Mow your lawn often.
- Use pre-emergent herbicides, they are your best friend.
- Water your lawn wisely and effectively.
- Keep the lawn as dense as possible.
- Add an organic feed in the spring and fall seasons.
- Keep the grass blades high.
Where Do Weeds Come From FAQ
Summary
You can remember the old saying “nothing grows like a weed”, right?
This Lawn Advisors guide affirms the old saying, as it can literally fly from one place to another in multiple methods.
All you need to do is care properly for your lawn, and act at once when you encounter it.
Do you have any questions about Where Do Weeds Come From? Ask us in the comments section below.
